In 1840 the consumption was as fol lows:— lbs. Duty.
Of East and West India . . 14,443,398 Os. 6d. Foreign . . 14,143,438 0 9 Foreign direct 77,504 1 3 By the tariff of 1842 the duties were reduced to 8d. per lb. on foreign coffee, and 4d. on coffee from British possession% On the 6th of June, 1844, the duty on foreign coffee was further reduced to 6d. per lb. There are now, therefore, only two rates of duty, 4d. and 6d. per lb.
Rate of Duty Number of per Pound Years. Pounds on British consumed. Plantation Coffee.
lbs. s. d.
1801 750,861 1 6 1811 6,390,122 0 7 1821 7,327,283 1 0 1831 21,842,264 0 6 1841 27,298,322 0 6 The stock of coffee on hand in the fol lowing places, on the 1st of February,1845, was as under :— Imports.
Stock. Bons, 1844.
ends. cwts.
Holland . . 847,000 1,300,000 Antwerp . . 140,000 500,000 Hamburg . 175,000 620,000 Trieste . . 57,000 232,000 Havre . . 31,000 230,000 England . . 502,000 440,0001,752,000 3,222,000 The shipments from these ports to one another are estimated at 350,000 cwts., which reduces the total importation to 2,972,000 cwts. This does not include the whole of the supply received in Eu rope. Sweden, for instance, in 1840 im ported 2,519,986 lbs. from Brazil. In 1835, or within a year or two of that date, the imports into Bremen were 4500 cwts.; St. Petersburg, 2000 cwts. ; Denmark, 1400 cwts.; Spain (from Cuba only), 1000 cwts.; Naples and Sicily, 640 cwts.; Venice, 320 cwts.; Fiume, 170 cwts. ; but in these last-mentioned places the imports were not wholly direct from the countries of production.
In the nine months ending June 30, 1843, there were imported into the United States of North America 92,295,660 lbs. of coffee, valued at 6,346,787 dollars : the importation from Brazil was 49,515,666 lbs. ; from Cuba, 16,611,987; and from Hayti, 10,811,288 lbs. The quantity of coffee re-exported during the above period was 6,378,994 lbs. There is no import duty on coffee in the United States.
The influence of high and low duties is shown with great clearness in the fol lowing table, taken from Mr. Porter's ' Progress of the Nation :— Sum Population AVerage contributed of Consumption per Bead Great per head. to the Britain. Revenue.
lb. ozs. d.
10,942,646 0 1.09 1* 12,596,803 0 8.12 4 14,391,631 0 8.01 6 16,262,301 1 5.49 8 18,532,335 1 7.55 104 For the year ending 5th Jan., 1845, the consumption of coffee in the United Kingdom was 31,394,225 lbs. (19,564,082 British, and 11,830,143 foreign); the importations were— From British possessions 24,110,283 lbs. Foreign „ 22,410,960 „ 46,521,243 , Since 1835 we have been gradually enlarging the sources of supply, and the consequence has been increased importa tion and diminution of price.
The quantity of coffee re-exported from the United Kingdom in 1844 was 6,306,000 lbs., all of which, with the ex
ception of 155,703 lbs., was foreign. Of 9,505,634 lbs. exported in 1842, Belgium took 3,709,400 lbs.; Germany, 1,005,206 lbs.; Holland, 986,122 lbs.; Italy, 926,279 lbs.; Turkey, 850,829 lbs.; and the re mainder was sent in smaller quantities to thirty-one other countries.
The price of coffee in London has been gran tally declining for several years, and has fallen as follows per cwt.: 1839. 1845.
Jamaica, low middling and. s. s. s. s.
middling . . . 111 to 116 72 to 90 Ceylon. good ordinary . 102 52 Mocha, ordinary to flue . 110 135 40 90 Java . . . . 71 80 30 51 Brazil, ordinary to fine . 46 53 27 66 From the above statements it will be seen that coffee is an article of the first commercial importance, and in most countries it is made to yield a consi derable revenue. In Holland the duty is 3s. 4d. per 100 lbs., and there is no differential duty in favour of the Dutch colonies. In Belgium the duty is 163. 8d. per 100 lbs. ; in Austria, 42s. per 123i lbs.; in France, 2/. 8s. to 4/. per 100 kilo grauunes.
In 1835 the duty on coffee consumed in the United Kingdom was 652,123l.; 564,176/. in 1838; 373,573/. in 1840; and in the years ending 5th July, 1843 and 1844, 375,974l. and 351,1011.
Chicory and other substitutes for cof fee are prohibited in several countries; but in England it is becoming an important article in commerce. In 1840 the quan tity of raw chicory retained for home consumption was 3932 cwts.; and in the years ending 5th July, 1843 and 1844, 20,775 and 31,720 cwts. The duty of 20s. per cwt. was not altered by the tariff of 1842. The present value of the ar ticle is 9s. 6d. per cwt. exclusive of duty.
The effect of rendering such a beverage as coffee cheap has been attended with beneficial moral effects. In 1685 Charles LI. issued a proclamation for suppress ng coffee-houses, in which he speaks f " the multitude of coffee-houseslately et up in this kingdom" as being the re ort of disaffected persons. The pro lamation was soon withdrawn. In 1844 he number of coffee-houses in London was above 600. Thirty years ago there was scarcely one where coffee was sup plied at less than 6d. a cup ; and there were none to which the humbler classes could resort. There are now many houses (coffee-shops) where from 700 to 800 per sons a day are served at the charge of ld. per cup ; some where 1500 or 1600 per sons are served at lid. ; and all these houses are supplied with newspapers and periodical publications for the use of the persons who frequent them. A few years ago the working classes had no other place but the public-house to which they could resort for refreshment.