The Press. — London, England, 1853-06-25 00:00:00

174 Lord BROUGHAM also pointed out its many anoma lies, but consented to accept it under a choice of evils. The Marquis of LANSDOWNE expressed his faith in Ithe possibility of its extinction, notwithstanding all that had been said on the other side. Taken as a permanent tax, he allowed the force of the many ob jections that were urged against it. l ane bill was read a second time, and went through committee on Thursday. " ORNAMENTAL " TIMBER. The committal of the Successions Bill being re sumed on Monday night, a discussion took place on clause 21, respecting the principle on which house and woodland property was to be valued for the pur poses of this tax, and especially with regard to the exemptions to be allowed on the score of necessary outgomga and " ornamental " timber. pMr. Downtown inquired what basis of estimate would be laid down for the valuation of trees, and how it was to he decided whether or no they should be taxable or exempt under the bill. There were thousands of trees on the grounds laid out by the poet Shenstone, and described in the " Leasowes," which were in truth invaluable, but whose value de pended entirely upon their picturesque position and poetical associations. Lord Grenville paid enormous prices for some beeches which were worth little ex cept for their situation in the landscape. On the other hand, a noble lord had 17,000 trees blown down in one night on a Scotch estate which no one could he found to purchase even by the trouble of carrying them away. Mr. GLADSTONE offered to amend the clause by changing the word " ornamental " into "timber left standing for the purpose of ornament." In the course of the long debate which ensued Mr. HENLEY objected to the vagueness of the definition of "necessary expenses ;" to which the SometToo- GENERAL replied that the words were well understood and could be exactly defined in a court of law. Sir J. HANWER found reason to apprehend unli mited litigation from the uncertainties involved in the bill, and asked why, when taxes were taken off foreign timber, they were to be laid upon our own ? Sir J. Tmouoro moved some excisions in the clause, wishing to test the question whether timber ought to be included in the new tax which the bill would create:— " The ingenuity of the Jewish law went to the extent of taxing mint and eummin, but they never dreamed of taxing the cedars of Lebanon. (Laughter.) The apostolical fathers of our Church took even the tenth ear of wheat, but they never thought of tithing growing timber ; nor had the latter ever been rated to the relief of the poor. (Hear, hear.) Besides, it would be exceedingly difficult to define what was taxable timber, or to say what was fur ornament and what fur shelter. There were places where the cut. Ling down of trees would render the land utterly valueless. If, for instance, the timber were removed from places on the coast of Norfolk, the soil would be absolutely blown away. He also saw objections to the mode in which it was proposed to levy the tax. Great injustice would be done by this clause, and discouragement shown to those gentlemen who now took a pride in improving their estates and ornamenting the country, by planting timber. (Hear, hear.)" The CHANCELLOR Of the EXCHEQUER pleaded that, as matters stood, large quantities of timber fell under the legacy duties, were valued and taxed without dif ficulty or injustice (except sometimes to the Exche quer), and that the amount of the tax after all was little more than nominal : " But the question they had to decide was whether thit her should be exempted altogether from the operation of this tax. (Hear, hear.) He did not mean to say that it was vital to the financial efficacy of this measure that tim ber should be taxed, and he had already stated what a small sum would be derived from it. But it was a pies tion of principle more than anything else, and, without exaggerating its importance, he must say he thought that the committee ought not to strike out timber front the bill. It would be better to meet the difficulty of the ease by in serting such provisions as might be thought necessary for preventing abuses of the law relating to the liability of timber. His plain reason was this, that, however uncer tain timber might have been in former times, considered as • mercantile commodity, it had of late years become a merchantable commodity to a great extent. (Hear, hear.) There were many places in England and Scotland where timber was as good and certain a source of income from the estate as any part of the estate whatever. He, there fore. did not think it would he wise in the committee, if it intended to maintain impartiality. to exempt timber from the operation of the bill. (Hear.')" The discussion still continuing, Mr. C. BRUCE remarked that 1)r. Johnson had re proached the Scotch with the nakedness of their land. They had since endeavoured, by extensive timber plantation, to do away with that reproach, and now came the Chancellor of the Exchequer with a tax upon them for their pains. The SOLICITtiR-GENERAL proposed, by way of com promise, that certain words should be inserted in the clause limiting the taxable amount only to that which should be actually received for timber and trees felled and sold during the term of the succes sion. Various practical objections having been urged against the adoption of this middle course, THE PRESS. Lord J. Russzu. argued in defence of the original clause that timber, saving in exceptionable instances, was as regular a source of income, and as such a marketable and therefore taxable article, as