254 ON THE PRICE OF GRAIN. 



and white peas is. 8d. ; the fall in grey peas being trivial, and chiefly 

 in the Northern markets. The highest price of beans is at Hereford 

 and Hitchin, 28^.; the lowest at Ripon, 13*. 6d. The price in Lon- 

 don is 17.?. 4</. The highest price of grey peas is at Brentford, 

 Southampton, and Wantage, 321. ; the lowest at Ripon, 12^. $d. 

 The price in London is 23^. 2\d. White peas are sold at Richmond 

 at an average of 42*. i J</., in Andover and Hereford at 40^. In Lon- 

 don the price is 32^. 



1702-3. In this, the last year of Houghton's series, and the last of 

 the period before me, the price of wheat rises slightly on the previous 

 year, is. lod. on the general average. The principal rise is in the 

 Home, Eastern and Southern counties. In the Midland the rise is 

 trivial, in the Northern a few pence, in the South-west the price is 

 absolutely unchanged. The highest averages are near London ; 

 Brentford and Croydon, 34^.; Kingston, 32*. zd.\ Reading 32^.; Dart- 

 ford, 30^. lod. ; the lowest price is at Melton Mowbray, 2os. The 

 London average is 28^. $\d, 



Barley and malt are lower, there being a considerable decline in 

 the former in all the districts, the average being nearly 3.?. less than 

 in 1701. But the fall in the price of malt is only a few pence, the 

 only notable fall being in the South-west, while in some of the dis- 

 tricts the price is fractionally increased. The highest price of barley 

 is at Hereford and Ripon, 20^.; the lowest is at Exeter, i2s. g-fd.; 

 next at Stamford, 13^. i\d. The price in London is 14^. The 

 highest price of malt is at Hereford, 24^. The London average is 

 20.$-. lod. Oats are almost at the same price as in 1701. In London 

 they are at 12^. g\d. Rye is a little dearer. Beans are decidedly 

 cheaper, grey peas fractionally cheaper, white peas fractionally dearer ; 

 but the change is so slight, that it may be treated as accidental. 



The import duties of the Restoration Parliament and 

 the bounties of the Convention Parliament were intended 

 to raise the price of corn. But it is clear that for some time 

 they did not effect this purpose, for there were periods in which, 

 despite the import duty, the price of grain was continuously 

 low, and there is reason to believe that the export duty had 

 the effect of stimulating the cultivation of such land as would 

 not have been employed for tillage at all, except in the view of 

 the bounty. This fact, years after the operation of the bounty 

 had practically ceased, was recognised and insisted on in 



