IV.-TRADE, COMMERCE, REVENUE, &c. QUANTITY OF BEER, ALE, AND SPIRITS, MADE IN IRELAND. Mr. Beresford to Lord Castlereagh. November 5, 1799. My dear Lord-In the hurry in which I drew up the statement which I lately sent you of the quantity of Beer, and Ale, and Spirits, brewed and distilled in Ireland in the last eight years, I find that I was guilty of a great mistake, for I computed that for every barrel of Malt brewed there was a produce of two barrels of Beer, which I estimated one-third at £1 10s. and two-thirds at £1 38., not adverting that the two barrels of Beer produced for one barrel of Malt contained only 32 gallons each, and that the price of £1 108. and £1 38. for Beer and Ale was on the brewer's barrel containing 42 gallons. I have much overstated the numbers of barrels of Beer and Ale produced, and of course the value. I must, therefore, request you to accept the present computations in the place of the former. Upon reflection I also think that I estimated the Spirits too high. I think 7s. 6d. to be about the present price. I think also that 5s. was a good price for them during the whole of the first four years and for two of the last four, and 6s. 8d. for the third, and 78. 6d. for the four years of the second period. I have therefore, in the present valuation, estimated the first four years at 5s. a gallon, and the last four years at 6s. in round numbers. On these principles I shall proceed in the present statements. I showed you, in my former paper, that the number of barrels of Malt which paid duty in the first period of four years to 1795, were, 4,935,299, and that the number used in distilling 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 4,935,299 Of which the distillery consumed two-thirds, or... Which, at six gallous of spirit to each barrel of malt, produced gallons 3,290,199 19,741,194 19,741,194 gallons of spirits at 5s. 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 £4,935,299 In the same period, the quantity of malt consumed This quantity, at a barrel and a half of beer to each .... 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 period............ £3,125,686 616,912 The average number of barrels of beer and ale brewed in each year 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 6s. 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 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 10s. 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 Average number of barrels of beer in each year... Average value of beer brewed in each year First Period. ....... ...... The total value of spirits in this period was Total value of both .... 596,838 £755,995 £4,935,299 Annual average value of both £2,015,246 Second Period. In this period the total value of spirits was. £5,529,652. 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 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. year as 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: 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. |