APPENDIX to the CHRONICLE. 105 



ply may be expected. Amongst 

 these, your committee wish parti- 

 cularly to direct the attention of the 

 house, and the country, to the arti- 

 cle of rice. The c^uantity of food to 

 be derived from equal quantities of 

 rice and wheat is, in a very great 

 proportion, in favour of the former; 

 the quality of this sjiecies of grain 

 is undoubtedly excellent ; and 

 wherever it has been introduced 

 it appears to have been highly ac- 

 ceptable ; the encouragement now 

 held out to the importation of it will 

 probably bring into Great Britain 

 all that can be spared from every 

 part of America; and considerable 

 supplies may be expected from our 

 East-India possessions, in conse- 

 quence of orders sent over land, in 

 August and Sej^tember, and of the 

 liberal terms which parliament, with 

 the concurrence of the East India 

 company, appears disposed to grant 

 to adventurers now fitting out ships 

 from hence. 



Of the remaining stock of the 

 preceding harvest of rice in Ame- 

 rica, some will arrive before Christ- 

 mas, in consequence of orders al- 

 ready given ; and the produce of 

 the last crop may begin to reach this 

 country in January and the succeed- 

 ing months. The supply from the 

 East Indies will undoubtedly be 

 later, but may be expected in part 

 at a period of the summer when it 

 must be eminently useful, and the 

 remainder previous to the time 

 when the harvest of 1801, accord- 

 ing to the ordinary course of things, 

 can be brought into general use. 



There are also other articles of 

 wholesome food, to which the at- 

 tention of your committee has been 

 directed ; and they entertain con- 

 siderable hopes that arrrange- 

 ments may be made, by which 



large quantities of fish and other 

 salted provisions may be added to 

 the supply of the market, at such 

 reasonable rates as may aftbrd a 

 material source of relief. Your com- 

 mittee mean to proceed immedi- 

 ately in this part of their inquiry, 

 and will as early as possible state 

 the result to the house. 



The stoppage of the distilleries 

 in England, at this early season, will 

 prove equivalent to the importation 

 of at least two hundred and fifty 

 thousand quarters of barley. In 

 Scotland, it is stated as likely to be 

 productive of a saving of the same 

 articleto a still greater amount; and 

 the prohibition of the use of wheat 

 in starch may save about forty 

 thousand quarters. By these mea- 

 sures large quantities of grain are 

 left applicable to the food of man 

 which have not in other years been 

 so employed ; and your committee 

 have therefore thought proper to 

 class them under the same head 

 with importation . 



Your committee think themselves 

 authorised to place a considerable 

 reliance upon the effect of the various 

 measures above referred to, in in- 

 creasing the general supply. Of 

 these, the encouragement oflered 

 by parliament for the importation 

 of foreign grain is undoubtedly the 

 most important : but whatever ex- 

 pectations maybe reasonably formed 

 of the great extent to which that 

 encouragement, combined with the 

 high price in this country, may 

 carry it, your committee think it 

 their duty to state their decided 

 opinion, and to endeavour to im- 

 press that opinion in the strongest 

 manner upon the house, that it 

 would be unwise and unsafe to place 

 their sole reliance upon resources of 

 this description. Allowing for the 



