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194]   ANNUAL REGISTER

in confessing myself obliged to so eminent a character, and am the more emboldened, with information indisputably authentick, to labour at least to promote the general purposes of humanity.

A Table, showing the Number of Sheet and Black Cattle sold at Smithfield-market for the last forty Years.

[[5 column table]]
| From Michaelmas 1730, to ditto | Sheep | Average. | Black Cattle | Average. |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1731 | 480010 } |   | 8304 } |   |
| 2 | 537250 } |   | 87571 } |   |
| 3 | 588310 } | 568060 | 95301 } | 93653 |
| 4 | 597920 } |   | 94473 } |   |
| 5 | 636740 } |   | 102628 } |   |
| 6 | 617720 } |   | 100602 } |   |
| 7 | 637190 } |   | 100686 } |   |
| 8 | 615000 } | 599456 | 96762 } | 97548 |
| 9 | 598000 } |   | 96404 } |   |
| 40 | 527420 } |   | 93285 } |   |
| 1741 | 555480 } |   | 85245 } |   |
| 2 | 55480 } |   | 86913 } |   |
| 3 | 518700 } | 531134 | 85682 } | 85892 |
| 4 | 479030 } |   | 87441 } |   |
| 5 | 513320 } |   | 84179 } |   |
| 6 | 648350 } |   | 83149 } |   |
| 7 | 646930 } |   | 81988 } |   |
| 8 | 634750 } | 655516 | 76060 } | 80878 |
| 9 | 666900 } |   | 83357 } |   |
| 50 | 680650 } |   | 79830 } |   |
| 1751 | 673650 } |   | 79983 } |   |
| 2 | 688970 } |   | 81847 } |   |
| 3 | 686810 } | 680618 | 83677 } | 80843 |
| 4 | 669090 } |   | 77605 } |   |
| 5 | 684570 } |   | 81100 } |   |
| 6 | 653220 } |   | 83266 } |   |
| 7 | 594260 } |   | 89776 } |   |
| 8 | 571660 } | 616750 | 90559 } | 91699 |
| 9 | 610870 } |   | 96082 } |   |
| 60 | 653740 } |   | 98813 } |   |
| 1761 | 718060- | -842080 | 90232- | -121175 |
| 2 | 842030 } | 1 Year & 1/4 | 121175 } | 1 Year & 1/4 |
| 3 | 964190 } |   | 90991 } |   |
| 4 | 581440 } | 635247 | 80299 } | 86555 |
| 5 | 547300 } | 4 Years | 84702 } | 4 Years |
| 6 | 587520 } |   | 78387 } |   |
| 7 | 588730 } |   | 81035 } |   |
| 8 | 655920 } | 632812 | 84855 } | 84244 |
| 9 | 665240 } |   | 85862 } |   |
| 1770 | 666650 } |   | 90979 } |   |

From


For the YEAR 1772.   [195

From the foregoing table it appears, that the decrease in the sale of black cattle is about equal to the increase in the sale of sheep, according to the proportion which they bear to each other in point of weight; therefore it is evident that the consumption of these articles of food is now nearly the same as it was forty years ago, which makes us naturally ask, how this can correspond with the general outcry, that the metropolis requires such extraordinary quantities of provisions as to advance the price on one hand, while forestalling and engrossing advance it on the other, to the unspeakable distress of the community.

Those who have maintained these two positions may perceive their mistake by the table in the first instance; and in the respect to the second, it is manifest, that, if the country produced a plenty, this produce must be brought to market; unless we absurdly propose, that the dealers in provisions are wicked merely for the sake of wickedness, and destroy one part of their property to raise the other part on its unavoidable purchasers. For myself, however, I always imagine that the value of a commodity is governed by the quantity on sale, and am certain that the more live stock we bring to Smithfield, the lower the rate of butchers meat must be reduced.

The with-holding cattle from market, or taking them away unsold, is so apparently hazardous to the owners, that they will seldom attempt either; for in the first place the longer they are detained in the country, after they have been properly fed, the longer the grazier lies out of his money, besides the expence of keeping them; and what is still more material, he runs all the carious hazards attendant upon accident and mortality. In the second place, let us suppose that he stops them a little short of the market, or takes them away from it in expectation of a better price, can we imagine that the worse they grow the more profitably they will sell, or that the owner will keep them near town three or four days at a certain expence, without even a probability of any advantage?

After cattle have been driven from fifty to one hundred and fifty miles, and on the road have been miserably supplied even with food, to which they are unaccustomed; after they have been made as fat as possible, and then turned out to a long journey, when least able to endure the fatigue; after they have been cruelly beaten, and in general lamed in their progress to the capital, and thrown into a state which must speedily reduce them, especially if they are off their feed; which is frequently the case; I say, after all these dissadvantages are considered, is it credibly that any many in his senses would keep such a stock willingly upon his hands? No.

The very avarice imputed to the owner must induce him to dispose of live stock instantly, and render him utterly disinclined to trifle much about terms with a purchaser. In every point of view, therefore, provisions being of a perishable nature, it is, generally speaking, impossible to create an artificial scarcity, except for a very short time; and if the spring of a real scarcity should be fortunately traced, it becomes

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