s6 •« ihe Highlands. Sept. c. 



AN ENQUIRY INTO THE EFFECT THAT THE SALT LAWS PRODUCE 

 ON THE REVENUE IN SCOTLA:<ID. 



Having fhowed, Bee vol. viii. p. 150 & 192, and vol. x- 

 p. 297, to what an intolerable degree the salt laws ope- 

 rate in retarding the industry of the people of Scotland, 

 I Ihall now proceed to enquire in what manner they aflfect 

 the national revenue. 



The total net produce of salt duties in Scotland, accor- 

 ding to Sir John Sinclair's account of the revenue, ap- 

 pears to be for the whole of Scotland, anno 1789 *, 

 L.9293 : 10: if. 



By the third report of the committee of parliament, on 

 fjfheries, it appears, that in the counties of Argyll, Inver- 

 nefs, Sutherland, Caithnefs, Orkney, Shetland, Nairn, and 

 Cromarty, the account of customs stood thus, for the 

 average often years preceding 1784. 



Grofs annual produce, _ _ _ _ L. 5073 12 O 

 Expence of collecting, including custom- 

 house cruizers for that part of the is- 

 land, _------_ 10,105 10 II 



Payments exceed the produce f, — L.5031 18 11 



So that government paysnearly twice as much as it draws in 

 these counties, on the. single branch of customs j and a de- 

 falcation of revenue to the amount of more than five 

 thousand pounds a-year is incurred. The excise account 

 is little different. 



But this is not the whole of the lofs incurred by the 

 revenue on account of the salt laws. Because of these 



* History of public revenue, part iil, p. 3J4. 



'\ Account of the present state of the Hebrides, Introduction, p, 65. 



