26s.,
and to 4s. on oats when the price was under 18s., with lower duties as
prices rose above these figures; but the conclusive part of the
enactment was that in three years--on the 1st of February 1849--these
duties were to cease, and all foreign corn to be admitted at a duty of
1s. per quarter, and all foreign meal and flour at a duty of 4-1/2d. per
cwt.--the same nominal imposts which were conceded to grain and flour of
British possessions abroad from the date of the act. In 1869 even these
nominal duties were abolished by Robert Lowe in a Customs Duties Act. In
1902 a registration duty of 3d. per cwt. was imposed on imported corn,
and 5d. per cwt. on imported flour, in the expectation that such a duty
would broaden the basis of taxation. The duty was, however, repealed the
following year. But a low duty on imported foreign corn was made an
essential part of the tariff reform scheme advocated by Mr. J.
Chamberlain (q.v.) from 1903 onwards.

Spain.

Portugal.

France.

Belgium.

Netherlands.

Italy.

Germany.

Austria-Hungary.

_Foreign Corn Laws._--Freedom of export of corn from customs duties has
become the general rule of nearly all foreign countries. It is somewhat
curious that Spain saw the advantage to her wheat-producing provinces of
freedom of export of wheat as early as 1820, and three years afterwards
extended this freedom to all "fruits of the soil" in Spain. The import
duty on wheat, as on other grain, has varied from time to time. The
tariff of 1882 fixed the duty at 2s. 3-1/4d. per cwt.; a law of February
1895 raised the duty to 4s. 3-1/4d. per cwt., at which rate it remained
till 1898, when it was reduced to 2s. 5-1/4d., though in this same year,
that of the war with the United States, it was for some three months
suspended, owing to distress in the country. In 1899 it was raised to
3s. 3d., and by a law of March 1904 fixed at 6.00 pesetas per 100 kilos
(2s. 5-1/4d. per cwt.) as long as the average price of wheat in the
markets of Castile does not fall below 27.00 pesetas per 100 kilos (11s.
per cwt.). The duty on rye, oats, barley and maize is 1s. 9-1/2d. per
cwt. The duty on flour varied from 3s. 4-1/2d. per cwt. in 1882 to 7s.
0-1/2d. in 1895; by the law of March 1904 it was fixed at 4s. 0-3/4d.
per cwt. The duty on rice is 2s. 1-3/4d. per cwt. in the husk and 4s.
3-3/4d. not in the husk. In Portugal the import duty on wheat was fixed
by a law of May 1888 at 20 reis p