§ THE SELECT COMMITTEE appointed to inquire into the Allegations of the several Petitions which have been presented to the House in the last and present Sessions of Parliament, complaining of the distressed state of the Agriculture of the United Kingdom, and to report their observations thereon to the House;
§ Considered that among all the important objects referred to them, none could be more deserving of their earliest attention than an inquiry into any measures that could be suggested for affording some temporary relief to the distresses of which the numerous petitioners with so much reason complain, and which appear, from the returns of the average prices of corn during the late weeks,* to be progressively increasing rather than diminishing.
§ Your Committee do not venture to determine whether the present state of the corn market be owing to an excess of production, or to what extent that excess may reach, beyond the usual and requisite supply; or whether the necessities of the occupiers of land cause an unprecedented eagerness to dispose of their produce at almost any price; but it appears from an official return, that the quantity of British wheat and oats (but not of barley) sold in Mark-lane, between 1st November and 1st of March last, has very considerably exceeded the quantity sold in
| * Prices, 16th March, 45. 11. | the highest price of any 1 week in 1822, was 56s. 7d. |
| 9th — 10. | |
| 2nd — 10. | |
| 23rd Feb. 47. 7. |
§ the corresponding months of the twenty preceding years. Such an excess of supply beyond demand can have no other effect than to continue the depression of price, and increase the accumulation of the stock upon hand; while it is evident, from the present very low rate of price on the continent of Europe, as compared with prices in this country, that there is no chance of resorting to the natural expedient of relieving the market by exporting any portion of our own corn, even with the aid of any bounty which would not be excessive.
§ Two other modes have, therefore, been under the consideration of your Committee; by the first of which it was proposed that one million of exchequer bills should be applied to purchasing, through the agency of government, and laying up in store, a certain portion of wheat grown in the United Kingdom; and by the second, that facility and encouragement should be offered to individuals to deposit a part of their stock in warehouses, so that they might not be forced to come into the market simultaneously, and under the disadvantage of excessive competition, but might be enabled to wait until the supply having approached nearer to the wants of the consumers might afford, if not a remunerating, at least a price some what less ruinous for their produce. With regard to the first of these proposals, the general objections against making the public, through the executive government, a dealer and speculator in corn, the suspicions to which it might give rise, and the uneasiness in the public feeling which it might eventually excite, the danger of its being drawn into precedent, the claims which it might be supposed to give to other important articles of domestic produce, whenever they might be exposed to similar depression, and the universal rule of allowing all articles as much as possible to find their own natural level, by leaving the supply to adjust itself to the demand, discourage your Committee from recommending it, even under this extraordinary emergency, and with all the guards and qualifications of a temporary expedient. But with regard to the second, although much less efficacious in its operation, the objection of government becoming a purchaser does not apply, as individuals would in this case act for themselves, and according to their own discretion, the government interfering no otherwise than by making advances 1408 upon the commodity deposited, which would be repaid, with a low rate of interest, as soon as the article should be brought to market. For effecting this object, two different modes have been suggested, by one of which it was proposed, that when the weekly average price is under 58s. (the import-scale remaining at present) wheat should be stored, subject to a monthly allowance of sixpence per quarter, until the average price should reach 65s. The whole quantity not to exceed 600,000 quarters, and the time for which the allowance should be payable not to exceed 12 or 18 months. Not more than a certain number of quarters, nor less than another specified number of quarters, to be stored on the part of any individual or firm. The owner of the corn so deposited to be at liberty to withdraw it at any time, waving his claim to allowance, or refunding it.
§ The other proposition was, that for the purpose of relieving the glut which at present presses upon the grain market, the government, whenever the average price of wheat shall be under 60s. should grant advances of money upon such corn of the growth of the United Kingdom, as should be deposited in fit and proper warehouses upon the river Thames, and in the ports to be hereafter specified, to an extent not exceeding two-thirds of the market value of such corn; the quality of the corn and the fitness of the warehouses to be approved of by officers to be appointed by the government. The loan to be at the rate of 3 per cent and the period of deposit not to exceed 12 months. The corn to be withdrawn at the will of the depositor, upon payment of the interest, warehouse rent, and other charges. The sum of one million so applied, would probably be fully adequate to give a temporary check to the excess which is continually poured into the already overstocked market. If the House should be inclined to agree with your Committee in countenancing the latter of these propositions, it is evident that it ought to lead to some immediate proceeding: and although no very great effect can be contemplated from adopting it, its operation, as far as it may extend, can hardly fail to afford some temporary relief.
