QUANTITY OF SUGAR ANNUALLY CONSUMED IN THE UNITED KINGDOM, WIth the aveRAGE RATE AND AGGREGATE AMOUNT OF DUTY COLLECTED THEREON; ALSO, THE AVERAGE PRICE, INCLUSIVE AND EXCLUSIVE OF THE DUTY, AND THE AVERAGE QUANTITY CONSUMED BY EACH INDIVIDUAL of the popuLATION, FROM 1801 To 1858, INCLUSIVE.

Annual average of fourteen years.

+ For eleven months ending 30th of November. For the year we compute the consumption at 9,146,187 cwts.

NOTE.-With reference to the period from 1801 to 1814, inclusive, it is to be observed:

1. That the quantities of sugar used in the distillation of spirits at various times during that period, when the distillation from corn was prohibited, together with the duties levied on the quantities so used, have been excluded from this statement.

2. That the destruction of the records by fire in 1814, having rendered it impracticable to obtain an accurate view of the consumption of any single year prior to that date, the annual average consumption of the whole period, 1801-1814, is exhibited as the substitute for such information.

Down to the year 1844, the supply of sugar came only from the colonies, the foreign being subjected to a duty of 63s. per cwt. In all that time, although the wealth and industry of the country increased greatly, the quantity of sugar per head remained unchanged, say 17 pounds per head; while the revenue, growing under the increased population, suffered from the bounty allowed on the export of refined sugar. In 1845, the first modification of the duty took place under Sir Robert Peel's bill, and the quantity per head began to increase rapidly. It will be observed that the price at which the consumer took it was nearly as high in 1857 as during the long period to 1844. Thus in 1833, they took 17 pounds per head, at a price of 53s. 10d.; in 1857, they took 29 pounds per head, at a price of 49s. 2d. It was not the reduction of price, but the generally improved condition of the people, that made the same price of smaller relative value to them than formerly. The following is a very important official table, constructed by the Board of Inland Revenue for the information of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, which, for the first time, shows the relative consumption of sugar by the different classes of society:

The following estimated consumption of sugar by the different classes. of society is the result of careful official investigations made by the Board of Inland Revenue:

Thus, the middle classes take 37 per cent, and the lower classes 40 per cent, of the whole quantity of sugar consumed. This fact places in a strong light the effect of general welfare upon the use of a taxed article.

The sugar production in Austria began in 1830, near Prague, and in ten years, from 1830 to 1840, 113 factories were put in operation; but of this number the greater part of those of the least importance, namely, those which were worked by a naked fire, and employed less than 1,500,000 kilogrammes of beet-root, (1,674 tons,) have been successively abandoned, and to such an extent that at the present time they do not reckon more than 109 in 1858, but in October of that year 13 new factories were opened in Bohemia, where the soil is favorable to the beet growth, and great attention is paid to its culture. The number of factories in operation in 1858 was as follows:

The yield of the roots is 5 a 10 per cent of sugar, but now is, owing to the new process of reviving animal black, 74 per cent average of sugar, which would give 36,190 tons, or more than one-third of the whole con

=

sumption of sugar, and 20,000 tons of molasses. The article, as its manufacture has been developed, has been taxed by the government. In 1849, the tax was 1 florin 40 kreutzers, to 80 cents, per cwt. of raw sugar, or 5 kreutzers (about 4 cents) per cwt. of fresh beet roots, or 27+ kreutzers on dry roots. The tax of 5 kreutzers on fresh roots was continued in 1850. In 1853, it was raised to 8 kreutzers. In 1857, it was advanced to 12 kreutzers, or $1 70 per 110 pounds of raw sugar. The duty on imported sugar is $5 33 per 110 pounds. This gives a discrimination in favor of the domestic article of $3 63, or 6.17 florins per 100 pounds, and to that extent the import duty is protective. The principal sugar refiners of Austria met at Vienna last summer, and, after a long deliberation, determined to recommend an addition of 50 per cent to the beet root duty; that is, to raise it from 12 to 18 kreutzers per 100 pounds. All these circumstances conflict with the regular consumption of sugar in Austria. It may be remarked that the Austrian colonial sugar imported for refiner's use, pays 2 florins per 100 pounds less than the same article in a raw state.

In the Zollverein, the duty upon beet root sugar has also been increased as fast as it was supposed capable of yielding a revenue. It was protected by the government against cane sugar by a tax of 2 cents per pound. The duty on imported sugar is now $5 52 per 110 The manufacture of beet sugar has progressed as follows:

pounds.

The average product per factory is more than in Austria.

The quantity of beet root used in the several countries, which compose

the Zollverein, for 1858, was as follows:

The consumption of sugar in the aggregate has increased considerably in the Zollverein, but the diminished use of imported sugar has been more than compensated by the increase of beet sugar. In 1838, the consumption of sugar of all kinds was 4 pounds per annum, of which four pounds was imported. In 1853, the consumption had risen to 8.14 pounds per head per annum, of which 5.17 pounds was beet-root. This was with a population of 29,728,385 souls. At this rate of progress beet-root will soon supply the whole home demand.

