The duty on beer in Scotland has, since the Union in 1707, been the same as was charged in England; but the consumption in that part of the kingdom, which was always greatly below the proportion in England, has been comparatively insignificant during the last half century. The number of barrels charged with duty in Scotland, in 1829, was 366,166, of which 247,443 barrels, or two-thirds, were small beer. The yearly consumption of both qualities amounted therefore to 5 gallons for each inhabitant, and the duty paid by each averaged 8d. It has been shown that the difference in this respect between England and Scotland is compensated by the greater use of spirits in the latter division of the kingdom. No duty was ever charged on beer in Ireland.

Since 1785 brewers of beer for sale have been obliged to take out an Excise license, for which they have been subjected to an annual pay. ment in proportion to the quantity brewed. This system of obliging manufacturers of, and dealers in, commodities chargeable with Excise duties to take out licenses, was adopted with the twofold object of bringing the parties more directly under the survey of the revenue officers with the view of preventing frauds, and of adding directly to the public revenue by means of the charge made for the license. There have been so many changes made in the regulations, whereby additional classes have at various times been embraced, and the charges made for licenses have been so altered, that it would not afford any information concerning the progress made in this branch of manufacture to state the number of licenses that were taken out in different years. Some information on this subject has been given in a former Section of this work, when treating of the "occupations of the people.'

*Pages 67 and 68.

CHAPTER V.

TOBACCO. Consumption at different Periods-Effects of increased Duties-Encouragement to Smuggling-Complaints of high Duty on the part of the Producers in the United States of America-Threatened Retaliation - Probable consequence of such a course. PAPER. Quantity made for use at different periods-Injudicious Nature of the Tax on this Article-Growing Use of Paper-Effect of Reduction of Duty-Rapid Extension of Sale by Repealing the Duty on Almanacs. SOAP. No means of distinguishing its Use for Personal Purposes from that caused by Manufacturing Processes-Frauds caused by the Duty-Impolicy of Imposing a Duty on Soap-Mischief of Excise Regulations-Annual Consumption of Soap at various Periods. CANDLES. COTTON MANUFACTURES. Estimated Consumption. SILK MANUFACTURE. Estimated Consumption-LINEN AND WOOLLEN MANUFACTURES. Difficulty of estimating the Value used. IRON. Increased Use of this Material for Ship-building. COPPER. Quantity used. TIN. TIMBER. Quantity imported for use in different Years afford insufficient data for estimating the use of Timber generally-Consumption of the Metropolis-Cattle-Sheep-Coals-Gas Lighting-Consumption of Food in Private Families.

Tobacco. THE quantity of this plant upon which consumption duty is paid is considerably less at the present time, taking the kingdom throughout, and making allowance for the increased population, than it was at the beginning of the present century. This fact is clearly attributable to the increase made in the rate of duty. In great towns, and among the easy classes, and especially among our young men, whose expenditure is least likely to be carefully regulated as regards minor luxuries, the smoking of tobacco is probably much greater now than it has been at any earlier period. The falling off in the consumption is principally experienced in Ireland, where the smoking of tobacco has long been a chief luxury among the working classes, and where, considering the few comforts that usually fall to their lot, its diminution betokens a great degree of privation. Contrasting 1839 with 1801, it will be seen that the average use of tobacco in Ireland is only one-half what it was at the beginning of the century; and, although the rate of duty is now about three times what it was in 1801, the contribution per head to the revenue has advanced only 75 per cent. In Great Britain, where the condition of the people generally has been more satisfactory than in Ireland, the consumption per head is now about equal to what it was at the beginning of the century, and the contribution to the revenue has consequently been more in agreement with the increased rate of the duty.

It is made evident by these figures that the duty of 4s. per lb. was excessive. The advance to that rate from 2s. 2d. caused a diminished consumption to the extent of one-fourth, and the revenue per head which, had the consumption not been lessened, would have been 4s. 10 d., amounted to only 3s. 7d.

