in the next session of parliament, for enlarging and opening the cornmarket in London, either by removing it to the west side of Towerhill, near the river, or by extending the Exchange in Mark-lane, by the purchase and pulling down of some of the warehouses and premises surrounding it, according to a plan mentioned in the Appendix, the expenses of which alteration might probably be provided for without much difficulty in so opulent a metropolis; for appointing, by election of the lord mayor and aldermen, or other competent and unsuspected authority, a proper clerk or superintendant of the market, to be responsible to the corporation; and for establishing a correct and public register of all transactions therein, and regular hours for opening and closing the same. II. That it would likewise be advantageous to the public, if factors and dealers in corn were compelled by law to expose all the samples intended to be by them offered for sale on a given day, at the same time, publicly on their stands, at the opening of the market, marking on each bag the quantities to which it related; abstracts of which marks should be delivered to the clerk of the market, for public inspection, before its opening; and further, that it would be adviseable that some regular and authentic publication should take place in the market of the quantities of all corn arrived coastwise, from abroad, or in the river, within a given period, either by returns transmitted from the proper officer at the Custom-house, or Cocketoffice, to the clerk of the market, or otherwise, as might be thought expedient. And with a view to the same object, it might be proper to provide for the constant and im partial inspection of the quality of all corn on board ships, or in gra naries, in order to ascertain whe ther it was or was not in a state fit to be brought into the market for sale and consumption. III. That it would be expedient to prevent corn-factors from becoming dealers on their account; and with that view to place them on the footing of brokers in other trades carried on within the city of London, by obliging them to give bonds to the same effect. Your committee cannot but think that such a regulation would be found advantageous upon the principle alluded to in a preceding page of this report; and they have the satis faction of perceiving, from the evidence of some very intelligent factors, in a considerable line of business, that no material detriment or inconvenience could arise from it to the persons concerned-if adopted, as it ought to be, with full notice, and applied to the regular and uniform course of trade, and not to any particular and critical emer gency like the present. IV. Your committee cannot hesitate to declare an opinion, that the practice of purchasing corn to sell it again in the same or some subsequent market before delivery, and consequently before the payment becomes due on the first sale, with a view to a possible advantage on the difference between the first and second price of the article, ought to be discouraged. If any effectual measures could be proposed for preventing such speculations in corn, without materially affecting the usual course of trade, or interfering with the fair and necessary means which must exist in conducting commerce on a great scale, and in an advanced state of society, they might very properly and and reasonably be adopted. For it is obvious the price of any commodity must be enhanced by every intermediate profit which is taken in its passage to consumption, beyond such as necessarily arises from the more convenient and speedy modes of conveying it from the first hand to the consumer. Whether these are in particular cases useful or superfluous, is matter of very difficult discrimination in a legislative point of view, and the decision must in general depend on an examination and knowledge of an infinite va riety of circumstances. On one hand, the statute law expressly allows the buying of corn to sell it again for profit, by the precise words of the act of 31 Geo. III. c. 30. sect. 2.; and, on the other, the ancient common law of the land prohibits any one from buying of corn, or other dead victual, in any market, and selling it again in the same market, or within four miles of the same; which constitutes the offence of regrating. It has, however, been suggested to your committee, that considerable benefit would be derived, and no inconvenience sustained, from prohibiting the re-sale of corn in Mark-lane till at least four weeks had elapsed from the time of the first purchase (to be ascertained by the register, or by the meter's book); it being presumed in this case, that by the course of trade the corn would have been actually delivered to the original purchaser, and the price paid for it, before it could be a se cond time offered for sale, and consequently that such speculation of the kind alluded to would be much embarrassed, if not wholly prevented. This proposition is certainly deserving of attention, and proceeds from several respectable quarters; your committee therefore think they cannot forbear to refer it to the future deliberation and superior wisdom of the house. Upon the whole, though your committee are of opinion that the state of the corn-trade, in this metropolis, admits of and requires regulation and improvement, with a view to the more convenient; open, fair, and satisfactory mode of carrying it on; and although they are inclined to think that practices have at times prevailed, inconsistent with the perfect justice due to the public; yet that these have not been proved to exist to any very considerable extent, or to have contributed materially to enhance the price of bread-corn to the enormous amount which it has most unfortunately maintained for a long time past. The original cause must be sought for, principally, in the dearth and scarcity produced by such a succession of unfavourable seasons, as is not to be paralleled in the modern history of Great-Britain; which has rendered the supply in adequate to the usual demand. Other circumstances have undoubtedly contributed in a degree to aggravate the distress the country has been obliged to endure: the return of plenty will, it is hoped, remove this evil; but your committee cannot conclude without observing to the house, that it is during plenty that it is most fit and safe to provide against the probable recurrence of scarcity, by wise regulations, by wholesome and well considered laws, and, above all, by every practicable and rational mode of encouraging and improving agriculture within the realm; upon which, under Providence, every great nation must depend for its existence; and without which commerce and manufactures are of little comparative advantage. FINANCE FINANCE. Resolutions moved by Mr. Tierney, in the House