Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 6.djvu/766

730 over and above these essential constituents of the transac tion. An import duty is thus in some cases a tax which consumers may pay lightly or heavily as they choose, and has accordingly a flexibility that is not unimportant in taxation. But if the commodity be one of domestic as well as foreign supply, the effect of the customs duty is to raise the price of the domestic supply in some proportion to the duty ; and the consumer, in so far as the commodity is one of necessity to him, has no choice. He has to pay the tax, with the further dissatisfaction of knowing that it goes to no public purpose, but only into the pockets of some of his own private neighbours. A customs duty on the export of commodities, on the other hand, has to be paid by the foreign consumers, one of the most agreeable forms of taxa tion to be conceived. But this desire of taxing foreigners for domestic revenue is met by the competition of general commerce, and nations have to be chary of levying duties on the export of the products of their own industry. It is only where they have some special monopoly of the product that they can enter upon such a course without the gravest disadvantage to themselves. Wherever the principle of free trade is recognized, these distinctions have to be strictly observed ; and in the past thirty years regime of free trade in the United Kingdom, the whole system of customs duties, in its principles, its rates of duty, and its administration, has undergone a complete revolution. Of many hundreds of articles on which cus toms duty was levied in the seaports, only five or six, of exclusively foreign origin, now remain to yield the customs revenue of the kingdom. Yet this revenue has never declined. It is much larger than when the whole elaborate system of customs duties was in force. The best literature of this interesting subject, apart from the standard works of British, French, and German economists, is to be found in the Budgets of the British Parliament since 18-12 ; in the Acts consolidating and reforming the custom-house admin istration, particularly the Act of 1853 drawn by Mr Wilson, editor of The Economist, and then secretary of the treasury ; in the reports of the Hon. David Wells, late commissioner of revenue in the United States ; and in the annual reports of the British custom-house commissioners, in which alone there is a magazine of the most valuable facts. Of recent years the only controversy of the British public with the custom-house relates to what has been deemed the too careless admission of adulterated or worthless commodities, in respect to which there may have to be a further reform in the future. In the case of commodities on which a duty is levied, and must be paid before they pass into consump tion, there would seam to be a responsibiluVy on the part of the duty-levying power to ascertain that the commodity is what it is professed to be.  CUSTOS ROTULORUM, in England, is one of the justices of the peace, and keeper of the records for the county. He nominates the clerk of the peace. He is described by Lambard as a &quot;man for the most part especially picked out either for wisdom, countenance, or credit.&quot; He is nominated by the royal sign-manual.  CUTCH, or, a native, state in the south-western extremity of Hindustan, situated between G8 and 72 E. long, and 22 and 25 N. Lit. It is a peninsular tract of land, inclosed towards the W. by the eastern branch of the Indus, or the Koree, on the S. by the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Cutch, and on the N. and E., towards the interior, by the great northern Ran, or Runn, an extensive salt morass or lake, which from May to October is flooded with salt water, and communicates in its greatest extent with the Gulf of Cutch on the west and the Gulf of Carnbay on the east, these two gulfs being united during the monsoon. The interior of Cutch is studded with hills of consider able elevation, and a range of mountains runs through it from east to west, many of them of the most fantastic shapes, with large insulated masses of rock scattered in all directions. In the intervening valleys the country is not deficient in fertility and verdure, and is sufficiently pro ductive in all cases where the nature of the government permits the cultivator to enjoy the fruits of his labour. But this very seldom happens. Many of the hills are covered with jungle, and with the strongholds and dens of petty chiefs, who sometimes protect, but more frequently issue forth to plunder the lower country. The general appearance of Cutch is barren and uninteresting. The greater part is a rock destitute of soil, and presenting the wildest aspect ; the ground is cold, poor, and sterile ; the rains are generally scanty, and often fail altogether ; and the whole face of the country bears marks of volcanic action. From the violence of tyranny, and the rapine of a disorderly banditti, by which this district has from time immemorial been infested, as well as from shocks of earth quakes, the villages have a ruinous and dilapidated appear ance ; and, with the exception of a few fields in their neighbourhood,, the country presents a rocky and sandy waste, with in many places scarcely a .show of vegetation. Water is scarce and brackish, and is chiefly found at the bottom of low ranges of hills, which abound in some parts ; and the inhabitants of the extensive sandy tracts suffer greatly from the want of it. Owing to the uncertainty of the periodical rains in Cutch, the country is liable to severe famines, which, along with the internal broils by which it has been harassed, have greatly obstructed cultivation, and thinned the inhabitants, many of whom have been induced to emigrate to Bombay and Gujarat; and, in addition to all these evils, an uncommonly violent earthquake, which occurred on the 16th of June 1819, nearly destroyed Bhuj, the capital, and greatly injured the towns of Anjar, Mandavi, and Moondria or Mundra. The soil of Cutch produces grain, cotton, tobacco, ghee, &c. ; and iron and coal have been discovered, the latter near the surface of the ground, on the banks of one of the rivers, seven niilvs north-east of Bhuj, but it is not in general use as fuel. The Ran, or Runn, which communicates with the Gulf of Cutch, and sweeps round the northern side of that province, is a very extensive salt morass, varying in breadth from five to eighty miles across, and during the rains nearly impassable for horsemen. The total area of this immense morass may be estimated at about 8000 square miles, without including any portion of the Gulf of Cutch, which is in many parts so shallow as to resemble a marshy fen rather than an arm of the sea. The Runn is said to be formed by the overflow of the rivers Pharan, Luni, Banas, and others, during the monsoon ; but in December it is quite dry, and in most places hard. The wild ass is very common on the borders of this lake, being seen in herds of from GO to 70 at a time. The temperature of Cutch during the hot season is high, the thermometer frequently rising to 100 or 105; and in the months of April and May, clouds of dust and sand, blown about by hurricanes, envelop the houses, the glass windows scarcely affording any protection. For nine months of the year the climate is comparatively temperate and agreeable ; but the approach of October is equally dreaded by the native and European population as extremely unhealthy, and at the close of the monsoon the oppression of the atmosphere is described as being intoler able. The influence of the monsoon is greatly moderated before it reaches this region, and the rains sometimes fail altogether ; but although in this case the necessary conse quences are want and misery to the great body of the people, these dry seasons are far more favourable to the health uf Europeans. The monsoon generally sii^s in with 