Thirty Letters on the Trade of Bristol, by a Burgess,
we :c ori- ginally published in one of the local newspapers. They have since been revised and somewhat enlarged ; extracts from the evi- dence given before the Corporation Commissioners, and a large quantity of legal and statistical information, have also been added ; and the book is published at cost price. The trade of Bristol, says the Burgess, has declined, is declining, and will decline : to revive it is the object of the writer. The causes of the evil are the Municipal Corporation, the Society of Merchants, the C'ose Vestries, the Turnpike Trustees, the Dean and Chapter, the D..ck Company, and the West Indian Monopolists. Excepting the last (which, even upon the writer's own showing, is a private combination of wealthy individuals to raise the price of Colonial produce, and against whom no public measures can avail), the al- leged modus operandi of the poison is by placing burdens upon trade, throwing obstructions in the way of local improvement, and even of facility of transport, by means of tolls unnecessarily heavy. The most distinct position established by the author is, that owing to local taxation in the shape of dock and port charges of various kinds, the commerce of Bristol is subjected to heavier expenses than at any other place. The remedy he suggests is, to throw open the Corporation, abolish the Merchant Venturers (a guild of the good old times, having been established in the reign of EDWARD the Fourth), and either compel the Dock Company for their own benefit (as they must suffer with the port) to revise their charges, or repay their capital and get rid of them. The other heads of grievance are of too purely local a kind to have much interest for general readers; but the tables in the appendix are curious to all interested in Bristol trade. The " Table of Rates" is certainly appalling to look at; it puts one in mind of a Government Tariff before the Tariff was simplified. The fellow- ing tables are curious, and certainly furnish on the face of them a startling proof of corporate exaction. Summary of the preceaingTal,Io, sloiwing he Kepi:ion:to Tamil Taxa u levied oa I he 'Frady of the soveral Ports neluded, Bristol. Liver!. nil. London. I Itt H. luster. Table. X s. d. s. d. s. d. s. d. s. d.
I. Mean rate payable on
vessels per ton 0 0 Q. 0 1 Si 0 1 24 0 1 7 oil. II. Ditto, ditto vessels and goods 1 0 0 0911 0 11 0691 0 6 0 [it Average ditto ditto on 1 year's import to the United Kingdom of 23 principal articles 1 0 0 3 11 5 0 10 4 0 7 3 0 6 2 ne Ditto, ditto, ditto, on I
year's import at Bris- tol of 6 principal ar-
ticles 1 0 0 0 12 04 0 12 10i 0 10 21 0 9 2 V. Ditto, ditto, ditto, on 7
articles most heavily
taxed in Bristol 1 0 0 0 6 14 0 3 4 0 2 5 0 1 9 Port Charges pail by Mr. Abraham Meredith, on an Importation of Skins.
£3 5 4 3 0 6 2 IS 2 0 8 9
Local Taxation 9 12 9 Customs Duty 2 IS 2
--
Excess of Local over National Taxation £6 14 7
Town-dues Duek-does Quay-Warden's Fees
Wharfage
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