17 



and heavy penalties, they would be practised to 

 a great extent. The Acts which have provided 

 the allowances are extremely numerous, and not a 

 little confusion has prevailed among them. With 

 regard, however, to the removal of these duties, 

 there are some to whom it may be proper to re- 

 mark, that it is much easier to point out a mis- 

 chief, than to suggest a remedy ; that they have 

 continued for centuries, during the administra- 

 tion of all the eminent characters which have for 

 so long a period of our history occupied the sta- 

 tions of authority, that none of them have seen 

 the period at which the abolition of the salt duties 

 was thought expedient ; and that they have now 

 become a very important source of revenue. 



It can be scarcely necessary therefore to add, 

 with reference to the allusions made in the course 

 of this Report to one branch of them, that the 

 Committee are by no means to be understood as 

 complaining of an inconvenience overlooked or 

 needlessly tolerated. The Public may be assured, 

 it is a subject which is not forgotten, and that a 

 complete remedy would be provided, were it im- 

 mediately practicable. It is to be remarked, how- 

 ever, that the fisheries of no other country have 

 any hinderance or embarrassment whatever from 

 salt duties. In France, where, indeed, the op- 

 pression of it chiefly arose from the purchasing 

 of the taxed article having been compulsory, the 

 duties on salt are altogether abolished. They 

 c 



