§ MR. HOWARD VINCENT (Sheffield, Central)asked the President of the Board of Trade, If it is a fact that, by a Statute enacted in 1872, the Corporation of the City of London was empowered to demand and receive a duty at the rate of 3–16ths of a penny per cwt. upon corn and all other grain brought into London for sale; if the said duty has been, and is now being, levied upon grain grown in Great Britain and Ireland, as well as upon Colonial and Foreign grain; what has been the average revenue produced by the Grain Duty during the past five years; if it has been applied in the reduction of local taxation, or otherwise contributing to the benefit of the citizens of London; and, if the price of either wheat, barley, oats, or other grain in the City of London has at any period during the past five years been in excess of the average price elsewhere in the United Kingdom.
§ THE PRESIDENT (Sir MICHAEL HICKS-BEACH) (Bristol, W.)This duty 560 is levied under the Statute quoted, but solely on grain brought into the Port of London, of which only a small proportion is grown in Great Britain and Ireland. The average net revenue for five years has been £12,687. It has been applied to the preservation of open spaces outside the Metropolis in the neighbourhood of London. I can give no trustworthy statistics in reply to the last Question; but this duty is so small, varying from ¾d. to ½d. per quarter, that it can hardly affect the price of grain.
§ MR. HOWARD VINCENTDoes the duty apply to British grain if brought round to London by sea.
§ SIR MICHAEL HICKS-BEACHOf course it would; but the amount was so small that no calculation could be made of it.