The yearly consumption of tobacco in the United Kingdom has since 1841 been as follows:

One great evil that attends upon exorbitant taxation on this article of consumption, is the encouragement that it gives to smuggling. The amount of the duty is so vastly out of proportion to its value, that the contraband dealer can afford to lose several ventures if he can succeed in safely disposing of one. The number of those successful ventures there

are, of course, no means for ascertaining; but it appears from a return made to the House of Commons, that the number of persons convicted for smuggling tobacco in the three years, 1843 to 1845 inclusive, was—

The high rates of duty charged on tobacco in various European countries have been felt as a grievance by some of the States of the

American Union, and threats have sometimes been used, that unless an alteration be made in those rates, retaliatory measures would be taken, and heavy duties placed upon some of the staple manufactures of Europe when imported into the United States. This very ineffectual, but by no means uncommon method of meeting the case, has in recent years been adopted by the American Congress. The result of the existing tariff of the United States in all probability has been to limit the sales as well as the purchases of America, and instead of causing an increased vent for tobacco, to diminish it by lessening the means which foreigners have for buying.*

Paper-It would give a very wrong view of the progressive use of paper in the several divisions of the kingdom, if the calculations were made from the produce of the duty in those divisions. The manufacture of paper is carried on in certain localities, whence it is distributed over every part of the kingdom, so that English-made paper finds its way to Scotland and Ireland. The Parliamentary volumes do not contain any statement of the quantity of paper brought to charge with the Excise earlier than 1803 in the present century, which year is therefore inserted in the following comparison, instead of 1801.

The duty on paper was first imposed in 1711 by the Act 10 Anne, c. 19, which recites, as a reason for the tax, "the necessity of raising large supplies of money to carry on the war," and surely it required a case of strong necessity to justify the imposition of a tax which tended so directly to impede the progress of knowledge among the people. That it must have had this effect is evident from the statement here given. While the duty on first-class paper, which includes writing and printing paper, was continued at 3d. per lb., the increased quantity used was, considering the increase of the population, very insignificant. The quantity used at the different periods, if equally divided among the population, would have been—

* An illustration of this position, in the words of Dr. Franklin, will be seen, p. 501.

The reduction of the duty took effect only in October, 1836, and could not be expected to have produced its full effects for some years thereafter. The degree in which it has already stimulated consumption may be seen from the following account of the quantities used in each of the sixteen years, 1834 to 1849, viz.

Previous to 1836 the paper duty was charged on two classes or qualities, of which the first class paid 3d., and the second class 11⁄2d. per lb. Not any change has been made in the rate charged on the second-class paper, but the duty on the first class has been assimilated to it, and thenceforward the Excise officers have not made any distinction between the two qualities. The duty having been continued at the same rate upon common paper, it is not likely that much increase in the quantity used will have taken place; but, if we even calculate that an increased quantity, to the amount of 10 per cent., has been used since 1835, this would leave 31 per cent. increase upon first-class paper in little more than two years from the reduction of the duty. That the progressive increase experienced up to 1839 was not continued for the three years beyond that year, is no doubt attributable to the condition of commercial stagnation, which lessened the power of expenditure among a large class of persons who can economise in the purchase of books without exciting the attention of the circle in which they move. From 1843, it will be seen that the stagnation having passed away, the use of paper has again been increasing, so that the quantity used in 1849 exceeded that used in 1835 by more than 78 per cent.

There is reason for supposing that the public may hereafter obtain, more even than hitherto has been the case, advantages from the reduction of this duty. The sudden demand consequent upon the alteration in 1836 caused for a time an increase in the price of the principal materials of which paper is made, but this advance has not since been maintained; and there can be no doubt that, stimulated by the higher price, larger quantities of those materials will find their way to the English market; or, what is equally probable, that other materials may be found applicable to the purpose, and at a lower price, so that the cost of paper may in time be reduced in even a greater proportion than has hitherto followed the reduction in the rate of duty.

The number of licenses taken out by paper manufacturers has been as follows: