northern states of Europe, and the Bri

First Report of the Select Committee of the House of Commons appointed to consider of the means of Improving and Maintaining the Foreign Trade of the Country: Ordered to be printed 9th March, 1821.

THE Select Committee appointed to consider of the means of maintaining and improving the foreign trade of the country, and to report their opinion and observations thereupon from time to time to the House; and to whom the report relative to the timber trade, which was communicated from the Lords in the last session of parliament, and the several petitions respecting the duties on timber, presented to the House in the present session, were severally referred,-have, pursuant to the order of the House, considered the matters to them referred; and have agreed to the following Report :

Your Committee have deviated from the course which their former report appeared to prescribe, and instead of proceeding to examine some of the burthens that were stated to press with considerable weight upon the foreign, trade of the country generally, have applied their consideration to that particular branch of it, which embraces the importation of timber from the

they have done, as well on account of that branch having (as appears by a report referred to them) already occupied the attention of a committee of the other house of parliament, appoint. ed for similar purposes; as of the anxiety they understand to prevail among the commercial and shipping interests, connected with the trade in question, and the inconvenience of a continued suspense in respect to the system which parliament may deem it expedient to adopt, on the expiration of the existing law, which, according to the latest extension of it, will terminate on the 25th of March in the present year.

In the imposition of the several duties, at present in force, on the impor tation of timber, the consideration of the legislature appears to have been directed to two distinct objects; first, to the protection and encouragement of the wood trade in the British American colonies; and secondly, to the augmentation of the revenue.

Regarding them in this point of view, the first question that obviously presented itself was, to the maintenance of what part of these duties, if of any, the public faith might be supposed to be committed. A short reference to the laws which imposed the respective duties, and to the circumstances attending the periods at which they were im posed, has been sufficient to satisfy your Committee on this head.

Although the policy of giving en

couragement to the trade in timber from the British American colonies, may be inferred to have been previously entertained, from the acts 3 and 4 Anne, and 5 Geo. III., by which bounties upon the export of it were granted, it does not appear to have been acted upon with much effect before the year 1809. At that time the course of events had placed our relations with the northern states (from whose territories our supplies of timber, as well for domestic as for naval purposes, had been chiefly derived) in a situation which gave rise to a wellfounded apprehension, lest the resources in that quarter might entirely cease to be available for the demands of this country.

Under the influence of this apprehension, it was deemed advisable by parliament to resort to the hitherto neglected, though abundant supplies, to be found in our American colonies, and by adequate protection to encourage the transport of them, to meet the exigency with which we were threatened. To accomplish this object, a virtual exemption from duty was granted to the timber imported from our North American possessions, while a large addition was made to that levied on timber from the north of Europe, first, by the 49th Geo. III., c. 98, and in the ensuing year by the 50th, c. 77, by which the duties of the preceding year were doubled, making the whole duty on northern timber, including the temporary duty imposed in the same years, for the support and during the continuance of the war, amount to 21. 14s. 8d. per load. These duties were again augmented by an addition of 25 per cent to the permanent duties on timber, in common with all other duties of customs, for the express purpose of assisting the revenue. The whole of these duties were consolidated by the 59th of the late King, and now amount

to 31. 5s. per load, when imported in British ships.

From this statement it will appear, that of these duties (however they may all alike have operated in the way of protection to the colonial timber trade,) a part only can be said to have been intended for that purpose; viz. those which were imposed by the acts passed avowedly with the object of giving encouragement to that trade, amounting to 21. 1s. per load, and which may be contended to have led to its extension by the application of capital, which, except for such inducement, would never have been so invested. With respect to the exemption from duty in favour of colonial timber, that advantage was originally temporary, and has been since continued from time to time for limited periods; and although the persons concerned in the colonial timber trade may have had a just expectation that they should enjoy for a considerable period the advantages afforded them, as well by the exemption granted as by the duties imposed by the 49th and 50th Geo. III.; so far from any expectation being held out that the encouragement so given had been considered by government as permanent, or was intended to be indefinitely continued to them, that means seem to have been studiously taken to produce by explanation a conviction of a contrary tendency, and to impress them with the assurance, that previous ly to the expiration of the existing law, the timber trade would be brought under consideration of parliament, with the view of introducing an alteration into the scale of the present duties, that should render them more equal and more favourable to our intercourse with the foreign states with whom it was carried on. Your Committee are therefore of opinion, that there is nothing which precludes the consideration of these duties, nor any part of

them, which in strictness may not be open to any modification, either in respect to the rate at which they shall continue, or the mode in which they shall be levied, that parliament, under a sense of the public interest, may deem it prudent to introduce.

