Up: Glassmaking
Reminiscences 86 of 123
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amount consumed at home did not equal the amount paid out in bounty.
In the year 1812, fifty-second George III., an Act was passed reducing
the excise duty to forty-nine shillings, and the export bounty to ten
shillings sixpence. In 1815 the Act was renewed, and again in 1816.
In 1825, sixth George IV. chap. 117, an Act was passed revising the
former as to the mode of levying the excise duty and bounty, so as
to prevent frauds on the revenue, which had hitherto been practiced to
a very great extent. This act remained in force until the
Premiership of Sir Robert Peel,
when both excise and bounty were abrogated, and the English manufacture
stands on the same footing in foreign countries as those of other
nations. By the protecting hand of the English government the flint-glass
manufactories multiplied with very great rapidity, underselling all other
nations, and not only rivalling, but far excelling them in the beauty,
brilliancy, and density of the articles manufactured.
The greatest stimulus ever given to the glass
manufacture in England was the abolition of the duty on it in 1845.
That abolition has produced a somewhat paradoxical result. While the
quantity of glass made has increased in the
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