according to the quantities of the legal standards directed by this act to be universally used; and after the 1st day of May, 1825, and the publication of such tables, the several rates and duties thereafter to be collected by any officers of customs or excise, or other revenue, shall be collected and taken according to the calculations in the tables to be prepared as aforesaid. § 20. Regulations and penalties of certain British acts, extended to this act. All the powers, rules, and regulations in force, and contained in 29 Geo. II. c. 25, for appointing a sufficient number of constables for the service of the city and liberty of Westminster, and to compel proper persons to take upon them the office of jurymen, to prevent nuisances and other offences within the said city and liberty; and in 31 Geo. H. c. 17, for amending the said act; and in 35 Geo. III. c. 102, for the more effectual prevention of the use of defective weights, and of false and unequal balances; and in act of 37 Geo. III., for amending the said act of the thirty-fifth year; and in an act of 55 Geo. III. c. 43, for the more effectual prevention of the use of false and deficient measures; shall be applied and put in execution, except only so far as the said recited acts or any of them, or any part thereof, are expressly repealed or altered by this act, or any other act. § 21. Irish acts. All the powers, rules, and regulations in force, and contained in the several acts passed in the parliament of Ireland, for the ascertaining and examining, and for the seizing, breaking, and destroying of any weights or measures, viz. 4 Ann. (I.) 11 Geo. II. (L.) 25 Geo. II. (I.) 27 Geo. III. (I.) 28 Geo. III. (I.) shall be applied and put in execution, as if the weights or measures ascertained by this act had been specified in the said acts, except only so far as the said acts or any of them, or any part thereof, are repealed or altered by this act, or any other act. § 22. By § 23, so much of former statutes, ordinances, or acts, as relate to establishing weights or measures are repealed. Tuns, pipes, or other vessels of wine, oil, honey, and other gaugeable. liquors imported into London.-From and after the passing of this act, all tuns, pipes, tertians, hogsheads, or other vessels of wine, oil, honey, and other gaugeable liquors, imported into the port of the city of London, and landed within the said city and the liberties thereof, shall be subject and liable to be gauged, as heretofore, by the lord mayor, by virtue of his office of gauger, or by his sufficient deputies, save and except that the contents shall be ascertained by the standard measure of capacity for liquids directed by this act, and the multiples thereof; and that all such vessels that shall be found wanting of the true contents, together with the wine and other liquids therein contained, shall be subject and liable to the like seizures and forfeitures as are provided by any act or acts heretofore made for ascertaining the true contents; and that the moieties of such forfeitures due to his Majesty, shall be, in like manner as heretofore, accounted for by the lord mayor, as such gauger, and his deputies, to his Majesty, in his court of Exchequer at Westminster. § 25. Privileges of the city of London saved.-Provided also, that this act or any thing herein contained shall not extend to prohibit, defeat, injure, or lessen the right of the mayor and commonalty of the city of London, or of the lord mayor, concerning the office of gauger of wines, oils, honey, and other gaugeable liquors imported and landed within the city of London and the liberties thereof. § 26. The provisions of the above statute were to have come into force on the 1st of May, 1825, but by 6 Geo. IV. c. 12, they were directed to take effect only from the 1st of January, 1826: and by the last-mentioned statute, after reciting that by the above act the figure of the standard bushel measure directed to be used for the sale of coals, culm, fish, potatoes, and fruit, is fixed and determined; and hence it is expedient that the figure of the measures used for the sale of coals, and all other goods and things commonly sold by heap measure, should also be fixed and determined; it is enacted, That from and after the 1st of January, 1826, all such measures shall be made cylindrical, and the diameter of such measures shall be at the least double the depth thereof, and the height of the cone or heap shall be equal to three-fourths of the depth of the said measure, the outside of the measure being the extremity of or base of such cone. § 2. Of Wood-Fuel, English Measure. -Wood-fuel is assized into shids, billets, faggots, fall-wood, and cordwood. A shid is to be 4 feet long, and, according as they are marked and notched, their proportion must be in the girth, viz.