§ II.—PRICE AND CONSUMPTION OF SUGAR IN GREAT BRITAIN.

THE following table shows the population of the United Kingdom in the years 1801, 1811, 1821, 1831, and 1841; and the average amount of sugar annually retained for consumption during the decennial period terminating with each of those years. Annual average Con-

Population. sumptiun of Sugar for ten years.

1801 15,472,048 1,062,504 1811 17,964,303 2,712,585 ]821 20,963,666 2 297,897 1831 24,133,412 3,423,042 1841 26,764,761* 3,923,052 From 1801 to 1811, there was an increase of 1,650,081 cwt. in the average annual consumption of sugar ; from 1811 to 1821, there was a falling-off of 424,688 cwt.; from 1821 to 1831, there was an increase of 1,126,155 cwt ; from 1821 to 1831 there was an increase of 500,011 cwt. The increase of the average from 1801 to 1811 was in part occasioned by the use of sugar in the distilleries, during 1809, 1810, and 1811; and the falling-off from 1811 to 1821 would probably have been greater but for the same cause in the years 1812, 1818, and 1814. The average annual consumption of the ten years ending in 1841 exceeds the annual average consumption of the ten years ending in 1801 by 2,857,548 cwt. : the annual Increase, if equally distributed, would have been 766,887 for each decennial period. The increase of consumption during the last decennium is, therefore, below the average, although the increase of population has been rather greater than that of those which pre- ceded it. What has given this partial check to the extended con- sumption of sugar?

In 1834, the slaves in the West Indies were converted into ap- prentices; in 1838, they were emancipated: the consequence was a reduction in the quantity of sugar produced in these colonies. This diminution of the supply was only in part compensated by the in- creased production of India. The differential duties prevented the introduction of foreign sugar to supply the deficiency, and prices of course rose. The extent to which supply was diminished and prices raised appears from the following table.

West India Sugar.

East India and Mauritius Sugar. T otal' Average Prices. Duty paid.

.ree Years of Slave Labour. Cwt. Cwt. Cwt. s. d.

1831 4,103,1300 654,960 4,758,760 47 8 1832 3,773.456 701,880 4,475,336 52 84 1833 3,646,205 737.640 4,383,845 53 54 .ree Years of Apprenticeship

1835 3.524,209 771.880 4.296,089 58 9 1836 3,601.791 720,930 4,322,771 63 8 18a7 3,306,775 834,700 4,131,475 61 94 ace Years of Free Labour.

1839 1840 2,814,372 2,214,764 1,131,500 1,027,080 3,155.872 3,231,844 63 81 74 24 1841 2.151,217

65 35

The consequence is, that while the population of the United Kingdom has gone on increasing during the ten years from 1831 to 1841, the supply of sugar has fallen off for the latter part of that period. The quantity retained for home-consumption in each of the years 1838, 1839, and 1840, has been below the decennial ave- rage: in 1838, it was 3,909,660 cwt. ; in 1839, it was 3,825,599 cwt. ; in 1840, it was as low as 3,594,832 cwt. This deficiency is little regarded by the wealthy ; even the middle classes scarcely feel it—they have recourse to a rather lower class of sugars : it is upon those of the poorer classes who habitually use sugar that the deprivation falls. This stinting of persons who have acquired the habit of using sugar all can feel to be a hardship ; all can esti- mate the disagreeable feeling of being obliged to abstain from an adaie,jpgence. But, apart from the annoyance of

in the habit of using sugar and are ,itethere is a positive evil in the increasing • *gifted. There are many fruits in this country were inifficiently cheap, might be converted into and nathisbing articles of diet, to increase and vary the * The Census or 1841 gives 8,100,000 as the population or Ireland. poor man's food. In the curing of fish, meats, and butter, it is well known that a considerable mixture of sugar with the salt pre- serves the original taste and juices better than salt alone. The custom which so many of the most intelligent and industrious arti- sans have contracted, of substituting tea or coffee for beer and ardent spirits, has been accompanied with a marked improvement in the tastes and habits of their class. Tea or coffee with milk and sugar is nourishing ; but if either of the latter ingredients be want- ing, it becomes more stimulant than nutritious ; and the high price of sugar leads many among the labouring classes to use tea or coffee without it. As tending to increase the quantity of whole- some food, and to introduce harmless substitutes for ardent spirits, it is most desirable that sugar should be brought within the reach of the labouring classes. Most of the attempts to show the effect of high and low prices in extending and contracting the use of sugar, have been made upon too confined a scale. The fact cannot be demonstrated by reference to the fluctuations of prices from year to year. These minute differences are modified by many circumstances,—by the easy or distressed condition of the sugar-consumers; by the price of other ne- cessaries; by the long standing and strength of the habit of consuming sugar. When we speak of a diminution of the price of sugar bring- ing it within the reach of new classes of the community, we speak of such a marked diminution of price as followed the first intro- duction of the sugar-cultivation into the West Indies, and gave a new character to the sugar-trade. The increase wanted is not such an ephemeral increase as may be noted between one year and another, but such a steady, growing, enduring increase, as can be traced Airoughout the decennial periods from 1791 to 1841. The fact that an increased supply of cheap sugar will increase the num- ber of consumers, is proved by the whole history of the sugar-trade. Greatly though the quantity of sugar at present in Europe exceeds the quantity of Queen Elizabeth's time, the number of those who desire it and cannot get it, or can only get it in insufficient quanti- ties, is still more augmented. "Increase of appetite doth grow by what it feeds on." Let any man once taste sugar, and he will wish to taste it again. This fact is known from experience ; and upon it may be rested the demonstration of the assertion that almost any increase in the quantity and cheapness of sugar will lead to a cor- responding extension of consumption. A very few remarks will show how far the community of Great Britain is from being satu- rated with sugar.

