The Press. — London, England, 1853-06-04 00:00:00

JUNE 4, 1853. poses that the rent due for the period during which hews* ;tidy assessed had been wholly lost by the bankruptcy, in solvency, or absconding of the tenant or oc e n p ier . or that the huh had been left waste or unoccupied, the buidlord should be entitled to claint a repayment of the duty. A second entitled a party appealing, as well as the comtuis sioners. to require a new valuation. A third extended the relief granted to tenant farmers who were occupiers under the act of Is4l, in respeet to abatement of tax, where the profits proved hiss than half the rent. A fourth plaeed clerviten and ministers on the same footing as other pro fession* with respect to charges incurred wholly and neees sally in the c=erise Or discharge of their professional duties. A fifth enlarged the VCSIVerS of the commissioners with reference to bad debts." These clauses were agreed to, and the bill was ordered to be reported. CUSTONIS AtT. Considerable discussion has taken place in com mittee upon ditterent items proposed for remission or abolition of duty by this act, the result being, that several of the more important articles are postponed. The change in the tea duty was, howeverotanctioned on Tuesday evening, though out of its due course. upon the representation of the Chancellor of the Exche quer that public convenience would bmu e ch be nefited if the Custom - house people could commence the new system on the Ist of June. Respecting the duty on raisins and currants : Mr. Mrreumi. wished to know whether the right bun. gentleman would consent to the amendment of which he had given notice for a reduction of the duty on raisins to Ina. per cwt.? The CHANCEMAIR of the EXeltE44llllt hoped lie would not be called on too...rut without " reasons." (A hipple.) At the time the resolutions were prepared they were under belief that the reduction of the duty on raisins would lie a great boon to the community in contalmence of an antici pated scarcity of currants. After that a tEli)tion was made for a reduction of the duty on currants, to which they could not possibly accede. Popular it might have been, and, as regarded the holism Islands. from wheims• the supply wan derived, he was himself desinow of increasing their commerce with that locality ; awl had it been meet'. cable, or was he satisfied that the emianment would obtain the benefit of the reduct . .or that the revenue would have recoered itself. he would have accee to the motion. Tlw v accounts of the state of the supply d we d re, however, such as to put it wholly out of the viestion. They were told that there was a sort of famine in currants, and that they would be double the ordinary price. The Levant supplied them with raisins, unit also Spain, and they had 'thinning rumours respecting that crop, owing to frosts and locusts, so that it was at one time apprehended that they would have neither raisins nor currants. The apprebensi tttt s about the crop of raisins, however. passed away ; the frost destroyed the locusts—(a faagh )—oral the stock of raisins was extremely large in this country, and would in all pro bability be introduced into the market tiar home consump tion. Under these circumstances he had no objection to accede to the proposition of the hon. gentleman. Upon the cable duty remission : Lord .1. MANNERS moved that the duty on these articles be retained. The amount was not excessive; it was not complained of by any one, and if it were entirely taken away there would not be any dimi tttt tion in the cost of cool lecting the revenue. The 11"..oxem.i.ovit of the Excuyersu said, that although the same search was necessary on goods that paid cusnons olaty and those that. did not, yet then• was a great deal of additional trouble required in the ease of goods that paid .qty, which would be got rid of by the removal ut the duty. lie believed it woud be found that no less sum than losti3Otsg. had bee n' saved in expense of vollection by tite abolitif customs duties during the last few years. lif ovurse on o he could not consent to the amendment of the noble lord. Mr. Nr.wiirt:Arr. complained that the tight Winona-able goitlentan was sacritieing 5,11:1/. a year by removing the anti on articles of luxury:. Lord .1. MAN NEW. ohserved that daring the last ten years the cost of eolleetiog the customs anat., hadslightly in e.reased, while the cost of collecting tin excise ditties bail diminished dining the same period in a remarkable man ner. In Ist: tlw cost of collecting the excise was tr2:l.ittc.:l and in IPcil it was 07:1,Prtili., being a ilitni iiii thin of nearly 140,000/. In 1 , 411, the cost of collecting the customs was I,2.'it,rilN), and in Is-,1) it was 1.199,7:09. His infen.itee was, that where you repealed excise ditties von diminished the cost of collecting the remainder by striking off a tier of those persons who hail been employed to collect the duties, but where you repealed condoling ditties not diminish the 1111 l ober of those who were employed to rob lest the reinftiniler--you only lessened the ilitlienlties in the way Of importers. The committee divided : For the amendment Against it 194 —ll6 Majority The remission of the ditty on pictures was also op posed by Lord .1. 