-If they have but one notch, they must be sixteen inches in the girth; if 2 notches, 23 inches; if 3 notches, 28 inches; if 4 notches, 33 inches; and if 5 notches, 38 inches about. Billets are to be 3 feet long, of which there should be three sorts, viz. a single cask, and a cask of two; the first is 7 inches, the second 10 inches, and the third 14 inches about: they are sold by the hundred of 5 score. Faggots are to be 3 feet long, and at the band 24 inches about; besides the knot of such faggots, 50 go to the load. Bavins and spray-wood are sold by the hundred, which are accounted a load. Cord-wood is the bigger sort of fire-wood, and it is measured by a cord, or line, whereof there are two measures; that of 14 feet in length, 3 feet in breadth, and 3 feet in height. The other is 8 feet in length, 4 feet in height, and 4 feet in breadth. WEIGHTS AND MEASURES OF SCOTLAND. At the Union, the English weights and measures were introduced into Scotland, and are used chiefly for goods received from England. The old Scottish weights and measures, however, are still retained, of which there is a great variety. The principal standards are distributed among the oldest boroughs, viz. the elwand or ell is kept at Edinburgh; the pound, at Lanark; the pint, at Stirling; and the firlot, at Linlithgow: but copies of these are kept in many other towns. The following are their divisions and contents. Troy or Dutch weight.-16 drops, 1 ounce; 16 ounces, 1 pound; 16 pounds. 1 stone. This weight is used in many places for iron, hemp, flax, meal, butchers'-meat, unwrought pewter, lead, and most Dutch and Baltic goods. The pound contains 7600 grains English troy weight. Hence 35 lb. Dutch weight 38 lb. avoirdupois. Trone weight.-Old or trone weight is still used for butter, cheese, wool, hay, and some other commodities. The pound varies in different places, from 20 to 28 Dutch ounces; it is divided into 16 of its own ounce, and 16 lb. make a stone. Long Measure.-37 inches, 1 ell; 6 ells, 1 fall; 40 falls, 1 furlong; 8 furlongs, 1 mile. The ell is 37 English inches. Hence 30 Scottish ells ≈ 31 English yards; and 80 Scottish miles = 91 English miles. Land Measure.-36 square ells, 1 square fall; 40 square falls, I rood; 4 roods, 1 acre. The acre contains 1 acre 1 rood 33 perches English statute measure. Hence 48 Scottish acres = 61 English acres. Dry Measure.-4 lippies, I peck; 4 pecks, 1 firlot; 4 firlots, 1 boll; 16 bolls, I chalder. The Linlithgow wheat firlot, which is the standard, contains 214 Scottish pints, or 21974 English cubic inches. It is used for wheat, rye, peas, beans, salt, and grass seeds. The barley firlot, which is used for barley, malt, oats, fruit, and potatoes, contains 31 Scottish pints, or 3205 cubic inches. The former equals 1, and the latter 1 Winchester bushels nearly. Wine or Liquid Measure.-4 gills, 1 mutchkin; 2 mutchkins, 1 choppin; 2 choppins, 1 pint; 2 pints, 1 quart; 4 quarts, 1 gallon, 16 gallons, 1 hogshead. The pint, according to the standard Stirling jug, is 103,404 English cubic inches. Hence 105 Scottish pints 47 English wine gallons; and 11 Scottish pints 6 English ale gallons. The Scottish quart is commonly reckoned about less than the English wine gallon, and about less than the English ale gallon. The foregoing account is to be considered only as showing the principal weights and measures of Scotland; but to state the various systems that are used in about thirty different counties would be wholly impracticable. The new law on English weights and measures, which commenced on the 1st of January, 1826, and introduced into Scotland, will be found page 965. WEIGHTS, MEASURES, &c. IRELAND. Weights. The weights of Ireland are the same as those of England; the measures are also the same, with some exceptions and customary regulations. Corn, meal, and flour, are sold in sacks by weight; chiefly by the stone of 14 lb. avoirdupois, and the common appellation of quantity is the barrel, which weighs as follows;-20 stone of wheat, peas, beans, and rye. 16 stone of barley, here, and rapeseed. 14 stone of oats, and in some places 12; and 12 stone of malt. By a law of 1734, it was ordered that 41 stone of wheat and rye, 24 of barley, 22 of oats, or 20 of malt, should be reckoned equivalent to a quarter, Winchester measure; but these proportions are seldom noticed except in the shipment of corn. Provisious, for exportation, such as beef and pork, are sold in tierces barrels, and firkins. The casks are not tared, but the pieces in each must be of the following weight and number. Beef-Navy....304 lb. per tierce, being 38 pieces of 8 lb. each. India....336 lb. .. ditto Mess....304 lb. Pork.-India.... 318 lb. 42.. ditto..8 lb. ditto. ditto 38.. ditto..8 lb. ditto. barrel 25.. ditto..8 lb. ditto. firkin tierce... 25.. ditto..4 lb. ditto. 53.. ditto..6 lb. ditto. SO.. ditto.. 4 lb. ditto. 52.. ditto.. 4 lb. ditto. 50.. ditto.. 4 lb. ditto. 25.. ditto.. 4 lb. ditto. Butter is sold by the cwt. of 112 lb. ; tare, the weight of the cask, and tret 1 lb. in 28 lb. Cheese is also sold by the cwt. Dry Measures.