The policy most advantageous to the country, as far as the mere supply of timber is concerned, would be, to obtain it of the best quality, and at the lowest price, without reference to the quarter from whence it might be derived; and the course of your Committee has been to inquire, first, to what extent the operation of this policy is infringed by the system of duties now in force; in the next place, to examine how far the limits imposed on its operation are sustained by adequate considerations of expediency; and lastly, to determine whether, by the adoption of any and what alterations, the duties might be rendered, as far as circumstances allowed, more consistent with the regard due to the principle on which this policy proceeds, and generally more beneficial to the commercial interests of the United Kingdom.

It appears, that previously to the imposition of the duties in 1809-10, the supplies of wood required for the consumption of the country were principally furnished by the northern states of Europe; that subsequently to that period, a great and gradually increasing proportion of its supplies has been drawn from the British North American colonies; that at present the use of the timber from the north of Europe, owing to the price it bears in comparison to American timber, is in a great measure confined to the higher and more valuable description of buildings, and to purposes for which increased strength in bearing is necessary or desirable; that for less substantial buildings, and for the inferior purposes to

which wood is applicable, the American timber and deals have been generally brought into consumption; and although the red pine of America (of which the quantity is relatively small) is said by several witnesses to be equal in quality to the fir from the north of Europe, yet the yellow pine, of which the great importation consists, is stated, when used in this country, to be inferior to it, except for particular purpo ses and in particular situations, from its supposed greater liability to dryrot, and comparative deficiency in strength and durability. At the same time there is reason to believe, from other evidence, that much prejudice subsists on this head, and that in Lancashire, where the yellow pine has been a longer time in general use than in any other part of the kingdom, as well as in the neighbourhood of Shields, its qualities are considered as more valuable than they are generally esteemed; and there is repeated testimony, that when used in America, both in the construction of ships and buildings, it has been found to be free from the particular defect alluded to, and of a durability equal to that of the best timber of Europe.

The scale of comparative value-attached by different witnesses to the wood drawn from each particular country, will be seen in the evidence of Sir R. Seppings, Mr Holland, Mr White, Mr Copland, Mr Churchill, Mr Smith, Mr Haigh, Mr Belhouse and others, to which your Committee think it sufficient to refer.

That the supply of wood to meet the demands of the British and Irish market might be obtained with greater facility and cheapness to the consumer (if the means of purchasing and transporting it at the lowest rate were the only considerations to be attended to,) a reference to the account of the char. ges of obtaining and transporting it

From the northern ports of Europe, independent of the duty, will leave no doubt; and although, under the pressure of the duty, the demands of the country for superior purposes may have been such as to lead to the importation to a certain amount of timber from the Baltic, it yet must be obvious, that while this duty bears upon it with its present weight, it is to those higher purposes alone to which that species of timber can be applicable; and that a great proportion of wood of an inferior quality must be forced into consumption, both in avowed substitution for the superior timber in buildings, which thereby become less solid and lasting; and in a fraudulent application of it, when that of a superior kind has been contracted for, which, according to the evidence, if practised, can be with difficulty detected; expedients of this nature would probably not be resorted to, if the difference of price were reduced, and the inducement to prefer the American wood were less powerful. It appears, too, by the admission of some of the principal dealers, that the difference is at present such as to be prejudicial to the trade itself, and to bring into the market from the colonies an excessive quantity of timber of a very inferior description, both in point of quality and preparation, and that some alteration of the duty, calculated to approximate the relative prices of the timber from the north and from the American colonies, would be desirable, if only to confine the supply of the market to a more carefully selected and better prepared commodity. In addition to these inconveniences, the amount of the duty levied on Baltic timber, and the increased price which, under the operation of that duty, the American timber must have borne, may be considered as a bounty paid by the consumers of the united kingdom for

VOL. XIV. PART II.

the benefit of the North American colonies, and the support of the superfluous shipping, to which the transport of their wood is said to afford the only employment.

The prudential considerations by which the application of the same principle appear to have been limited, are, the danger incident to want of competition, from the exclusion of colonial timber, and from a reliance for our supplies on a single source; the possible failure of supply from the north of Europe, in a moment of necessity; the maintenance and employment of our shipping, and the effect that might be produced on the various interests connected with our American trade, and the capital embarked in the establishments for carrying it on. The same prudential considerations, in the opinion of your Committee, at present forbid any recommendation on their part, tending entirely to take away the legislative protection hitherto enjoyed by the colonial trade; but, as the extent of that protection is admitted on almost all hands to exceed the necessary bounds, they have directed their attention to ascertain to what amount that protection, and in what mode, should be prospectively continued.

In so far as any alteration introduced is favourable to foreign trade, it must have a tendency to produce an increa sed importation from the north of Europe, and thereby possibly to induce an increased demand from that quarter for the manufactures of Great Britain; and your Committee are inclined to believe, that an increased demand would be the result, as well from the desire for British manufactures that is said strongly to prevail in those countries, as from the extent to which the export of them has been maintained, notwithstanding the burthens imposed on the importation of this important branch of their produce into