and brewing were only 3,808,680, and that there remained barrels of Malt unaccounted for 1,126,619. This quantity which paid duty as Malt, but does not appear to have paid duty either in Beer or Spirits, was certainly used either in the one or the other, and ought therefore to be taken into account in any computation of the real quantities of Beer and Spirits made in this period. In order to apportion what part of this Malt should be allotted to Spirits and what to Beer, I have computed the proportion of Malt which appears by the Custom House books to have been consumed in the making of Spirits and of Beer, and I find that the barrels of Malt consumed in Spirits amounts to............ 2,525,819 So that it appears that of the whole quantity of Malt which paid duty two-thirds was distilled and one-third brewed. I shall therefore allot to Spirits two-thirds and to Beer one-third of the Malt unaccounted for, which will reduce the whole matter to this principle, that of the Malt which paid duty, viz., 4,935,299 barrels, two-thirds was distilled and one-third brewed. Having established this principle, I shall proceed to calculate upon it the quantities of Spirits and Beer made in Ireland in each of the two periods of four years; the first to 1795, and the latter to 1799, and I shall value the quantities at the prices above stated. In the first period of four years to 1795, The number of barrels of malt which paid duty were Of which the distillery consumed two-thirds, or... Which, at six gallons of spirit to each barrel of malt, produced gallons 4,935,299 3,290,199 ... 19,741,194 £4,935,299 19,741,194 gallons of spirits at 58. per gallon, produced The average quantity of spirits made each year 4,935,299 The average value of spirits in each year............ £1,233,824 ... In the same period, the quantity of malt consumed in the brewery being one-third of 4,935,299 barrels, was. This quantity, at a barrel and a half of beer to each barrel of malt, estimating the barrel of beer at 42 gallons, which is the quantity which the brewer sells at £1 108. and £1 38. per barrel, will produce in barrels Of this quantity, estimating one-third as strong beer, and two-thirds as ale, the number of barrels of strong beer will be 1,645,099 2,467,648 822,549 And the value of these, at £1 10s., will be........ £1,233,823 Quantity of ale brewed, or two-thirds of 2,467,648 barrels The value of which, at £1 38., will be 1,645,099 £1,891,863 The total value of beer and ale brewed in the first period.......... £3,125,686 The average number of barrels of beer and ale brewed in each year 616,912 The average value of beer and ale brewed in each year £781,421 In the second period of four years to 1799, The number of barrels of malt which paid duty The value of which, at 68. per gallon, amounts to £5,529,652 The average quantity of spirits made each year 4,774,712 The average value of spirits in each year ...... £1,382,413 In the same period, the number of barrels of malt used in beer were 1,591,570 The number of barrels of beer, of 42 gallons each, produced from this quantity.. 2,387,355 VOL. III. N The number of barrels of strong beer sold at £1 108. The value of which is The number of barrels of ale sold at £1 38. The value of which is .... ...... 795,785 £1,193,677 1,591,570 £1,830,305 Total value of beer brewed in the second period... £3,023,982 First Period. ......... ...... The total value of spirits in this period was 596,838 £755,995 £4,935,299 Second Period. In this period the total value of spirits was.. ... £5,529,652 Annual average value of both This is the best calculation I can make of the latter period. I am, my dear Lord, yours, &c., J. BERESFORD. REVENUE OF IRELAND. Extract of a Letter from Mr. Beresford to Mr. Cooke. November 27, 1799. The Treasury receipts for the last half year appear to be about £1,500,000. The gross revenue was so much more as the management, including bounties and parliamentary payments, amounted to. Of these payments one is certainly to be repaid, which amounts to a considerable sum-the payment to seamen's orders. Add the amount; and you never had, except for one or two years, so large a revenue in the whole year as you had in this half year; and, contrary to all appearances, the increase goes on through this quarter, so that I think the gross revenue will clearly be above £3,000,000. Mr. Irving insisted that our system must reduce the Irish revenue above £200,000; but on a conference, he forgot to deduct the following articles, which will still pay : The total average revenue on British goods for 3 years...... 210,404 Irving still says it will be £72,000 without the Absentee Tax-it may be so; but, if the whole was, as he states, 1 Mr. Beresford has made an error in this amount, which should be £50,469. £210,404, I do not see how he will make it out. I take for granted his total is right, and the amount of exceptions I took from his own account. Now, to counterbalance this, will be coals, £17,725, and what you hint at, and which I have repeatedly mentioned, viz., the drawing back the whole duties in England, and laying on the amount of the half subsidy in Ireland, which I have mentioned to Auckland, and will have stated in writing. By this you will see the policy of Ireland in allowing colony goods to come, paying half custom, and foreign goods one-third subsidy, if imported through England; or, to make it short, the policy was to make goods come into each kingdom upon the same duties. The Act of Customs was passed in England two years, I think, before the Irish Act. By this Act, the half custom on colony goods, and the one-third subsidy on foreign goods, was retained in England on re-exportation to all parts. The Irish Act, therefore, suffered these goods to come into Ireland through England at so much less duty as was retained in England. By this means England has ever since raised the amount of this retention on Ireland, and, as in the coal duty, upon the same principle it ought to be given up in England, and levied in Ireland. THE SPEAKER'S IDEAS CONCERNING A COMMERCIAL ARRANGEMENT. The Speaker told me in London that, in conversation between him and Mr. Pitt, or Mr. Dundas (I forget which), as to the commercial arrangements of Ireland, it was suggested that the principle to adopt would be that of the French treaty, as a principle of equitable adjustment of the commerce of two independent countries: to this the Speaker told me he had answered No; for that it was notorious Lord Auckland had overreached the French ministry; but that, if a Union were to take place, the propositions of 1785 should be |