much as any other produce of the land : " Suppose a man with 2,010 acres, of which 1,000 was arable and pasture land, from which he derived a certain income every year, and the other 1,000 acres of under wood, from which he derived also a certain income, he could not understand why the income arising from the latter should be exempted (ruin the tax, and the income arising from the former subject to it. 11 the successor came into possession of the property he would have income from the one source as well as the other ; if he sold the estate he would receive value for the part containing the timber as well as from the rest. That was a simple case ; and in that case he owned he could not see the justice of excluding timber altogether from the tax." The debate, after lasting many hours, was closed by a division, on which there appeared : For Sir J. Trollope's amendment.... 153 Against... Majority against the Government —3 After this defeat of the Government the discussion was resumed on various propositions regarding the final shape in which the clause should be left. Mr. COBDEN at this time took occasion to make a speech upon the original question : " He could not for the life of him ascertain what myste rious cause was operating to remove timber out of that category in which every other description of property, real and personal, was to be found. He wanted to caution the Chancellor of the Exchequer from attempting to conciliate his opponents by any kind of compromise, and he thought the course pursued by hon. gentlemen opposite showed that nothing was to be gained by that kind of policy. He went further than to say that copse wood and forest wood ought to he taxed, for he saw no reason why ornamental timber should not be taxed. No arguments applied to the exemption of ornamental timber which did not apply to other objects of luxury. (Hear.) Why was ornamental timber kept, but for the purpose of luxury and enjoyment? Did not the possession of a park add as much to the dig nity and importance of the owner as the possession of a mansion ? And, if honourable gentlemen advocated the remission in the case of ornamental timber, why not in the case of pictures and the plateau on their sideboards ? (Chem.) He would lay down this proposition, that any thing which could be brought into the Encumbered Es tates Court and sold want fairly liable to taxation under this bill. He might be told that ornamental timber was not an article of merchandise. Why was it kept and not cut for sale, but because the proprietor preferred to enjoy the or nament and luxury rather than convert it to purposes of utility by selling it? It argued great wealth for any one to be able to keep so large an amount for luxury and en joyment. ("(ni, We," and " Hear, hear, hear.") Having agreed that everything else should be taxed, was it desir able to make a stand on this article of timber? They were fewer in number who possessed parks and timber than any other class, and they would be isolating them selves more in making a stand against taxing timber than if they claimed exemption for their equipages, their plate, or their diamonds. t" Hear, hear," and " Uh.")" A division w•as afterwards taken on a motion for reporting pmgress and negatived ; but, after the de bate had lingered on until past one o'clock, the Go vernment consented to postpone the clause, and, on Mr. Meow:Ellis motion, the Chairman reported pro gress, and the House, resuming, passed ou to other orders of the day. EPISCOPAL AND CAPITULAR PROPERTIES. The Marquis of BLANDFORD prefaced his motion for leave to bring in a bill for the better management of the episcopal and eapitular revenues on Tuesday evening, by an examination of the constitutional rights appertaining to the House of Commons to deal with such matters. After recapitulating the acts of the Legislature in relation to the Establish ment from a very early period, he came to the con - elusion that neither would the Church he wronged, nor the supre►nacy of the Crown invaded, if the Commons took upon them to organise some better system of management for ecclesiastical properties. Passing on to the question of the day, he entered into some ela borate computations showing, on one hand, how much provision for spiritual and educational purposes was required through the growth of population, the di vision of parishes, the erection of new churches, tie.; and, on the other, what prospect of supply towards this want could be held out in the more thrifty ad ministration of the vast properties now held by the bishops, cathedral chapters, and other ecclesiastical corporations, but which were fairly applicable to the necessities of the Church. As a general result hecal eulated that. the immediate wants could be provided for by a revenue of 451,0001. per annum; and, after meeting all the demands that ought to exist upon the properties in question, he found cause to expect a present surplus of 350,0001., with the prospect of rapid augmentation. In fact, he believed that under a judicious syste►n there would not only be enough to meet the immediate wants of the Church, but, as the population expanded, further calls might be made upon and met by the resources of the Establishment. The noble marquis thus explained the details of his proposed bill : SATURDAY, "He proposed to transfer the entire management of the episcopal and capitular property into the hands of the ecclesiastical commissioners, to invest them with the legal control over the property for the purpose of management only, and that they should be the lawful receivers of the rents and profits accruing from the same, with