§ There is another measure also to which it is fit to call the early attention of the House. The foreign grain and flour of all sorts in different warehouses under the 1409 king's lock, appears to have amounted on the 5th January last to 897,136 quarters; with regard to which, although there is little probability that it can soon come into competition with our home produce, yet it still hangs over the market in a formidable mass, ready to be poured in at once, creating no small degree of panic as to its future operation, and invested with a sort of claim (which is of the utmost importance) to be brought out free from duty, whenever the ports shall be opened under the existing law, even supposing any duty shall be imposed by parliament, under an alteration of that law, upon all corn hereafter to be imported from foreign parts. To relieve the market from both these inconveniences, it may be proper to permit the holders of such corn now in warehouses under certain adequate regulations and restrictions, to have the same ground into flour for the purpose of exportation; and also to provide, by legislative enactment, that in future any foreign corn warehoused in this kingdom shall be considered as corn coming from abroad, and subject to all such duties and regulations as are or may from time to time be imposed upon corn coming directly from a foreign port. A proposition which was submitted to your Committee, for advancing loans to parishes on the credit of the rates, appeared to be attended with so many difficulties, and to be so little applicable to the purpose of alleviating the distresses which are complained of, that they do not deem it necessary to enter into any examination of it, nor to lay it before the House.
§ Much us your Committee lament, that so little prospect of immediate relief can be held out to the urgent distresses which have been submitted to their anxious consideration, they think it material to obviate and counteract any unfounded alarm which may have been, either casually or industriously, circulated, that there was ever the least intention entertained by your Committee of rendering the present condition of the British cultivators worse than it is under the existing law; and they therefore submit, with great confidence, to the House, that the act of the 55th of the late king, c. 26, which regulates the importation of foreign corn, ought to continue in force until the average price of wheat shall be 80s. per quarter, and other kinds, of grain in proportion. It is impossible to carry protection further than monopoly; and it can- 1410 not be denied, that this monopoly the British grower has possessed fore more than three years, that is, ever since February 1819, with the exception of the ill-timed and unnecessary importation of somewhat more than 700,000 quarters of oats, which took place during the summer of 1820. It must be considered further, that this protection, in consequence of the increased value of our currency, and the present state of the supply of corn combined with the prospect of an early harvest, may, in all probability, remain uninterrupted for a very considerable time to come. But for the purpose of obviating the dangers in which this law can hardly fail, sooner or later, to involve the cultivators of the soil, and in conformity to the reasoning contained in the report of the committee of the last session upon the same subject, some material change must be contemplated; your Committee, therefore, cannot avoid suggesting, whether, under a full view of all the circumstances, it may not be the duty of parliament to turn its immediate attention to the ruinous consequences which must follow an unlimited importation and free sale of the surplus produce of the whole agricultural world, which is known at this time to be in a state of glut, at least equal to what prevails within this kingdom, no less impatient for, and unprovided with a market, with a commodity raised at much less charge than our own, which the proprietors would be ready to sell even at a considerable loss, rather than not dispose of it at all. The excessive inconvenience and impolicy of our present system have been so fully treated, and so satisfactorily exposed in the report already alluded to (pages 10 and 12), that it is unnecessary to do more than refer to: adding only, that every thing which has happened subsequent to the presentation of that report, as well as all our experience since 1815, has more and more tended to demonstrate how little reliance can be placed upon a regulation which contains an absolute prohibition up to a certain price, and an unlimited competition beyond that price; which, so far from affording steadiness to our market, may at one time reduce prices already too low still lower than they might have been even under a free trade, and, at another, unnecessarily enhance prices already too high; which tends to aggravate the evils of scarcity, and render more severe the depression of prices from abundance. The mode in 1411 which these excessive inconveniences, may receive some modification (laying for the present out of the question what permanent basis may be ultimately the fittest for our corn trade) appears to consist in the imposition of a. duty upon all foreigne corn, whenever upon opening our ports it should be admissible for home consumption. The occupier of the land would thus obtain, in proportion to the amount of such duty, a protection which is withheld from, him under the existing law; but in return for such protection, it is no more than reasonable towards the consumer that the import price should be fixed at a rate somewhat lower than 80s., because the new duty would otherwise not only check the sudden and overwhelming amount of import, but also enhance the prices beyond that which it might reach under the present system; nor must it be lost sight of in any future regulation, that owing to the great alteration in our currency, 80s. may and do now represent a different and considerably higher value than in 1815, as measured by the price of all articles of consumption.
§ Should parliament decide to legislate during the present session, your Committee would recommend, that after our wheat shall have reached 80s. whenever circumstances, not now to be foreseen, may have effected so great a change, a lower price may be assumed for the future import, subject to a duty. When the importers know that their grain can in no case come into the market without paying a certain sum as duty, besides the charges of importation, warehousing, and other incidental expenses, they will be less ready to adventure rashly than under an entirely free trade; they will also withdraw their corn, which may be lodged in warehouses gradually, and with more circumspection than they do at present, and will naturally endeavour to feed the market rather than inundate it. It is now their interest to take their whole stock, immense as it may be, at once from under the king's lock; but when they must pay duty for every quarter which is removed, they will prudently calculate the time that any large stock will remain on hand before they can dispose a it to advantage.
