SO] 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1813. 



particular items. The next duty 

 was that which had already passed 

 the House, the addition of 3*. per 

 barrel on malt, the produce of 

 which was estimated at 115,000/. 

 The right hon. gentleman here 

 entered into an elaborate detail of 

 the data, on which he founded his 

 assumption that this additional tax 

 would produce the sum specified; 

 particularly as it was accompanied 

 by certain regulations with respect 

 to the malt made use of in the dis- 

 tilleries. The next duty he had to 

 notice, was one to which, if he 

 could judge from the general lean- 

 ing of the House, he could expect 

 no opposition ; he alluded to an 

 additional duty of sixpence per 

 gallon on spirits. It had been 

 argued, that 35. having been im- 

 posed on each barrel of malt, there 

 should be a corresponding duty 

 laid on spirits. He did not think 

 that the addition of sixpence per 

 gallon could materially affect the 

 interests of the distiller; at the 

 same time he was assured, that an 

 increase of duty on the distilleries 

 was a measure which parliament 

 ought not, and would not, in the 

 present posture of affairs, be 

 anxious to oppose. The amount 

 of this additional duty on spirits, 

 calculated on 4',4'00,000 gallons, a 

 less quantity than was ever known 

 to have been distilled in anj' one 

 year, would be 110,000/. 



He believed the consumption 

 of spirits to be more than of twice 

 the amount upon which he had 

 made his calculation, and he did 

 not despair if parliament would 

 arm the executive government 

 with sufficient power to put down 

 the evil of illicit distillation, and if 

 those, the best guardians and en- 

 forcers of the laws, the gentlemen 



of the country, those resident 

 amongst the people and the most 

 interested in the preservation of 

 the public morals and the public 

 peace, would lend their aid fairly 

 to its suppression, he did not 

 despair, while they would be pro- 

 viding best for the happiness, as 

 well as they would promote most 

 the industry of the people, of ob- 

 taining from the distillery in the 

 ensuing year, a greater revenue 

 than it has ever yet yielded to the 

 state. It was known to those 

 members for Ireland who had sat 

 on the committee above stairs, and 

 he was anxious to re-state in the 

 House, that assurance he had given 

 them of the anxious wish of the 

 government to accompany any 

 strong measures which might be 

 recurred to, to get rid of the per- 

 nicious practice of private distilla- 

 tion, by provisions for the encou- 

 ragement of small stills throughout 

 the country, and he hoped that 

 the indulgences which he meant 

 to extend to them by bringing the 

 market home to the neighbour- 

 hood, and the door, as it were, of 

 the farmer, would take away the 

 inducements to this practice, while 

 the enforcement of the law would 

 punish its violation, if the practice 

 should continue to prevail ; upon 

 this subject, however, he would 

 not say more ; he would wait until 

 the proper time for the discussion 

 of this point should arrive, and he 

 had the satisfaction of thinking, 

 that he had the almost unanimous 

 support and sanction of the repre- 

 sentatives of Ireland to the mea- 

 sure which the committee had in- 

 structed him to introduce. The 

 next duty he had to state was one 

 to which parliament bad already 

 acceded, that was the argumenta- 



