If the legal quays are inadequate, their WAREHOUSES connected with them are far more so, as they can accommodate only about 32,000 hhds of sugar at a time; and there are not in London spare ranges of public warehouses adequate to the annual importation of sugar alone, at such a period as this; the annual quantity being from 100 to 120,000 hhds arriving within about three months of the year, and it has been 131,000 hhds. In peace, the evil, though great, is not quite so sensibly felt. In war-time, the West-India trade can more than trebly fill the warehouses at the quays. The first fleet from the Leeward-Islands lately brought 35,000 hhds of sugar, and the one from Jamaica, 40,000. The quays could not house more than 6 or 7,000 hhds of the latter, independent of the arrival of other large fleets from other quarters. In this situation, ships that were damaged, leeky, or chartered, or that wanted to sail out again early, were compelled to serve as warehouses with great expenses and delays. Warehouses have been so crowded, that sugars have been piled six or eight hhds high on the quays, subject to loss and plunder; and the wharfingers themselves are annually compelled to send away sugars from the legal quays to places which they hire. It has frequently happened, that carts, laden with sugars, have been detained in the streets for six hours at a time in rainy weather. But a small quantity of sugars are carted away from the quays by the merchants themselves The Commissioners of the Customs have granted temporary relief exceeding what has ever been remembered; having permitted ships to land sugars at the distance of Blackwall, an indulgence never before allowed, but to within limited distances. Even these indulgencies are inadequate, as many of the sufferance-wharfs are full with the merchandizes of the Baltic and other fleets. Calculations have been made of the annual losses by plunderage on the West-India produce alone, of above 150,000l. per ann. to the proprietor, and of 50,000l. per ann. to the revenue for the port of London; and, if other branches of commerce were included, it might be estimated at a total loss of near 250,000l. per ann. Charges, delays, and plunderage, from the above causes, have induced the West-India planters to send their consignments to the out ports; which are now, by docks and dispatch, become in a certain degree the little rivals to the mother-city. There is nothing but the weight of capital, consumption, consumption, and vicinity to foreign markets, that secure to London its present large share of the West-India and some other trades. In a general view, this distribution of trade to our out-ports may seem no immediate national loss; but it should be remembered, that the same causes which banish trade from London to our out-ports, may also, and in fact do, banish it, in many instances, to foreign ports also. SUFFERANCE-WHARFS have availed themselves of the necessities of the times, and have in many places charged more than customary at the legal quays. Another burthen on commerce, and without benefit to the revenue, is the charge of extra-fees to the officers, for the performance of their common duties, at any other than the legal quays: and when permission is granted to ships to land the whole of their cargoes at a sufferance-wharf, extrafees are demanded from each consignee to take out a separate sufferance for his particular goods, and those pro rata. The wharfs and buildings along the river are further inadequate in point of SAFETY to the housing such valuable importations as sugar, hemp, &c. There is scarcely a year, without great losses by fire, and to a very considerable amount. Within these ten years, near, if not above, half a million of property has been lost at the sufferance-wharfs. The losses at Speck's and at Davis's wharfs were great; and, within this month, there has been, at Hoare's wharf, a loss of about 2,000 hhds of sugar, valued at 80,000l. exclusive of hemp, &c. at other premises. The proprietors will not only be losers of property, but have to pay freight and duties on importation, without any return. The underwriters, who are one of the most useful supports to our commerce, also require that some attention should be paid to their security, that they should not unnecessarily incur additional risks in port. These considerations alone should weigh against any little advantages and privileges from local considerations. The operation and effect of all these different embarrassments are heavy, expensive, and fatal; they throw commerce out of its regular seasons and returns, and prove equally detrimental to merchants, markets, and revenue, from unusual delays. Commerce and revenue are now become such complicated machines, that every attention should be paid to the convenience and credit of the one, as well as to the wants and security of the other. OPPONENTS, OPPONENTS, T CLAIMANTS, AND COMPEN HE limitation of the legal quays is founded on exclusive right, which it is incumbent on the public to purchase at any rate, and to create a fair competition, by laying those, and the proposed docks and quays, open to the public, with equal privileges. It would prove the truest remedy for all our grievances; whereas other plans would only be palliatives, and the same evils would only revive in other forms. To purchase exclusive privileges and rights, may be the easiest means to obtain the end, and silence opponents: commerce and revenue are both equally interested in the measure, as they both suffer more, in a short time, by the consequences of