§ The foundation of any future bill should be the principle of so far modifying the operation of the existing law as to obviate, as far as may be, by the imposition of reasonable duties upon the admis- 1412 sion of foreign grain for home consumption, the sudden and irregular manner in which such foreign grain may now be introduced upon the opening of the ports under circumstances inconsistent with the spirit and intentions of the law. For carrying this purpose into effect, it would be expedient, after the ports shall have opened at 80s. (subject to a scale of duty hereafter to be fixed), to preserve the principle of an import price at a rate somewhat lower than the existing import price of 80s., and your Committee are of opinion that 70s. would not be an improper limit to assign to that price. That a duty, of from 12s. to 15s. should be imposed upon foreign wheat for home consumption when the price is from 70s. to 80s. Also that a duty of 5s. should be imposed upon such wheat, when the price is from 80s. to 85s.; after which the duty should be reduced to 1s.. And that a further additional duty of 5s. should be imposed upon wheat imported or taken out of warehouse for home consumption, for the first three months after the ports open, and when the price is from 70s. to 85. And for the purpose of rectifying the scale which governs the import, the general proportion which the price of oats bears to the price of wheat, appearing to exceed the proportion which was assumed Ito exist, when 27s. was fixed as the import price of oats, your Committee suggest, that it would be expedient to increase that price, so as to bear a more accurate proportion to the price of wheat. The scale at which barley is estimated appearing to be more correct than that of oats, the same proportion which it now bears to wheat, appears fit to continue, under any future alteration of the import price. The 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th clauses of the act, which regulates the importation of corn, make provision far admitting corn, meal, or flour, being the growth, produce, or manufacture of any British colony or plantation in North. America, for home consumption, when British wheat is at a lower price than 80s.; with regard to which colonies, it will be consistent with good faith and sound policy to preserve the same relative preference above foreign corn, in the event of any future alteration being applied to the scale of prices or of duties.
§ In compliance with an application made to them by several of the owners of the foreign grain now stored in warehouses, your Committee have already recom- 1413 mended, that permission may be granted under sufficient and adequate regulations, toe convert it into flour, and export it in that shape, by which means some portion of this large stock will be carried out of the kingdom, and remove all apprehension that the quantities so ground down can ever enter into competition with our borne produce; but in the event of a large portion not being thus disposed of, and still remaining in store, it appears practicable to adopt a method which may render this remainder also advantageous, rather than detrimental, in, its effect upon the value of British corn, whenever the average price of our wheat shall have risen to 70s. and fluctuate between 70s. and 80s.; for if it be then allowed to be taken out for home consumption, subject to a duty of 17s. per quarter, for the first three months, and afterwards to a duty of 12s., the interest of the proprietors of this grain will be brought strictly into unison with that of the British agriculturist, and into direct hostility to that of all other importers of foreign grain; so that every endeavour will be resorted to, on their part, to advance the price to 70s. that they may liberate their own stock; but to keep it below 80s. that they may exclude all foreign competitors. The equitable claim which the holders of the grain, already deposited under the act of the 55th of the late king, appear to possess, will thus be beneficially preserved to them, and the danger of an immense influx of foreign, produce will be mitigated and deferred, if not wholly prevented. It must of course be left optional to the proprietors in question, to avail themselves of this permission, or to abide by the conditions of the existing law, under which they imported; but in the first case, the payment of a moderate duty will enable them, at an earlier period, to enter a market over which they may exercise some control, conjointly with all the dealers in British corn; while in the other they can hardly expect to stem the torrent of foreign produce poured in upon our existing supply, and the immediate depression of value which must unavoidably accompany it. If the circumstances of this country should hereafter allow the trade in corn to be permanently settled upon a footing constantly open to all the world, but subject to such a fixed and uniform duty as might compensate to the British grower the difference of expense at which his corn can he raised and brought to market, toge- 1414 ther with the fair rate of profit upon the capital employed, compared with the expense of production, and other charges attending corn grown and imported from abroad, such a system would in many respects be preferable to any modification of regulations depending upon average prices, with an ascending and descending scale of duties; because it would prevent the effects of combination and speculation, in endeavouring to raise or depress those averages, and render immaterial those inaccuracies which, from management or negligence, have occasionally produced, and may again produce, such mischievous effects upon our market; but your Committee rather look forward to such a system as fit to keep in view for the ultimate tendency of our than as practicable within any short or definite period. A protecting duty which might at this day be hardly sufficient to guard our home market from the most overwhelming competition, might, when the excessive abundance on the continent shall have been absorbed, operate against the real wants of this kingdom, and subject, the growers, as well as the consumers to the greatest inconveniences. Years of dearth may again make it indispensable to have recourse to foreign produce for a part of our supply, although in seasons of ordinary plenty it may be hoped that our own agriculture has been so improved and extended, as to secure this kingdom from a state of dependence upon other and eventually hostile, territories for the subsistence of its population.
§ Your Committee have felt it their, duty, for obvious reasons, to lay without further delay before the House, the result of theirs deliberations; but they would consider that they had omitted a most material part of the task imposed upon them if they neglected to inquire into the present system upon which foreign corn is ware-housed. Your Committee are now engaged in carefully investigating this important subject, and they will not fail to report the result to the House as early as the nature of their inquiry will permit.
§ April 1, 1822.