the exception of sums derived from certain ex cepted sources. The bill also provided that a separate account should be kept of the property of each individual corporation, to which the members thereof should have at all times access, and that a seal having a distinctive die should be provided and used for each corporation. With regard to the transfer of property, the bill did not interfere with the act of enfranchisement of 1851 : it merely provided that the powers given by the former act should be transferred directly to the ecclesiastical commissioners. instead of the plan of the rich sees paying over their surpluses to the poorer ones, the bill also provided that the sum which was necessary to make up the income of the bishop or chapter should be, of course, a rent charge upon the property ; and, in the event of that sum not being regularly paid within a certain period of time, immediate powers of re-entry which would be conferred might be exercised. With regard to incomes, it provided that a half-yearly return should be made to the commissioners of all sums derived from the expected sources of income. With regard to some of the chapters where there had been no fixed income, the bill provided that such sums should be paid to them by the commissioners as in their estimation they would be en. titled to receive. The bill likewise provided for the pay. meat of the necessary expenses of the cathedrals so long as the major part of the canons were not in the receipt of fixed incomes." Lord JOHN RUSSELL, after complimenting the noble lord on his industry and research, gladly consented to have his bill brought in, reserving, of course, the right to object hereafter to its details. He trusted, however, that a measure of such importance would not be hurried through the house at any time when deliberate attention could not be bestowed upon it Mr. HI ME approved of the measure, but thought that the property of the Church should not be con fined to one sect only. Half the people had left the Establishment, and half its funds should be devoted to their education, and the remaining half would be quite sufficient for the use of the Established Church. Mr. HEADLAX also supported the bill, though he could not agree in the propriety of applying the stir. plus funds of a diocese to another see while there were parts of the diocese itself to which those funds might be applied with great advantage, as in the case of the diocese of Durham. Sir B. HAM. congratulated the Church upon the bill introduced by the noble marquis, which he was happy to say went further than any which he had himself ever submitted to the house. Mr. A. PELLATT claimed for the nonconformists much of the credit for what had been done in the way of educating the people. Leave was then given to bring in the bill. JAMAICA. Sir J. FAKING - I . os having inquired whether Govern ment had received any official communication from the Governor of Jamaica respecting the conduct of the Assembly, and whether it was intended to propose any change in the constitution of the island, Lord J. firssr.u. said that despatches had been received from the Governor of Jamaica with relation to the political and financial crisis which had occurred in that island. Those despatches were under the consideration of Govern ment, and a plan had been proposed which it was hoped might put an end to the embarrassments of the island of Jamaica. If that plan was adopted it would, no doubt, motet the financial powers of the House of Assembly. HIS noble friend the Secretary for the Colonies would, in a week or ten days, state to the other House of Parliament, and he (Cool J. Russell) would probably state in that house, the outline of the plan proposed by Government. Till that plan was before the house he did not propose to lay any official ravens on the table. ELECTION COMMITTEES. The Liverpool committee presented its report on Tuesday, after a prolonged investigation. It set forth that Charles Turner and William Forbes list-ken. zie were not duly elected, and that the last election was a void election; that Cloaks Turner and William Forbes Mackenzie were by their agents guilty of bribery and treating: and that William Dodd and about twenty others were bribed by the pay ment of ss. each. That others were bribed by the payment of los. each ; but that it was not proved that such bribery was with the consent of the sitting members. That refreshments were provided on the polling day ; that the several payments were made to the voters on account of their having voted for the sitting members, under the name of a day's pay, and as a com pensation for the time which it was alleged they lost in voting. These gifts were not beyond their daily average earnings, but, from the position of the polling-places in the different wards. the voters might have polled without any such interruption of time, or without needing refreshment. As to the other candidates, there was no reason to believe that any illegal transaction had taken place with regard to the voters. The committee did not think it right to recommend that the issue of the writ should be suspended, or that any further inquiry should take place. Mr. FRESIIFIELD gave notice to mote for a new writ on Tues day nest. Lord P.SITART said he should move as an amendment that at the tiwct election for Liverpool the votes should be taken by way of ballot. The BERWICK PETITION has resulted in the follow ing report of the select committee :- 1. That Mr. Forster did not endeavour, either direectly or in directly, by any corrupt compromise, V.) obtain the withdrawal of the petition against the said return.