صفحة 550 من 2651

Between 1741 and 1750, however, the bounty must have hindered the

price of corn from falling so low in the home market as it

naturally would have done. During these ten years, the quantity

of all sorts of grain exported, it appears from the custom-house

books, amounted to no less than 8,029,156 quarters, one bushel.

The bounty paid for this amounted to £ 1,514,962:17:4 ½. In 1749,

accordingly, Mr Pelham, at that time prime minister, observed to

the house of commons, that, for the three years preceding, a very

extraordinary sum had been paid as bounty for the exportation of

corn. He had good reason to make this observation, and in the

following year he might have had still better. In that single

year, the bounty paid amounted to no less than £ 324,176:10:6.

{See Tracts on the Corn Trade, Tract 3,} It is unnecessary to

observe how much this forced exportation must have raised the

price of corn above what it otherwise would have been in the home

market.