An English farmer who has travelled in Germany-writes to the
Times that he is against the repeal of the malt duty, because it would admit foreign malt—Bohemian malt, which can be made cheaper than English malt, because the Bohemian barley has more saccharine matter in it than English barley. He does not explain, however, why malt which would come in if the duty were repealed -does not come in now. The excise duty on English malt is supposed to equilibrate, the import duty on foreign malt, so that the advantage to the importer would be -precisely the same as at present. If it is cheaper to produce than English malt without regard to the duty, the addition of a precisely equal burden on both the competitors will not make it relatively any dearer than before. The malt duty is not protective, but a makeweight to the, excise.
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