l8o4« Report of the Committee on the C:rn Trade. 53^ 



€xpc(5led, is to endeavour to fccurc an uniform and rcafonallc price to 

 the growers. 



Your Committee find, that the a<£l pafTed in 1791, giving a y o\ver 

 to the King in Council, when Parluiment is not fitting, of prohi])iiIng 

 the exportation of corn, if the average price thereof, taken from tin- 

 return of the whole kingdom, is higher than the price at or above wfiich 

 foreign corn of the fame fort is allowed to be imported at the low duties; 

 and to permit generally, for tliree months certain, the importation of 

 fuch lort on the lowed duties then payable, ought never to be exerciGd 

 but upon a ftrong and incont?overtib!e necedity ; as it may othenviff* 

 operate as a great difcouragement to the growtli and produ<ftion -of corn 

 in this kingdom, by rendering the market uncertain, by making the 

 export trade liable to be Ropped, and by enabhng a general import of 

 foreign corn to be poured into the kingdom for the term of three mouths, 

 at fo fmall a variation and advance of price in the home market, as may 

 perhaps be occafxoned for the purpofe of produciiig that effe6l. 



Your Committee are cautious of recommending a repeal of that part 

 of the a(^, left a necclTity for the exercife of that power mJght pof- 

 fibly arife, thinking it better, under fucli circumllances, that it fhould 

 be exercifed according to law, than in opposition to it ; In full confi- 

 dence, that by due encouragement to the agriculture of the country, 

 amd by bringing the crown and wafte lands iiito cnItiv?-tion, the prodnft 

 of the growth of corn in the united kingdom will afford fuch regular* 

 and ample fupply for its confumption, as to admit the repea'I of that 

 power given to his Majelly's Privy Council, without tlw danger of any 

 detriment ariiing therefrom to the pubhc. 



It appears to your Committee, that the price of corn from 1791 to' 

 the harveft of 1803, has been very iiregular, but upon an average in- 

 creafed in a great degree by the years of fcarcity, has in general yield- 

 ed a fair profit to the grower. The cat'ual high prices, however, have 

 had the effect of ftimulating indufl.ry, aiid bringing into cultivation large 

 trafts of waile land, which, combined with the two laft prodirvStive fen» 

 fons, and other caufes, have occafioned fuch a deprelTion in the value 

 of grain, as it is feared will greatly tend to the difcouragement of agri- 

 culture, uiilefs maintained by the fupport of Parliament, 



Your Committee therefore recommend tlie tables hereto annexed, 

 marked (A.) and (B.) to be adopted inftead of thofe in the a£l of the 

 jrft of the KiTig, as more fitted to the circumftancos of the prefcnt 

 times, except fo far as relates to the import and export from and to 

 Ireland ; and your Committee recommend as a neceffary meafure, that the 

 import to Ireland from foreign parts, and the export from Ireland to 

 foreign parts, fliould be rjigulated at the fame time upon the fime finale, 

 and to a proportionate amount, as in the annexed tables, calculated on 

 Irifh meafure, and in Irifh money. 



It appears further to your Committee, that the aggregate average 

 prices of the twelve maritime diftri6ls of E-ghuid^ and of the four mari- 

 time diftrifts of Scotland^ as particularized in the aft of 1 79 1 , is the 

 proper rule by which Uie Ubles for regulating the import ©f cern into 



y 3 i^rt»$ 



