TOBACCO. 



595 



than £809,000 of duty on tobacco and snuff, and only about 

 £30,000 on coffee. For eyery pound of coffee tliat the Irish 

 people use, they smoke away obou-t four pounds of tohacco. 



North America produces annually upwards of 200 million 

 pounds. The combustion of the mass of vegetable material used 

 in this kingdom would yield about 340 million pounds of carbonic 

 acid gas ; so that the yearly produce of carbonic acid gas from 

 tobacco smoking alone cannot be less than 1,000,000,000 lbs. — 

 a large contribution to the annual demand for this gas made 

 upon the atmosphere for the vegetation of the world. Hence- 

 forth let no one twit the smoker with idleness and unimportance. 

 Every pipe is an agricultural furnace, — every smoker a manu- 

 facturer of vegetation, — the consumer of a weed that he may 

 rear more largely his own provisions. 



In the year 1842, 605,000,000 of cigars were made in the 

 German Commercial Union. 



In 1839, the revenue on tobacco in this country was about 

 £3,600,000. Of this it has been estimated eleven-twelfths are 

 drawn from the working classes, and one-twelfth from the richer 

 classes. The following is a calculation of the consumption of 

 tobacco per head of the population, estimated from the number 

 of pounds on which duty was paid : — 



Consumption per head. 

 Kate of duty. 0Z3. 



1801 !}'n-in"!ff''f 1 " 



\ Is. 0 7-lOd. Ireland, j 



1811 2s. 2 13-20J. 19^ 



1821 -is. Od. 1145 



1831 3s. Od. 32 35 



IStl 3s. 1 8-lOd. 12 4-5 



1851 3s. 1 4.-5d. 21 



Thus it will be seen the consumption is materially affected by 

 the rate of duty. 



A memorial presented to the Eirst Lord of the Treasury a few 

 years ago, by the American Chamber of Commerce, and signed 

 by Mr. Thomas Todd, the chairman, furnishes some valuable in- 

 formation, and I am therefore tempted to give it entire : — 



The American Chamber of Commerce of Liverpool desire respectfully to bring 

 under the consideration of her Majesty's Government the impolicy of the 

 present high rate of duty on foreign tobacco, and the benefit to commerce, as 

 well as to the revenue, which would arise from such a reduction as would 

 remove the temptation now held out to the smuggler. 



The cost of tobacco, including freight and all charges, is f) om 3d. to 4d, per 

 lb., and the duty is 3s. per lb., being 900 per cent, on the value. A duty so 

 enormously disproportioned to the cost offers an irresistible premium to the 

 illicit trader ; for the expense of smuggling tobacco by the cargo, including the 

 first cost, does not exceed 9|d. per lb., and it has been ascertained that the 

 smuggler receives 6d. per lb, less than the duty, or 2s. 6d. per lb., which yields 

 him a clear piofit of Is. Sid. per lb,, to the injury not only of the revenue, but 

 of the fair trader. 



The effect of this heavy duty in diminishing the consumption of duty-paid 

 tobacco is further exemplified by the fact that, while all other articles of general 

 consumption have progressively increased with the increase of the population, 

 tobacco alone forms an exception, as will appear from the following : — 



2 Q 2 



