The following were the quantities sold, and the average prices realised during the Dutch rule in Ceylon:—
| s. | d. | ||||
| 1690 | 3,750 | bales sold at | 4 | 8 | all round. |
| 1709 | 3,750 | " | 4 | 6 | " |
| 1710 | 3,500 | " | 4 | 4 | " |
| 1720 | 5,000 | " | 4 | 4 | " |
| 1740 | 4,000 | " | 9 | 3 | " |
| 1760 | 5,000 | " | 8 | 5 | " |
| 1780 | 2,500 | " | 12 | 6 | " |
| 1784 | 2,500 | " | 17 | 4 | " |
The last quotation appears to have been the highest ever obtained for cinnamon, for 17s. 8d. average would give about 22s. for the first sort. In later years we find the deliveries and prices to have been as follows:—
| s. | d. | ||||
| 1824 | 5,934 | bales sold at | 6 | 6 | all round. |
| 1828 | 3,918 | " | 6 | 0 | " |
| 1830 | 5,849 | " | 7 | 8 | " |
| 1842 | 1,018 | " | — | " | |
| 1845 | 3,245 | " | — | " | |
The comparative exports of cinnamon from Ceylon in the first six months of 1853, as compared with the same period last year, are as follows:—
| 1853. lbs. | 1852. lbs. | ||
| Quarter ending | 5th January | 99,778 | 93,291 |
| " | 5th April | 73,815 | 135,248 |
| Total | 173,593 | 228,539 |
The diminished export was caused by the prospective abolition of the export duty, which came into operation on the 1st July last. The quantity that will be sent to the English market by the close of the year (1853) will be something prodigious compared with the average consumption. From October 10, 1852, to July 22, 1853, the shipments were 406,326 lbs.
RETURN OF CINNAMON EXPORTED FROM CEYLON,
SHOWING THE QUANTITY AND VALUE.
| Quantity. | Value. | |
| Year. | lbs. | £ |
| 1836 | 724,364 | — |
| 1837 | 558,110 | — |
| 1838 | 398,198 | — |
| 1839 | 596,592 | — |
| 1840 | 389,373 | — |
| 1841 | 317,919 | 24,857 |
| 1842 | 121,145 | 15,207 |
| 1843 | 662,704 | 66,270 |
| 1844 | 1,057,841 | 105,784 |
| 1845 | 408,211 | 40,821 |
| 1846 | 491,656 | 49,165 |
| 1847 | 447,369 | 44,736 |
| 1848 | 491,688 | 49,168 |
| 1849 | 733,782 | 73,378 |
| 1850 | 644,857 | 64,485 |
| 1851 | 500,518 | 50,051 |
| 1852 | 427,667 | 42,766 |
The question of the export duty on cinnamon has, during the last twenty years, occupied a considerable space in Ceylon correspondence and the Island journals. This duty was first imposed in 1832, on the abolition of the Grovernment monopoly, and was then fixed at the rate of 3s. per lb. on all qualities. From the 19th April, 1835, it was fixed at 3s. per lb. on the best, and 2s. on the second quality. It was reduced in January, 1837, to 2s. 6d. on the first and second sorts, and 2s. on the third; and in June, 1841, to 2s. on all qualities; in 1843, to 1s.; and in September, 1848, to 4d. per lb. Such a rate of export duty could be maintained only on an article for which there was a considerable demand, and which could not be supplied from other places, and this was for a long time the case. The circumstances are now different, and the abolition of the duty, which has so repeatedly been brought under the notice of the Treasury, has at length been determined on. The quantity of cinnamon, &c., taken for consumption in the United Kingdom, scarcely amounts to 2,800 bales per annum. The sale and consumption is nearly stationary, and cinnamon is only in demand for those finer purposes for which cassia, its competitor, cannot be used. Whilst we imported the large amount of 700,095 lbs. in 1850, only 28,347 lbs. went into consumption. The consumption has declined in the last two years to about 21,500 lbs. Cinnamon is now imported into the United Kingdom duty free.