-Coals and lime are sold by the bushel, by which also the duty on malt is levied. The coal bushel is 20 inches in diameter at the bottom, 21 at the top, and must contain 10 gallons Winchester measure. The duties on coals imported are levied by a measure containing a ton weight. The lime bushel was formerly 8 Winchester gallons; but by a late act, the half barrel has been adopted, which is to be 21 inches diameter at the bottom in the clear, 22 at the top, and 12 deep, containing 20 Irish gallons, or 4352 cubic inches. The malt bushel measures 2178 cubic inches. It is generally called the Winchester bushel, though it contains 27,58 cubic inches more, or about 1 per cent. Liquid Measures.-The Irish gallon measures 217,6 cubic inches; and as that of England is 231 cubic inches, 100 gallons of the latter equal 106 of the former. Dealers generally allow 6 per cent for the difference. The new law on English weights and measures, which commenced on the 1st of January, 1826, and introduced into Ireland, with exceptions as stated in the act. See page 965. Long Measure. The inch, foot, and yard, are the same here as in England; but the Irish perch or pole is 7 yards, and that of England only 5. Hence 11 Irish miles are equal to 14 English miles. Land Measure. The proportion between the land measures of England and Ireland is deduced from the square perch of each country. Thus 301 Irish acres 49 English acres. The former is called plantation measure, and the latter statute measure. 1 Irish acre = 1 acre 2 roods 19 perches English: and 1 acre of the latter = 2 roods 1838 perches of the former. EXCHANGES, &c. Exchange, in the abstract, is synonymous with barter, which is merely the traffic of any one commodity for another. In the language of commerce they are distinguished, in this application, by different interpretations: thus, the term barter is now used to signify the exchange of any one or more commodities for others, with the exclusion of the precious metals, or their sign, paper of value; while the term ex change is confined to the traffic of coin, or paper of value, for other commodities, or articles of commerce. This paper of value consists of promissory notes and bills of exchange: and even though any commercial transaction may happen to be executed principally by bartering articles the produce of one country, for articles the produce of another, it must generally happen that their respective values will not be so nicely equalized, but that there will remain a difference or balance to be adjusted by means of money or paper. So that, in fact, this doctrine of exchange enters into almost every commercial negotiation which is transacted between the merchants of different countries. Thus, it has been generally described to be "the paying, or receiving of money in one country for its equivalent in another, by means of paper of ere. change." It requires little sagacity to discover, from this view of the general subject, that it becomes necessary for traders to know the value of the coins of different countries, and their relative proportion to each other; the customs of trade in different places with regard to the manufacture, circulation, and operation of paper money; their respective! modes of traffic, with the chief articles of such traffic; and lastly, something relative to their weights and measures. The par of exchange is the real or intrinsic value of the different species of foreign money, equalized to those of England, and vice versâ. The course of exchange is the current price of a sum of money between two places. This price is uncertain, and indeed constantly fluc tuating, according to the circumstances of trade, or as cash or bills are more or less plentiful: and fluctuating thus, it is seldom at par, but generally either above, or below it. Usance is the ordinary term of bills between certain places; as, one, two, or three months after date and double usance, treble, or half, signify double, treble, or half the usual time. When necessary to divide a month upon half usance, the division contains fifteen days. Days of Grace are a certain number of days exceeding the term expressed, which is generally granted before the bill is paid. The number of these days varies according to the custom of different countries. In the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, there are three days of grace allowed upon every bill, whether foreign or domestic; or drawn after sight or date; and also upon every promissory note; but if the last of the three days happen to fall upon a Sunday, the bill is payable upon the preceding day; but in Ireland it is customary to present it on the Monday following. Upon bills drawn at sight, or orders! payable on demand, there are no days of grace allowed. The following is a statement of the number of days' grace in the chief commercial cities of Europe, alphabetically arranged; Dublin, Edinburgh, and London excepted, three days being allowed in all of them, as has been before stated. |