PARLIAMENTARY REPORTS. 385 



inasmuch as the difference between the receipt and the estimate in 

 Great Britain is, in that period reduced to 1,245,550/. ; and although 

 the sum yielded by the arrears of the Property Tax was, i^s2Q.&i8 

 in that year, only 1,522,64'8/., and by the other unappro- ' 39,063 

 priated War Duties 39,068/., making together 1,561,716/., £.1,561,716 



there was still an excess of produce, upon the whole, be- 



yond the estimate, of 316,166/. 



In Ireland the revenue has likewise experienced some improve- 

 ment in this period, although not in the same proportion as it has 

 improved in Great Britain. The amount Receipt in Ireland less than 

 appears to have been 529,131/. below the ^E«'™ate-.. 529,131 



'^*. ,.,,. •iii.iii Do- 1" England more 



estimate, which being set against the total thaaEsUmate ... 316,165 



excess in Great Britain as above stated (of 



316,166/.), leaves only 212,965/. as the whole timife".^} £;^j^ 



difference betwen the actual receipts of the 



year ended the 5th of April 1818, and the estimate of the Committee 



for the United Kingdom. 



The rapid amendment of the revenue, which these accounts 

 exhibit in the latter part of the period which they embrace, is more 

 particularly and satisfactorily shown by the third statement, in 

 which the income in the quarter which closed on the 5th April, 

 1818, is compared with that %vhich was yielded in the corresponding 

 quarter of the year 1817. From this account, the arrears of the 

 Property Tax and the other war duties are excluded, in order to 

 show the real improvement of those duties only which now consti- 

 tute the permanent revenue. The result of this comparison is a 

 balance in favour of the quarter ended the 5th April, 1818, for Great 

 Britain, of 739,009/., and for Ireland, of 56,760/. ; making, upon the 

 whole, an excess of 795,769/. An excess of actual receipt which 

 would have been considerably greater if the produce of the sugar 

 duties had been divided in the same proportion in the present as in 

 the last year, between the two quarters ended the 5th January and 

 the 5th April. But in consequence of the expected rise in the 

 average price of sugar to that point at which it becomes chargeable, 

 with an additional duty of 3.?. per cwt. a great quantity then in bond 

 was taken out for home consumption, immediately before the close 

 of the quarter ended the 5th January last ; from which period the 

 additional duty, as had been foreseen by the merchants, became 

 payable. By this anticipated payment of the duties, the produce 

 of that quarter was greatly swelled, and a con-esponding deficit 

 occasioned in the produce of the succeeding quarter. With a view 

 to satisfy themselves upon this point, your Committee called for an 

 account of the nett payments into the Exchequer, under the head of 

 Sugar Duties, in the two quarters ended the 5th Januaiy and the 

 5th April 1817, and 1818 respectively ; from which it appears that 

 the total amount of the duty, in the half-year ended the 5th April 

 1817, was 1,681,768/., of which 810,94-1/. was received in the April 

 quarter ; while of the total amount of the duty in the half-year 



Vol. LX. 2 C ended 