To take the sum shown by the Customhouse-books to have been retained for home-consumption in any year as equivalent to the consumption of that year, would be deceptive ; we shall come nearer to the truth by taking the average of a number of years—say ten. The average annual consumption of the ten years ending 1841, was 3,923,052 cwt., or 439,381,834 lb. This, if equally divided among the whole population young and old, would give 16.6 lb. per head per annum. Now, the allowance to paupers is (1 ounce per diem) 22:1 lb.; the allowance in the Navy, 34 lb.; the allowance to maid- servants, for their tea alone, about 30 lb. per annum. Observa- tions repeated at intervals in a middle-class family have shown that two children under five years of age consumed between them 26 lb. of sugar per annum. It is probably in young people from seven to sixteen years of age that the capacity for sugar-absorption is at its maximum. An adult male of the middle-class will con- sume at least 50 lb. per annum. The allowance made to a washer- woman who "conies in" is about 2 ounces per diem, which is at the rate of 45 lb. per annum. The annual outlay of a middle-class family, consisting of father, mother, and two children under five years of age, has been found to be 150 lb. or 37.5 lb. per head. Under these circumstances, we may without fear of exaggeration assume the possible consumption of a community like that of Great Britain at 36 lb. per head for old and young, or a total of 8,602,958 cwt., instead of 3,594,832. It having been ascertained that many individuals belonging to the less affluent portion of the middle- classes, and even to the lower classes, habitually consume more than double the quantity of sugar which the amount retained for home-consumption if equally divided would afford to each person, it is clear that many must abstain from it altogether.

So far the personal consumption of sugar has alone been taken into account ; but it must be remembered that sugar also enters largely into various manufactures. To say nothing of more im- portant branches of industry, by cheapening sugar, confec- tioners, preservers of meat and fish, and other traders of that class, might be enabled to engross a large share in the trade in sweets and preserved meats throughout the world. Any reader inclined to sneer at this source of profit, will find, by turning to the import and export lists of most countries, that here is a field in which a good deal may be earned. Indeed, no article of sale or barter is too insignificant to be attended to, provided the market be wide enough. But we shall now speak more particularly of two great manufactures, in which the importance of cheap sugar will be obvious to all.

SUGAR DT DISTILLATION AND BREWING.

With our constantly-increasing population and limited land-surface, a most important extension of the use of sugar would be as a substitute for grain in the distilleries and breweries. It is generally estimated that one quarter of grain per annum is necessary for the comfortable subsistence of each individual. Every quarter of grain used in distilla- tion is equivalent to the support of a human being for twelve months. By a cruel law, sugar is not allowed to be used in distillation ; and in 1841, 1,000,000 quarters of grain were co tsumed in the distilleries of

this country, producing 20,000,000 galls 't proof-spirits. Now, the relative value of 1 cwt. of sugar and 1 qt. A.: of grain in the produo-

tion of spirits being as 12 to 20, if sugar had been used in place of grain, 1,000,000 quarters would have gone into geaeral consumption, and 83,333 tons of sugar would have been used in their place. When we compare the cost, the folly of such a law seems only equalled by its injustice- 1 million quarters grain, at 35s. per quarter £1,750,000

33,333 tons sugar, at 18/. per ton in bond 1,499,994

Saving by using sugar £250,006

besides getting a much better spirit, that from sugar being the best of all. As distilleries work under the Excise-laws, and the duty is levied by gauge, there does not exist the least difficulty in allowing them to use sugar in bond for distillation : on the contrary, it would prevent smuggling.

In 1841, 42,093,966 bushels of malt paid duty. Of this quantity, 3,934,171 was used in distillation ; leaving for public and private brew- ing 38,159,795; which, as 80 lb. of malt is produced by 100 lb. of grain, represents 45,791,554 bushels, or 5,723,944 quarters, taken out of the general consumption ; about three-fourths of which were used by public brewers.

