"[123] The rule to
allow private dealers to sell at a reasonable profit, excellent in
itself, required an amount of supervision which it did not receive, and
in consequence, the starving poor were often obliged to pay unjustly
exorbitant prices for their food supplies. Commissary-General Hewetson,
writing from Limerick on 30th December, 1846, says: "Last quotations
from Cork: Indian corn, L17 5s. per ton, ex ship; Limerick: corn not in
the market; Indian meal, L18 10s. to L19 per ton. Demand excessive.
Looking to the quotations in the United States markets, these are really
famine prices, the corn (direct consignment from the States) not
standing the consignee more than L9 or L10 per ton. The commander of an
American ship, the 'Isabella,' lately with a direct consignment from New
York to a house in this city, makes no scruple, in his trips in the
public steamers up and down the river, to speak of the enormous profits
the English and Irish houses are making by their dealings with the
States. One house in Cork alone, it is affirmed, will clear L40,000 by
corn speculation; and the leading firm here will, I should say, go near
to L80,000, as they are now weekly turning out from 700 to 900 tons of
different sorts of meal.
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