equal to 234 litres), while in the Steuerverein it was only 18 thalers. The same disparity existed between the duties on raw and manufactured iron. The Hanoverian and Prussian thaler (or dollar) was equivalent to 2s 10¾d sterling. In 1850, Austria proposed an amalgamation of the three customs unions in Germany, that of the Austrian Empire, the Zollverein and the Steuerverein (the first two including territories beyond the German Confederation). However the tariff regimes of the three unions were quite different. The Austrian was hitherto a prohibitive tariff, whilst the Zollverein had a protective tariff and the Steuerverein a financial tariff (i.e. tax raising rather than protecting domestic industry). This scheme if realised would change the tariff of the Zollverein towards higher duties, rather than cause it to be assimilated to the lower tariff of the Steuerverein. Thus the proposal was received with little favour in the Steuerverein, especially the government and press of Hanover. End of the Steuerverein However, Prussia decided to draw in the Steuerverein states into the Zollverein, even at the cost of large concessions, which might risk the defection of south German states from the Zollverein. Negotiations were held between Rudolf von Delbrück, Ministerial-Director of the Prussian Ministry of Commerce and Dr. Otto Klenze, General-Director for Indirect Taxes in the Hanoverian Interior Ministry. As both states wanted to avoid Austria frustrating their progress, this was kept secret. A treaty was soon agreed between Prussia and Hanover on 7 September 1851, by which Hanover joined the Zollverein on 1 January 1854. Hanover negotiated most favourable terms. As well as her share of the Zollverein customs and tax revenues in proportion to her population, Hanover received an annual "praecipium", which was a bonus amounting to two-thirds of her entitlement to net receipts of the Zollverein. The initial estimate of the "praecipium" was 767,000 thalers (£115,000 sterling). This was to compensate for the loss of profits from the transit trade, and as a consideration for the greater consumption of taxed articles, such as foreign wines and colonial produce, compare with the Zollverein. Also, import duties on wine, coffee, molasses, tea, and brandy were reduced (by 50% in the case of brandy). Another concession was that British iron could be imported free of duty, for the completion of the Hanoverian railway lines, for a limited period. Throughout Hanover, where the benefit of low tariffs were greatly valued, the accession to