581 



nutmeg, although the prices range from Is. 6d. to 2s. 9cl. Neither is 

 there any distinction drawn between the duty on mace of the long or 

 so-called wild nutmeg, and that of the round, although if there were 

 any sense in the distinction of duty between the two sorts of nutmegs, 

 it ought equally to have been applicable to their maces ; for the mace 

 differs but little from the fruit it belongs to. I will only give one 

 other example, that of coffee. The same duty of 285. a cwt. is charged 

 on every price ranging from S6s. to 885. There is clearly no reason 

 for making nutmegs an exception. I am of opinion that it would be 

 expedient to lower the duty on nutmegs as well as to assimilate it on 

 all nutmegs. The duty on the corresponding article of cloves is Gel., 

 and as nutmegs are about twice the value of cloves, a duty of Is. a 

 pound on them would, I think, be a just and fair one. This on the 

 consumption of 1851 would yield a revenue of £9,706, or a defalca- 

 tion of <£ll,207, which, however, would be greatly diminished by the 

 increase of consumption resulting from so large a reduction as Is. (5d. 

 a pound. Such an increase would only be consonant with what has 

 taken place in every other article of general consumption on a large 

 reduction of duty, such as tea, coffee, and cocoa. Nutmegs them- 

 selves are a striking case in point. Up to 1819 the duty had been 

 55. 5d. a pound, and the consumption about 56,000 only. In that 

 year it was reduced to 2.?. 6d., and to this must be ascribed the enor- 

 mous increase of 246 per cent, which has taken place in 30 years' 

 time." 



These two articles were not without effect, for a few days later the 

 ' Daily News ' said : — " We have the satisfaction of announcing that 

 the Lords of the Treasury have made a beginning in removing the 

 anomalies of the Customs' tariff of duties on spices. To a memorial 

 presented by the nutmeg planters, they have replied that henceforth 

 the same uniform duty (25. 6d. per ft.) is to be levied on all nutmegs, 

 and that the 5d. duty shall cease. The other anomalies in the spice- 

 duty tariff which we pointed out require the aid of the legislature for 

 their abolition. We trust it may not be long withheld." 



Erratum. — P. 547, line 14 from bottom, for " S. Tabernaemontani 

 was associated along with S. maritiraus by the side of the same pond 

 there," read, " Along with S. maritimus, by the side of the same pond, 

 there was associated S. TabernaBuiontani ; this latter," &c. 



