SUGAR DISTILLATION. (Hansard, 13 June 1808)

Mr. Western

rose to oppose the third reading of the bill for suspending the grain distillery. He said he could not suffer it to pass that stage, without again declaring the same decided hostility to its principle which he had avowed upon its first introduction. Nothing had been urged that removed any objection to it he had originally felt; so far from it, the more he considered the measure, in every point of view it appeared to him contrary to every principle of sound policy, infinitely mischievous, on account of the establishment of a dangerous precedent of interference with the agriculture of the country, and at the same time wholly uncalled for by any pressure, or even appearance of scarcity present or to be apprehended. If any danger should arise in consequence of the harvest being at all deficient, it might be as well guarded against by an order of council, instead of agitating the public mind by the means which had been pursued. There were two or three circumstances to which he wished to advert, relative to the consumption of grain in the distilleries and the foreign import, and which he thought it material to state to the house, especially so because he believed that the opinion which prevailed relative to the amount of such foreign grain imported, and of grain consumed in the distilleries, was very erroneous. The report of the committee tended to confirm these erroneous opinions by taking only one average of the foreign importation, namely upon the last five years, and also by not taking the last official return of the quantity of grain annually consumed in the distilleries in Ireland, amounting to 890,000 barrels. The importation of foreign corn was stated to amount to 770,000 quarters annually, and which certainly was the case upon the average of those five years; but he begged to call the attention of the house to the importation of the two last years, and which it was more material for us to consider. It would be found that the import of foreign corn in the year 1806 amounted to only 319,000 quarters. In 1807, it was certainly a great deal more, but if the two years were averaged it would not exceed 500,000 quarters each year, inclusive of the import of flour. This view of our situation ought to be exhibited to the public, as it was material in every point of view and 868 much more satisfactory. It was another irresistible proof of the increasing produce of the country and of the means we possessed of providing for our own subsistence. Then in regard to the quantity of corn used in the distilleries, he thought the committee had relied too much upon the lowest calculations, and appeared certainly to have done so in regard to Ireland, where the consumption by the last official return, was nearly double that upon which the report appears to be founded. The committee calculate upon a total consumption for Great Britain and Ireland of 780,000 quarters, of which England is supposed to consume 300,000, Scotland 109,000, Ireland 311,000; but the Irish official account nearly doubles that estimate, and the British probably exceeds it, being founded upon the number of gallons of spirits actually paying duty. The total of grain of all sorts consumed therefore must exceed 1,000,000 quarters, whilst the foreign importation amounts only to 500,000.—This was a very different statement from that which the public were impressed with, and which was made to appear by the report of the committee; it was however perfectly correct, and could not be disputed. It was not immaterial to consider likewise in this view of the case that in the event of this bill passing, and of our not receiving a single quarter of corn from foreign countries, our agriculture would still lose a market for 500,000 quarters. The impolicy of reducing the markets for grain had been already repeatedly urged, and was too obvious and indisputable to admit of any justification: such a reduction of demand would be more felt also by the growers than is imagined. Many people supposed the loss of the distillery markets would not be sensibly perceived. The effect would certainly be perceived, or not, according to the abundance or the deficiency of the approaching harvest; if it was abundant and a good barley year, it would be materially felt. It was well known that we imported no barley, our own produce was equal to our own consumption, and, in a plentiful year, it was in his opinion more. It was but four or five years ago the price of barley was in Norfolk and Suffolk as low as 20s. per quarter, and the average of the kingdom 23s. or 24s. Even the circumstances of the present moment afforded evidence of this opinion, inasmuch as there was a sufficiency to carry us through upon three-fourths of a crop, and a total failure of peas and 869 beans, to supply the places of which in the feeding of hogs, &c. a considerable quantity of barley must have been used. To estimate the effect upon the price of the article by the loss of the distillery markets, these circumstances then must not be forgotten, the effect was not to be considered by the measure of quantity used in the distilleries, it was the withdrawing any demand from a market sufficiently supplied that would so affect the price, and which it was well known would sink it very far indeed beyond the ratio or amount of such demand withdrawn. There was another circumstance also that would operate upon the price, and that was the loss of the competition excited by the appearance of the distiller in the corn market.—Upon the whole, he was satisfied the measure, however limited, would have a very injurious effect upon the agriculture of the country, and would discourage to a great degree the spirit of improvement and of enterprise in the cultivation of the soil. It was possible that the class of farmers who do not look beyond the moment would not be influenced in their conduct till they experienced the effects, but every man of information and reflection who was about to embark a considerable capital in the cultivation of lands hitherto waste and unproductive, or who was about to carry into effect expensive improvements upon lands already in tillage, must inevitably feel the most serious alarm from such an unprecedented and unnecessary interference with the markets for the produce of agriculture. Every merchant and manufacturer knows and dreads the effects of any interruption or restriction of the market for his commodities, be they what they may, and it must be as sensibly or even more sensibly felt by the agriculturist than any other persons. The return of capital employed in the cultivation of lands was slower and the profits less than that employed in any other way, and upon that account as well as others, required a steadier market, and more perfect security to induce the direction of it to that object. These considerations, as well as many others, had convinced him that the proposed measure would be productive of incalculable mischief, and he had heard no arguments stated in the course of its progress through the house that had at all shaken his original opinion; indeed, scarcely any that appeared to bear upon the subject. He should therefore give his most decided negative to the third reading of the bill.