596 



DEUGS, Is'ARCOTICS, ETC. 



Coffee. 



Tobacco. 



19d. per lb. 



I9d. per lb 



& 12| per ct. 



& 12| per ct. 



871,846 



16,895,752 



8d. per lb. 



26|d. per lb. 





91 ^'yfi 9'7n 

 ^i,o/ D,o / U 



12d. per lb. 



46. per lb. 



7,593,001 



1,823,365 



6d. per lb. 



3s. per lb. 



22,740,627 



19,418,941 



6d. per lb. 



3s. per'lb. 



28,420980 



22,094,772 



Comparative Scale of Population and Consumption op Tea, Coffee, 

 AND Tobacco, in G-eeat Bkitain and Ieeland, Compiled from Par- 

 liamentary Papers. 



Population. Tea. 

 1801 16,338,102 



Duty, 65 a 95 per ct. 



Lbs., 23,163,999 

 1811 18,547,720 

 Duty i 96 per cent. 



Lbs., 24,461,308 

 1821 21,193,458 

 Duty, 96al00perct. 



Lbs., 26,043,257 

 1831 24,271,763 

 Duty 96al00 per ct. 



Lbs., 30,648,348 

 1841 26,855,928 

 Duty, 26id. per lb. 



Lbs., 36,396,073 



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

 and the duty thereon, were in 



Consumption. Duty. 



1801 10,514,998 lbs Is. 7d. 



1811 14,923,243 „ 2s. 2|d. 



1821 12,983,198 „ 4s. Od. 



1831 15,350,018 „ 3s. Od. 



1841 16,083,593 „ 3s. Od. 



1851 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 lb., yielded 

 £77,654; in 1821, at Is. per lb., £379,650; and, in 1841, at 6a. per lb., £7i0,524; 

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

 £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 lb., duty was 

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

 to 9s. per lb., duty was paid on 66,000 lbs., yielding £29,700; and such has 

 been the increase of consumption, that, in 1841, duty was paid on 213,613 lbs., 

 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 lbs. 

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

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

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

 with a population of 10,000,000, consumed 10,000,000 lbs. 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 Jb., and m 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 lbs., instead of 22,094,772 lbs. ; and such we believe to be 

 about the actual amount of consumption, the gieat 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 



