But suppose the distinction could be made with the most perfect certainty, to make it would be a palpable departure from the principle adopted with every other commodity, of charging a uniform rate of duty on quality. To give an example, the present price of black pepper is 3⅝d. to 4d. per pound, while that of white pepper is 8½d. to 1s. 2d. per pound, both paying the same duty of 6d.; yet nothing can be more easily distinguished than these two commodities, which, except as to curing, are the same article.

Tea is a still more striking example. The duty is the same on all qualities, though prices range from 1l½d. to 3s. 6d. per pound. It was the very circumstance of the difficulty of distinguishing between the different kinds of tea, especially between Bohea and Congou, which, after an eighteen months trial, overthrew the system of rated duties of 1s. 6d., 2s., and 3s., adopted on the abolition of the East India Company's monopoly in 1833.

Unless the duty on nutmegs is equalised there will be no end of trouble and disputes, and however expert the Customs may be, they will certainly be outwitted, and long-shaped and small nutmegs, although really cultivated, will be introduced at the lower duty, by unscrupulous traders, as wild ones.

It may be added that duties of 12d. and 5d. do not, even if a departure from the principle of charging on quality were justifiable, represent the just proportional rates which ought to be levied upon what are supposed to be, respectively, cultivated and wild, as they are represented in the ordinary Price Current by the highest and lowest prices, which are 3s. 10d. and 2s. The just proportional duty ought to be on the lowest, not 5d., but 7d. The duty, as first proposed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, of 1s. per pound on nutmegs, without distinction, was perfectly satisfactory to the planters, merchants, and the trade in general.

It is a mistake to suppose that a duty of 1s. would exclude the so-called wild nutmegs. They would be imported in large quantities, as the cost is low. In quantity it was 17 Spanish dollars per picul, and there is no reason to suppose it would be more now. The finest picked cost say 34 Spanish dollars.

In Pinang and Singapore for cultivated the price is 65 to 70 dollars.

The planters for the most part do not sell on the spot, but consign here for sale on their own account.

London, May 23rd, 1853.

NUTMEGS IMPORTED AND EXPORTED TO AND FROM SINGAPORE.
Imported.
piculs.		Exported.
piculs.		Growth of
Singapore.		Value of the
native growth.
£
1841227½412184½3,323
18422588095519,897
1843150½24998½1,760
1844522822304,131
1845413833426,143
1846793312524,526
18471394162774,275