102 ANNUAL K E G ! S T E R, 1800. 



its pvoceeiliijLg.s, that it considers 

 the dcliciciu'v of llu; stock of griiiu 

 at the coiiiiucnceiucut of tJie late 

 harvest, and the higli price wliicli 

 now prevails, as sufficient iuducc- 

 inents for adopting, without loss of 

 time, the most obvious remedies. 

 VVith this view, laws have already 

 heen brouglit forward for enco.u- 

 raging the importation of grain ; 

 for empowering his majesty to pro- 

 hibit the exportation of every arti- 

 cle of provision ; for permitting the 

 importation thereof free fr(nn duty ; 

 for prohibiting all distillation from 

 grain, and the use of wheat in 

 starch ; for permitting the barley, 

 which was damaged by wot, to he 

 made into malt, without being 

 steeped during the time now re- 

 quired by law ; for allowing sugar 

 to be u,sed, instead of malt, in the 

 brewery; and for lowering the duty 

 n]ion the imjjortatiou of liops. 



Your committee were confirmed 

 in their opinion of the propriety of 

 this order of jn-oceeding, by con- 

 sidering that no minute inquiry into 

 the state of the crop, or the stock 

 KLOW in hand, could be made with- 

 out great delay, even supposing 

 that any mode had lieen suicsrcsted 

 lor conducting such an inquiry, 

 which aiibrded a reasonahle pros- 

 pect of sufficient accuracy in the 

 result, and which woidd not be at- 

 tended with great, if not insur- 

 mountable objections in the execu- 

 tion. Y(mr connnittee also see no 

 ground for believing that any re- 

 sult, attainable by the most detailed 

 inquiry, could lead to any practical 

 conclusion, applicable to the pre- 

 sent emergency. At the same time 

 having many documents . before 

 them which could be examnied 

 without much delay, and which, 



clie(;ked . by the very extensive in- 

 formation of memhers from differ- 

 ent parts of the country, appeared 

 likely to enable them to form a ge- 

 nera,! estimate of the crop, your 

 committee have thought it right to 

 avail themselves of those materials 

 for that purpose. 



These documents consist of very 

 numerous returns to those inquiries 

 which dilierent departments of go- 

 vernment have directed to be made 

 by the receivers of the land-tax ; by 

 various officers under the board.s of 

 taxes, stamps and excise ; and hy 

 those amongst the clergy to Avhom 

 circular letters for that purpose had 

 been addressed by the bishops in 

 each diocese. Though the returns 

 are not complete from every county, 

 yet the omissions, on the whole, are 

 neither numerous nor im])ortant. 



Yourcommittee are sensible, that 

 upon the accuracy of accounts of 

 this nature, taken separately, no 

 positive reliance can he placed ; or, 

 at least, that the weight to be given 

 to them must vary in each instance, 

 according to the opinion enter- 

 tained of the diligence and infor- 

 mation of the persons by whom 

 they are made. Your committee 

 observe, however, that the general 

 result of the returns made by each 

 description of persoTis is nearly the 

 same ; that result is strongly con- 

 firmed, upon the whole, by the in- 

 formation of members from almost 

 every part of England, founded 

 upon their local inquiries, ohser- 

 vation, and correspondence. Whe- 

 tlier the average is struck from the 

 statements of the crop in the seve- 

 ral counties, without regard to their 

 size, population, and productive- 

 ness, or by throwing them into dif- 

 ferent classes with a view to those 



