498 Duties on Barilla. [J an, l v 
during a lapse of nearly twenty years , 
their crime was forgery, and they were 
accomplices.* This therefore indicates 
that the mountaineers have by no means 
attained so high a station in the scale 
of refinement as their eastern neigh- 
hours. May they long remain thus 
happily rude, and enviably virtuous; 
for 
Where ignorance is bliss, 
’Tis folly to be wise ! 
-« $ - 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
ARILLA, previously to the 29th 
March, 1819,was subject toaduty 
of 11s. 4d. per cent, indiscriminately; 
on that day the Royal assent was given 
to an act to repeal the said duty, and in 
lieu to enact a rate similar to an ad va¬ 
lorem duty, whereby the mineral alkali 
or soda, (being the most valuable ingre¬ 
dient in Barilla) was subjected to pay 
from that day, viz. 29th March, 1819, 
in proportion to the mineral alkali or 
soda any cargo should contain on im¬ 
portation— 
If 20 per cent, and under, 11s. 4d.per cent, 
as before. 
20 and under 25 . 15s. 
25 and under 30 . 18s. 4d. 
30 and under 40 . 23s. 4d. 
40 and upwards . 30s. 
It must be admitted that an act so 
very clearly stated, could not very well 
be misunderstood. How, then, is it to 
be accounted for, that it remains alto¬ 
gether a dead letter ? 
Sir, I have heard the case stated as 
follows: The duty is under the officer 
of customs, the higher order of whom 
say this act will occasion us much trou- 
* The criminal who w as tried at the 
summer assizes at Dolgelley, was convic¬ 
ted of stealing goods, but to a very 
trifling amount, so trifling, indeed, that 
imprisonment for 6 months was deemed 
sufficient punishment. In Myers’s “ New 
System of Geography’’ there is a table which 
shew's the proportion which the number of 
persons committed to prison, in each county 
of England and Wales, bears to the whole 
population : thus illustrating the influence 
of local circumstances on the morals of the 
people. The average of the commitments is 
taken for 13 years, viz. from 1805 to 1817, 
inclusive, and the population as stated in 
the returns of 1811. By this calculation it 
appears that the greatest number of com¬ 
mitments exists in Middlesex, there being 
1 in 588 ; while the smallest is in Anofle- 
sea. Cardiganshire comes next, and then 
Merionethshire, there being in the latter 
only 1 in 13,377. 
ble, and also our officers, auu bring to 
us a new method to ascertain value. 
We decline altogether to introduce it; 
and thus the intended increase of duty 
is totally lost to the public. 
The excise have a similar duty on 
the inland manufacture of alkali al- , 
ready under a former act, and their 
officers continue to manage it with per¬ 
fect ease, and ascertain the proportion 
of alkali precisely—they are quite 
competent to it, and are ready and wil¬ 
ling to receive a transfer of the duty. 
Dr. Henry, of Manchester; Dr. Ure, 
of Glasgow; and Mr. Braude, of Lon¬ 
don, concur in recent publications to say 
that nothing is more simple and easy 
than to ascertain the proportion of al¬ 
kali in any sample of a cargo of Barilla, 
&c. &c. 
For the last tw r o years and a half since 
the passing of the act, the revenue on 
Barilla imported has decreased several 
thousands, say about £25,000, although 
the duty on soap, the article in the ma¬ 
nufacturing of which mineral alkali is 
chiefly used, has very much increased. 
Vide government yearly finance account 
for several years. 
This effect is the natural consequence 
arising from the payment of the duty 
on Barilla according to the weight, 
and not pursuant to the act of parlia¬ 
ment according to the strength. 
There is some mineral alkali im¬ 
ported from France, under the name of 
soude factice , but which has seldom or 
ever exceeded 20 per cent, and there¬ 
fore subject only to the former duty of 
11s. 4d. But the manufacture of Ba¬ 
rilla is chiefly with Spain and Portugal, 
which have also, as all Europe has, ad¬ 
vanced very much in improvements, 
and particularly in the manufacture of 
this article; the average alkali con¬ 
tained in wdiich, a few 7 years since, was 
12 to 15 per cent., and now 7 is 23 to 25 
percent., being an increase of one-half 
to the consumer in England, for which 
he pays no additional duty. Notwith¬ 
standing the specific directions in the 
act of parliament, so very wisely and 
properly enacted, and before alluded to. 
a certain loss results to the general re¬ 
venue of about £10,000 per annum. 
Also, by finance account, a sum which 
might go in aid to prevent the discharge 
of many inferior clerks of office. 
The act does not require any oath 
from the merchant as to the proportion 
of alkali; and the certainty of ascer¬ 
taining the strength by sample cannot 
be more objectionable or difficult than 
in 