Now the value of the malt depends on the quantity of saccharine matter, or sugar, it contains. Malt. sugar has heretofore been the cheap- est, and cane-sugar but little used in consequence : in public brew- eries the use of sugar is prohibited, under severe penalties ; but there are no restrictions on the private, and there ought to be none on the pub- lic brewer. A reduction in the price, say to 4d. per lb., would bring it into general use for private brewing; for there is no trouble in managing its fermentation, (as there is with malt,) the apparatus is much more simple, and the beer produced of a better quality. Professor Donovan writes—" To persons who have acquired an inveterate predilection for the abominable and varied flavours which the skill of the brewer en- ables him to communicate, this pure and simple drink may be less pleasing, but it is singular how soon the consumer acquires a high relish for it and prefers it to every other. There is a purity of taste belonging to it quite different from the indescribable jumble of tastes so perceptible in common ales : but it has one advantage which places it above all competition, and that is its lightness on the stomach ; this, when compared with the sickly heaviness of malt-ale, is really remark - able." (Domestic Economy, p. 209.)

One quarter of malt yields 200 lb. of sugar, and costs at present from 56s. to 60s.; 200 lb. of cane-sugar, at 4d. per lb., costs 66s. 8d. ; a difference which, the superiority of the beer and the facility of making it from sugar being considered, would not be sufficient to prevent its use with the gene- rality of private brewers, though too great for the leviathans of London, Burton, or Edinburgh. Still, the public brewer would use large quanti- ties in conjunction with malt, to bring up the gravity of his worts : for instance, if in brewing for worts of 112 to 118 gravity, about the strength necessary for strong ale, he only procures 109, by adding 14 lb. of sugar per hhd. he would at once secure the desired gravity of 118; 1 lb. of sugar yielding a gravity of 84 per gallon. By the present law, he is obliged to brew an inferior beer, not being allowed to add the small quantity of sugar. These remarks apply with even greater force to molasses ; inasmuch as molasses, which is generally worth about one- half the price paid for sugar, would yield much more than that pro- portion of product to the distiller or brewer.

If, then, we suppose that one-fourth of the grain used in private and public brewing were replaced by sugar, 1,430,986 quarters, equal to 1,192,493 of malt, would be thrown into general consumption ; and 200 lb. of sugar being equal to one quarter of malt, 106,472 tons of sugar would be used in its place. The malt would yield a revenue, at 20s. 8d. per quarter, the present duty, of 1,232,2421.; the sugar, at 20/. per ton, a revenue of 2,129,440/. The revenue from distillation being levied upon the product it would not be affected, because sugar would be used in bond.

The interest that has prevented the use of sugar in our distilleries and breweries hitherto has been that of the landed proprietors : but the events of the last few years have materially changed their views ; and the real opponents of the admission of sugar for distillation and brewing will be the great gin-shop and public-house interests. To distil from grain, to brew. from malt to the greatest advantage, requires gigantic capital : the simplicity of doing either from sugar would enable any man with moderate means to commence the trade of distilling or brewing. With all respect, however, to the brewing aristocracy, from Barclay to Bux- ton,—whose names in golden letters adorn the palaces their capital has dressed out with meretricious charms from St. Giles's to Spitalfields,— we hold that it would be a great public benefit if the 2,000,000 inhabi- tants of the Metropolis were supplied from sixty breweries instead of six, or even if every Boniface in town and country brewed his own beer, and did not depend for his subsistence on selling his landlord's.

The benefits that would arise from the consumption of this additional quantity of sugar are various; we will enumerate a few of them. Its use in distillation and brewing is equivalent to a repeal of the Corn-laws on 2f million quarters of grain. It would sooner or later create an export-demand for an equivalent value in British goods. A large additional quantity having to be imported and the cargoes to pay for it exported, a corresponding amount of British shipping would be profitably employed. To whatever extent it increased production in our own colonies, to that extent would it give employment to British capital and skill. Au abundant and cheap supply of sugar would have the most bene- ficial effect on the physical and moral wellbeing of the people. It con- tains more nourishment in a given quantity than any other substance in nature : it is an anti-scorbutic ; a specific for one of the most painful affections that afflict the children of the poor—worms.

It appears, then, that the consumption of sugar may be immensely increased, and with great advantage to the community in many ways, Provided it can be supplied at a price sufficiently low. Every sen- sible and permanent lowering of the price will have the effect of Increasing the consumption more or less. The precise extent to which any given reduction of price will increase the consumption of sugar, it would be idle to attempt to calculate beforehand, so many subordinate considerations come into play. Among these, the moat influential is the general condition of the people. No price is low to those who have nothing to flay with. It will appear in the sequel, (if, indeed, what has been already said is not sufficient) that any arrangements by which sugar can be cheapened must have the effect of giving employment to a greater number of people—in the carrying and provision trades, in the manufacture of the com- modities exchanged for sugar, and in the manufactures into which sugar may advantageously be made to enter as an ingredient. The changes required to make sugar cheap will give people the means of paying the price. Before proceeding further, it will be necessary to consider what are the elements of price.