A most interesting Report on the Customs' Tariffs of the United Kingdom, drawn up by Mr. 'T, J. Pittar, who is the principal of the Statistical Department at the Custom House in London, las been presented to both Houses of Parliament, 'I'he report extends to nine hundred pages, and while the bulk of the volume consists of tables of Customs duties from 1823 to 1897, there is much of general interest to be found in the report and appendices. We learn that the term "Custos" was anciently used in an extensive sense for customary payments or dues of many kinds, whether regal, or episcopal, or ecclesiasticnl, until in process of time it was restricted to the duties payable to the King, either upon the exportation or importation, or carriage cunstwise, of certain articles of commerce. It is not certain when such duties were first imposed, but there s import duty on wine, called Prise or Prisage, payable to the King and accounted for at the Exchequer, in the reign of Richard I, And in the reign of King John import duties were payable to the King on wood, salt, fish, ete., and export duties on wool and leather, Prisage was levied in kind, and consisted of taking one tun of wine of 252 gallons from the cargo when the quantity exceeded tov tuns but was under twenty tuns, It was not levied if the cargo was under ten tuns. Butlerage was a composition in liew of Prisage levied from alien merchants, and consisted of a duty of two shillings for every tun of wine imported. During the reign of Charles LI it appears that the duty on spirits was fixed at 8d. per gallon without any reference to strength, but in the reign of William ILL the duties charged had some relation to stron; and proof spirit. was under st as is practically the case at present, to consist of half water and half alcohol. - The method of deter ing proof in spirits existing in 1751 was curious and decidedly rough and randy. Postlethwayt, the author of the Universal Dictionary of Commerce, printed about this date, describes the process as follows:—" Take a long phial, half filled with the common proof spirit of the, malt-distillers, and give it a smart stroke with its bottom against the palm of the hand, and there will appear, on the surface of the liquor, chaplet or crown of bubbles, which will disappear in a clear strong manner; that is, it will first remain a while, and then go off by degrees, without breaking the bubbles or rising into larger: and, when the bubbles go off in this manner, the spirit is vulgarly id to be proof, or merchantable; for, the bubbles are too large, and vanish too soon, the spirit is deemed above proof; if too small, and they go off too soon, it is said to be below proof, This is a fallacious method of judging; because there are certain known ways of making a spirit bear this trial, when it is in reality either above or below proof; for the proper meaning of the word is, that a proof spirit should contain about one-half water, and the other half alcohol." 'This method was recognised as being unscientific, and in 1780 a hydrometer invented by a Mr. Clarke was adopted by Government, and continued in use till 1818, when a new instrument, called Sikes' hydrometer, was made the legal instrament for determining the strength of spirits and has been retained ever since. here are some interesting details given of the duties levied on tobacco anid of the prevalence of smuggling. In 1766 it was computed that the loss to the Imperial Revenue from the snuggling carried on from the Isle of Man alone was not less than £500,000 a year,' The improvement. in the general standard of living is assigned as the cause of the cess of stnuggling, and a revenue of £11,000,000 a year is now collected from tobacco alone. As regards tea we learn that in 1760 the consumption was only four million pounds, and that the price of tea sold in 1860 for three shillings a pound was at the former date advertised by the cheap houses at £1 per Ib. 'The report of an assistant Poor Law. Commissioner in 1842 shows that the labouring classes were at that time paying five shillings' pound for ten, when they could afford the Juxury. Good ten may now he retailed at As. 2d. per Ib., and inch' ix sold ato still lower price. In 1896 228,000,000 pounds were consumed in the United
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.