Up: Glassmaking
Reminiscences
85 of 123
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cottons, glass, &c., &c. Until the bounty on glass was
allowed, the exportation of glass from England to foreign countries
was very limited; for the French and Germans, as had before been stated,
for various reasons could undersell the English; but the government
bounty changed the aspect of affairs, and shortly the English manufacturers
not only competed with the Germans and French for the foreign market, but
actually excluded them from any participation,-- the government bounty
being equal to one half the actual cost of the glass exported.
An Act of Parliament levied on flint-glass as
an excise duty of ninety-eight shillings sterling on all glass made in
England, which excise was paid by the manufacturer, being about twenty-five
cents per pound weight, without regard to quality; but if such glass was
exported, the excise officer repaid the tax which it was presumed the
manufacturers had paid, and a clear bounty of twenty-one shillings sterling
was paid by the government to the exporter on each hundred weight of
flint-glass shipped from England, being equal to five cents per pound.
Under such encouragement the export increased from year to year to a very
great extent, so that the excise duty of ninety-eight shillings sterling
on the
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