696 



l)IiUG8, NARCOTICS, ETC. 



COMPARATIVE SCALE OP POPULATION AND CONSUMPTION OP TEA, COFFEE, 

 AND TOBACCO, IN GBEAT BRITAIN AND IEELAND, COMPILED FROM PAR- 



LIAMENTAttT PAPEBS. 



Tea. 



1801 

 Duty, 



1811 

 Duty 



1821 

 Duty, 



1831 

 Duty 



1841 

 Duty, 



Population. 



Coffee. 



Tobacco. 



16,338,102 



65 a 95 per ct. 



Lbs., 23,163,999 

 18,547,720 



96 per cent 

 Lbs., 24,461,308 

 21,193,458 



96alOOperct. 

 Lbs., 26,043,257 

 24,271,763 



96alOO per ct. 

 Lbs., 30,648,348 

 26,855,928 



26*d. per Ib. 

 Lbs., 36,396,073 



The consumption of tobacco in the island of Great Britain, excluding Irelandj 

 and the duty thereon, were in 



Consumption. Duty. 



10,514,998 Ibs Is. 7d. 



19d. per Ib. 



& 12| per ct. 



871,846 



8d. per Ib. 

 6,895,619 



12d. per Ib. 

 7,593,001 



6d. per Ib. 

 22,740,627 



6d. per Ib. 



28,420980 



19d. per Ib 

 & 12 per ct. 

 16,895,752 



26R per Ib. 

 21,~376,370 



4s. per Ib. 

 1,823,365 



3s. per Ib. 

 19,418,941 



3s. per Ib. 

 22,094,772 



1801 

 1811 

 1821 

 1831 

 1841 

 1851 



14,923,243 2s. 2|d. 



12,983,198 4s. Od. 



15,350,018 3s. Od. 



16,083,593 3s. Od. 



28,062,841 , ; 3s. Od. 



In the last two periods five per cent is added to all the duties. 

 Thus, while the consumption of tea and coffee has increased even beyond 

 the ratio of the population, the consumption of tobacco has decreased. 



This table also exemplifies the greater productiveness of a low duty com- 

 pared with a high one; for instance, coffee in 1801, at Is. 7d. per Ib., yielded 

 77,654; in 1821, at Is. per Ib., 379,650; and, in 1841, at 6d. per Ib., 710,524; 

 tobacco in 1821, at 4s. per Ib., yielded 3,164,673, and 1841, at 3s. per Ib., 

 3,314,215. But the difference in duty in the latter case was not sufficient to 

 curtail the profits of the smuggler to any material extent. 



Cigars afford a remarkable example of the amount of duty being increased 

 by diminishing the rate. In 1828, when the duty was 18s. per Ib., duty was 

 paid on 8,600 Ibs. only, yielding 7,740. In 1830, when the duty was reduced 

 to 9s. perlb., duty was paid on 66,000 Ibs., yielding 29,700; and such has 

 been the increase of consumption, that, in 1841, duly was paid on 213,613 Ibs., 

 yielding 100,899. 



"We would further illustrate the position by the following facts : 

 In 1798, Ireland, with a population of 4,000,000, consumed 8,000,000 Ibs. 

 of tobacco, and now, with more than double the population, she consumes about 

 3,000,000 Ibs. of tobacco less than at the former period. The reason is obvious : 

 in 1789 the duty was 8d. per Ib ; now it is 3s. In 1798, England and Scotland, 

 with a population of 10,000,000, consumed 10,000,000 Ibs. of tobacco, being one 

 half of the relative consumption of Ireland at the same period ; the duty in 

 England and Scotland being then Is. 7d. per Ib., and in Ireland only 8d. 



But the quantity of tobacco on which duty is paid does not even approxi- 

 mately show the quantity consumed. If the duty now paid on tobacco in the 

 United Kingdom retained the same relative proportion to the population that it 

 held in Ireland in 1798, the duty in 1841 would have been actually levied 

 upon 53,711,856 Ibs., instead of 22,094,772 Iba. ; and such we believe to be 

 about the actual amount of consumption, the gteat bulk of the supply being 

 furnished by the illicit trader. 



In Prussia, it appears that the consumption of tobacco is at the rate of three 