of Commons, on Wednesdag June 17. That the amount of the public funded debt on the 1st of February, 1793, was 238,231,2487. exclusive of long and short annuities for lives to the amount of 1,379,550l. of which sums stock to the amount of 10,242,100l. had been purchased by the commissioners for redeeming the national debt, and annuities to the amount of 79,8801. had fallen in and been carried to their account, reducing the actual amount of the debt on the 1st of February, 1793, to 227,989,148l. and the annuities to 1,293,670l. and that on the 1st of February, 1801, stock to the amount of 36,099,5621. had been purchased by the commissioners, and stock to the amount of 16,983,8021. had been transferred to them on account of land-tax redeemed, and annuities to the amount of 123,4771. had fallen in, reducing on the 1st of February, 1801, the actual amount of debt existing before the war to 186,017,531. and the annuities to 1,250,0731. That the total amount of stock created since the 1st of February, 1793 (including the amount created by sums borrowed in the present session of parliament, and after deducting 16,182,0944. purchased by the com→ missioners for redeeming the national debt on the 1st of February, 1801), is 298,317,5904. of which sum the interest on 7,502,6331. is payable by the emperor of Germany, and the interest on 19,708,7504. is payable by Ireland, and that annuities have been granted since the 1st of February 1793, to the amount of 542,6641. of which 9,7917. is payable by Ireland, and 230,000l. by the emperor of Germany. That the whole amount of the public funded debt (including the amount created by the sums borrowed in the present session, and after deducting 52,281,6561. purchased by the commissioners, and 16,083,802/. transferred to them on account of land-tax redeemed), was, on the 1st of February, 1801, 484,365, 17 M. of which sum 27,211,3837. is on account of Ireland and the emperor of Germany, leaving a funded debt charged' on Great-Britain of 457,154,0914. including 56,145,000l. the interest of which is to be defrayed, and the capital redeemed by the tax on income; and that the amount of annuities charged on Great-Britain (after deducting what have fallen in) was, on the 1st of February, 1801, in short annuities and for lives, about 540,000l. and in long annuities 1,007,000l. That under the heads of treasury, army, ordnance, barracks, advances from civil list, and re-payments to be made for services, not voted, but paid out of grants for 1800 (after deducting the surplus of ways and means of that year), outstanding demands, as far as the same can be made up, remained to be provided for on the 5th of January, 1501, to the amount of 1,543,4861. That exclusive of anticipations of the receipt of certain taxes, and payments on loans to the amount of 8,489,800l. the unfunded debt in exchequer-bills unprovided for, or provided for out of funds which have proved insufficient, was, on the 5th of January, 1801, 17,590,3007. That That the debt of the navy remaining to be provided for was, on the 5th of January, 1801, 8,705,8861. And that the total amount of demands outstanding, navy debt, and exchequer bills, unprovided for, or provided for out of funds which have proved insufficient, was, on the 5th of January, 1801, 27,846,3721. of which sum 6,900,4861. has been since made good out of the supplies of the present session; leaving an unfunded debt hereafter to be provided for of 20,945,8861. and exceeding by 12,020,000l. the amount outstanding in 1793. That the sum applicable to the reduction of the national debt was, on the 1st of February, 1793, 1,427,1434. and on the 1st of February, 1801, 4,989,8181. That the annual charge incurred by the permanent debt, on the 5th of January, 1793, was 10,325,866l. including 1,000,000l. applicable to the reduction of the debt. That the annual charge incurred by the permanent debt created since the 5th of January, 1793 (exclusive of interest payable by Ireland, and including the charge incurred by the loan of the present session), is 10,375,0781. of which sum 2,350,1621. is applicable to the reduction of debt; and that a further charge of 497,7351. per annum is guarantied by parliament in default of payment of the interest of certain loans by his majesty the emperor of Germany. That the net produce of the permanent taxes existing previous to the war, was, on the 5th of January, 1793, 14,284,000l. and on the 5th of January, 1801, 14,194,5397. That the net produce of the permanent taxes imposed since the 5th of January, 1793, was, on the 5th of January, 1901, 8,079,0761. And, that the total amount of the permanent taxes was, on the 5th of January, 1801, 22,273,6157. That the total official value of all imports into Great-Britain, in the year ending the 5th of January, 1793, was 19,659,3581. and on an average of six years, ending the 5th of January, 1793, was 18,685,390l. That the total official value of all imports, in the year ending the 5th of January, 1801, supposing the imports from the East Indies, of which no account has been made up, to be the same as in the preceding year, was 29,925,8581. and on an average of six years, ending the 5th of January, 1801, was 25,259,8901. That the total official value of British produce and manufactures exported, in the year ending the 5th of January, 1793, was 18,336,8511. and on an average of six years, ending the 5th of January, 1793, was 14,771,049/. That the total official value of British produce and manufactures exported, in the year ending the 5th of January, 1801, was 24,411,0677. and on an average of six years, ending the 5th of January, 1301, was 20,085,1981. That the total official value of foreign merchandise exported from GreatBritain, in the year ending the 5th of January, 1793, was 6,568,3461. and on an average of six years, ending the 5th of January, 1793, was 5,469,0147. That the total official value of foreign merchandise exported in the year ending the 5th of January 1801, was 17,166,1451. and on an average of six years, ending the 5th of January 1801, was 12,868,0431. That the total sum to be raised in Great Britain in the year 1801 may be estimated as follows, viz. Interest of the public funded debt, charges of Interest, &c. to be incurred and paid between £.. 20,144,586 1,812,816 766,480 1,376,470 635,549 be the same as in the year ending the 5th of 1,699,225 Charges of collecting income tax, as per esti mate Proportion to be defrayed by Great-Britain, ac-5 Interest payable for loans of emperor of Germany Making in the whole the sum of.. That it appears by the report of a committee of That the additional charge incurred by debt, That the additional charge to be incurred for 1801. 152,620 39,333,489 2,500,000 497,735 68,923,970 16,816,935 10,395,078 212,100 Carry forward.27,424,163 (N) That |