TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 



171 



till a new geometry is discovered." For an exhibition of the phonetic shorthand 

 alphabet, the reader is referred to Mr. Pitman's publications. 



On the Qiutntity mid Value of Foreign Grain imported into the United King- 

 dom since the Repeal of the Corn Laws. Bt/ Frederick Purdy, F.S.S., 

 Principal of the Statistical Department, Foor-Law Board. 



The author observed that the benefits which the country had already derived 

 from free trade were beyond the most sanguine anticipations of those who had suc- 

 cessfully striven to destroy the protective tariti'of England. The Custom House 

 returns disclose figures which, to tho?e who are not very familiar with statistical 

 and economic research, look like fabulous amounts. For example, in the four years 

 ended with 1844 (these were the last years of the celebrated and mischievous 

 "sliding scale") 1,791,000 quarters was the average yearly quantity of wheat im- 

 ported ; the price of British wheat being, in those years, 64s. id., 57s. 3cL, 50s. If?., 

 and 51s. 3d., taking the prices chronologically. Eut, in the four years ended with 

 1863, the average imports were 6,970,000 quarters, at prices ranging between 

 44s. 9d. and 55s. 5d. The imports in quantity were, in the last four years, nearly 

 fourfold what we obtained in 1841-44 ; at the same time the price was much lower. 

 Under " grain " the author classed wheat, wheaten floiu- and meal, barley, oats, rye, 

 maize, peas and beans, &c. ; and it was shown, with regard to the value of these 

 commodities, that the whole of the imports dm-ing the decade ended with 1863 

 amounted to £250,202,000. Nearly all this vast quantity of grain and Hour which 

 this money-value represents has been consumed in this kingdom, about £3,000,000 

 worth only having been exported in the ten years. The annual average home con- 

 sumption of foreign corn, flour, and meal "for 1852-63 was 11,865,000 quarters, 

 valued at £25,000,000 very nearly. Three periods of four years each were then 

 taken to show the imports according to population. 



Average annual cuautity 

 per head. 



1842-45 0-8 of a bushel. 



1852-55 2-3 bushels. 



1860-63 4-4 bushels. 



So that the quantity taken with reference to the population was precisely _/?w and 

 a half times greater in 1860-63 than it was eighteen years before. It was further 

 shovsTi that, as regards the different parts of the United Kingdom, they appeared 

 to participate equally in the imports of grain properly so called : but that, of flour 

 and meal, Ireland received a much smaller quantity than either England or Scot- 

 land — e. a., the following were shown to be the proportions in each division in 

 1861:— 



Bushels of grain lbs. of flour and 

 per head. meal per head. 



England and Wales 3-9 • 286 



Scotland 3-9 293 



Ireland 3-9 36 



The year of maximum imports was 1862, when 18,441,000 quarters of grain, meal, 

 and floin of all sorts were received into the ports of the United Kingdom, valut^d 

 at £37,772,000. IMr. Macculloch had computed that, for hiunan food and for the 

 inferior animals, this country required 49,000,000 quarters of grain, flour, and meal 

 annually. This estimate was framed five or six years ago. Very recenth-, Mr. 

 Caird has computed the quantity of wheat required for the consumption of Great 

 Britain at 18,700,000 quarters. 



From the appendix to the paper the following figures have been abstracted, to 

 show the countries to which we were, at the latest date, indebted for oiu- grain 

 imports : — 



Quantities of Grain, of every Description of Grain, and of Flour and Meal, im- 

 ported into the United Kingdom in 1863. Total quantity, 25,955,939 quarters. 

 Whereof were from — 



