§ The House having resolved into a committee upon the Duties on Rice,
The Chancellor of the Exchequerstated his object to be the proposition of a tax 244 upon rice imported from any other quarter than the East Indies. He deprecated any objection to this proposition, upon the ground, that it applied to a necessary of life, for in point of fact the operation of the case would be to secure a supply of rice from our own territories, while, if circumstances should render the importation of the article desirable from America or elsewhere, it would not be raised inconveniently high to the consumer. The necessity of this arrangement, he illustrated by referring to an instance in which government had paid 5 or 600,000l. in bounties on the importation of rice from the East Indies, which rice had never been used for human food, but devoted to poultry, in consequence of the importation from other places. Here, then, was a loss to the treasury and to the importers, without any relief to the public. To prevent the occurrence of such an event, he proposed to withdraw the bounty upon East Indian rice, while an additional tax was imposed upon rice imported from other quarters. The right hon. gentleman submitted a resolution, That an additional duty of ten shillings per cwt. be imposed upon all rice imported from any country not belonging to his Majesty, or not within the territories of the East India, Company.—The motion was agreed to.