this growing evil than would purchase the fee-simple of all these exclusive rights. Commissioners might be appointed to receive claims: and compensation might be decided, as in the case of canals, by juries or commissioners, to estimate the losses sustained. In the present case, (exclusive of purchases of land and expenses of docks,) compensation would only be limited to a few classes, and be rather requisite for a loss of privilege than of property. The great profit of monopoly having suddenly accumulated, it lies chiefly in the same hands which saw it begin, and therefore furnishes an easier means of compensation, than if it had been transferred to men who had actually paid for the increased value of it. WH CUSTOMS AND EXCISE. HEN revenues are once created, they are not to be lightly risked for new experiments; but a few considerations may be stated to prove, that an extension of quays would be a gain, without a risk to the revenue. Dispatch would lessen opportunities and temptations to plunderage, and other species of smuggling, and be productive of great savings and of great gains. Without adverting to the extent of smuggling, the defalcation to the revenue in the port of London only, from plunderage and from accidents to ships and to craft, have been estimated, and perhaps without much exaggeration, from 70 to 100,000l. per annum. The The change here recommended would be productive also of economy to the revenue. In docks, above half of the hands would be saved in watching, landing, and housing merchandizes subjected to duties, and with greater dispatch; and if we calculate the numbers employed in the river, only in watching commodities until landed, and the duties on them ascertained and paid, or until they are housed under the king's lock, the proportion will be still greater. This saving in expense might go, partly to compensation, and partly to the addition of landwaiters. The plans also, while they extended the legal quays, would condense the commerce of London with more convenience to itself, and to the customs and its officers, than by the present mixed system of legal quays and wideextended sufferance-wharfs. As to regulations and checks, though the port of London has fewer indulgences, there are less risks and delays to the revenue, than in other places. Whether there is an extension of docks and quays or not, the increase of land-waiters is greatly called for; as the delays at the quays are almost as much increased from the want of them, as from the want of quays and warehouses, The addition of twenty or thirty land-waiters, at the rate of 200l. per annum, would be an additional expense of only 4 to 6,000l. per annum, a sum that would soon be amply repaid by their services.* It might be also an object of consideration to land and to bond rums immediately on arrival, as at the out-ports; or to bond them, at the ship's or importer's expense, for thirty days, and to make the bond transferrable. The demand There are annually reported in the port of London 10 or 13,000 ships, including coasting-traders. The stations at the legal quays are three : At the Upper station there are Middle station Lower station 7 Land-waiters. some supernumeraries, besides land-waiters for the coastingtrade, who occasionally serve the Wood-Farm, when stationed officers call There are not be had. for the commodity will always overcome any little trifling objection or difficulty that may arise about the conve nience of sale. The time for landing is limited to thirty days, and the buyer knows how to avail himself of it when necessity requires the importer to bond. To the public, it is of little moment in whose hands it lies or by whom bonded, since consumers and exporters will al ways know where to find it. The abridgment of holidays, and the regulation of hours, would greatly aid these improvements, and would operate with great effect in places insulated like the proposed docks and quays. At the docks might be stationed officers of business, inspection, and control, with powers of internal management and government, according to circumstances. CITY OF LONDON. HE city of London having charters, ancient usages, and privileges, might make a formidable cry and opposition. Its influence is great, and we must feel, with respect, that corporations have constituted the freedom of former times; but, from the alteration of circumstances, a great number of those privileges now operate as restraints, instead of advantages. Let, however, a due regard be paid to charters from the good they have done; but, at the same time, let us remember, that, by extending our objects, we may extend those of the city, and give a spur to more enlarged and liberal systems. She may soon be convinced, that she owes more to the facility and extension of commerce, than to the restrictions of her laws and her customs. She might still take the lead in the spirit of improvement, and retain the vital principles of her constitution, which were intended for the administration of justice, and the protection and encouragement of trade. Her objections to the proposed plans will perhaps arise more from encroachments on ancient privileges, than from the loss of territory, revenue, or influence. She has however, with a becoming spirit, accomplished great internal improvements, by the creation and widening of streets, at a great expense, and has ultimately found her advantage in those and other improvements. The city of London has only to extend the same spirit towards improvements on the river, and she will again find, that, on the |