The tax on beet root sugar was levied in September, 1841, at groschen the cwt. of beet-roots; raised in 1844, to 1; in 1853, to 6; and 1858, 74, or as follows, with the equivalents:

The increased duty for 1858 will cause still larger receipts.

Duty.

a 6 $3,966,536

a 6 5,312,856

The disposition is thus, both in Austria and the Zollverein, to diminish the protection to domestic sugar; that is, to equalize the taxes, as in France, to a purely revenue scale.

The production of beet-root sugar in France did not much increase up to 1828, probably in consequence of the general exhaustion of the country consequent upon the long wars. It enjoyed, however, a great protection, being free of import, while colonial sugar was charged 50 francs. per 100 kilogrammes, equal to 4 cents per pound. This stimulated the beet-root production to a great extent, inducing large investments in machinery. It resulted that the home-made sugar so far supplanted the cane that the government revenues began to suffer, and the colonists raised a great outcry about the loss of the market, demanding that the beet-root sugar should be suppressed by the purchase of the interest by the government. During the agitation of this matter the beet root sugar interest languished, because its future was uncertain. Finally, in 1843, a tax was imposed upon it, to be enhanced annually for five years, when it would be the same as the duty on cane sugar, viz., 49f. 50c. per 100 kilogrammes. In face of this onerous tax the interest took a new start, and many improvements were introduced, not only in the cultivation of the cane, but in the mode of extracting the sugar. Of the 10 per cent of sugar which the roots contained, the new process raised the proportion obtained from 7 to 8, and now nearly 9 per cent.

The provisional government of 1848 also maintained the duty on beetroot sugar at 50 francs, and reduced that on cane from the West Indies to 44 francs, and on Bourbon to 41 francs. The 3 francs were supposed to compensate for the longer voyage. The duties are now equalized

on all.

The beet-root sugar manufacture in France is shown in official reports for the season of 1857-58, to the end of the month of August. It appears from it that there were 341 factories in operation, which is an increase of 58 on the previous year. There were 146 of them in the department of Nord; 54 in Aisne; 62 in Pas de Calais; 34 in Somme; 21 in Oisne, and 24 in fourteen other departments:

The increased use of beet-root sugar was such that the duties collected from it in 1858 reached 63,861,200 francs, or $12,774,240, an increase of $4,500,000 over the beet-root sugar tax of 1857.

sugar was,

The kilogramme being 2.20 pounds, it follows that 1,000 kilogrammes is nearly a ton; hence, that the consumption in France of beet in 1858, 111,877 tons. It follows that home-made sugar is now no longer protected at the expense of the colonial, and the total tax is one purely

of revenue as respects French sugars, while the policy in both Austria and the Zollverein is in the same direction, viz., to abolish protection in respect both to home-made and colonial sugars. In the United States, the tariff of 1857 reduced the import duty from 30 to 24 per cent ad valorem. All these circumstances tend to disturb the actual figures for the consumption of sugar, as calculated in the above table, which is based entirely on the imported articles.

The duties upon wine, spirits, and tobacco are also irregular, and so influenced by various circumstances that a comparison, similar to the above, would be productive of no useful results. Many other duties named in the above table are levied with the object of "protection," which is supposed to be to give the "national" productions a more favorable position in the home markets than the competing imported articles. This "protection" has many degrees, of which the highest is “prohibition." Then follows a scale of protective duties which does not tax the imported raw materials of the industry sought to be protected, and also the diminishing of the prices of those raw materials of domestic production by the imposition of export duties. The protective nature of a duty is determined to some extent by those upon the raw materials of which it is composed. Thus, a duty on woolen cloths is a revenue duty, if the raw wool bears also a duty. If, however, wool is made free, then the duty on the cloths acquires a protective nature. Protection by prohibition has nearly disappeared from the commercial code of civilized nations. It exists only in France and in Spain. In Russia, prohibition has only upon certain articles the object of protection. In the Zollverein, only playing-cards and salt are prohibited, and these by reason of the government monopoly. In Sardinia, tobacco is forbidden for the same reason. Prohibition has entirely disappeared from the tariffs of England, Holland, Belgium, Switzerland, and Austria. In France, the prohibited list is very large, and embraces most industries.

Among protective tariffs the duty on cotton textures has a permanent range. In England, with the exception of hose, they are free. In France, they are prohibited. In other countries they bear different rates of duty. In the Zollverein, a single duty protects the coarsest goods. In Austria, a scale of rates protects four fine grades; and in Spain, 50 classes of cloth, according to the fineness. In Holland, there is an ad valorem duty of 4 per cent, and in the United States, 20, 25 a 30 per cent, by the tariff of 1857 reduced to 19 per cent. A comparison of the different duties and their operation gives the following result. The ratio of duty to the value is found through the quantities imported and the yield of duty :