31ANNEIts. who remarked upon the absurdity of retaining taxes on articles of necessity sir comfort, while throwing away the revenue from pictures, maps, and gold leaf. The ClikNcEl3Pß of the Exclmorrit expressed great surprise at the opposition. He hail not ex pected from such a quarter any antagonism to the slight efforts they (the Government) were able to make against the prevailing utilitarianism of the age : "ytilitarianisnt is supposvil to In. the dew:l*T of this penvd—aud perhaps it is the danger of thin period ; awl THE PRESS. hem we come down to a popular aaaembly, to do some thing, if we can, to meet that spirit of utilitsuilmism. This is a victims (onetime. It is no mere q uestion of 1,000/. or 3,0110/. a year let led upon pientres. The question im thite— ls it desirable, or not, to make your people familiar with the work'. of great men, whether it be in an, or in seienee, or in letters ? Is high culture valuable, or is it not, in a nation? I think it is valuable in a nation. Upon that principle we propose to remit this duty. It is not a mere question of trade. I should have thought that this would have been the last in this long catalogue of articles which mould have been s ubjected to opposite tttt ; and, if subjected to oppsition. I confess that 1 should have thought that my noble friend would not have been the foremost to object. I should have supposed that he would have set himself manfully against the utilitarianism of the age. 1 should have thought that if he had it bias, or a leaning in his mind. it was tovonds what is ancient. arid venerable and great, anal that he would have been disposed to look 'down upon the men' acquisition of wealth, and to have desired to teach the people tht there is much more in this world than wealth that is worth having, and worth living for. (Hear, keur.)" On a division the resolution for remitting the pic ture duty passed by a majority of Diti to 40. The remission of the butter and cheese duty was opposed by Mr. Tominucni:, who said: — That the county of Chester was much more interested than any other in the question of the import duties on cheese and butter; and that he , a s one of the mentlwrs for that cuntv, emelt not, consistently with his duty, give his assent to the proposition of the Chaim-nor of Me ehl.. pier to reduce those duties; On the contrary, ht. prot Ki ested against that reduction, as impolitic as regarded the public revenue, and as. injurious to the interests of a elnisiderable portion of his constituents. lie did not at. on agree with those of his side of the house who looked upon these du ties as so small and paltry its to be not worth retaining. The present duty of ris. tar cwt. on cheette was, taking an avenge of a year, equal to a 10 per cent. proteeting duty, and, therefore. Is duty shansl in by a large body of the ma nufacturent of this country ; and be was yet to learn why the manufacturer of cheese was to be deprived of an A. vantage possessed by the mannfaeturers of other articles. He wits well aware of the reason, or nether excuse, that was given Our drawing a bowl distinction between agricul tiered produce and other productions ;—viz., that fond was MI article of pressing necessity to the people. Unless, however, people were savages, clothing was also an article of pressing necessity ; and if hem. gentlemen were willing to carry out their principles of free trade fairly and impar tially, for the benefit. of the people, they would, in repealing the duties on agrieultural produce, repeal also the duties silt all manufactured articles : they would do so to relieve the former to the utmost. anti thus enable Itim to produce all kinds of find set the lowest possihle price, and also to enable the people to purchase all eonmesslities at the cheapest possible rate. He had no denim to deprive the manufacturers of their present advantages; on the con teary, he was rellaly to Stipple then% in the VOlttillltllltee of thetas; but although he felt this, 1111111 was tqlposed to high and excessive protecting duties, still he maintained that, to carry out the principles of free trails. with the lauded be Wrest—the interest most overburdened with taxation, and beset with ditticulties—and not to carry it out equally with lather interemts less burdened with taxation, and in the highest state of prosperity, was grossly unjust mid Mom. sistent. it. was ou that 'pound that he chiefly ofti.red his opposition to the proposed reduction, unsueeessfol ass be knew that that opposition must be in the Haas' of Com mons. He might. be told that the price of cheese had lately risen, and the importation fallen off. The &toast! among cattle, which had been so fatal in its effects fur several years in Cheshire, was enough to ace t for a considerable rise' in the price ; and the falling off in the importation of cheese had no more to do with the pre sent duties, thnn the falling 14 in the importation of wheat and Nom . had to its, with free trade. It was the surplus produce only of other countries that we dial 111111 could receive. Owing to the recent wonderful. unforeseen. and. he believed ton this country, providential supply a•C gold, to which he for one attributed. under Gott, all the prouqwrity now happily prevailing in this comitry, the pros. verity mid the eonsomption of America had illerefOlell in A Still greater ratio than the produetion constsplently the surplus mance of that country hail fallen of, and the Twenty of cheese exported hail deereosell. his long as this supply of gold aunt' !11. he believed that the proposed reduction of the duties would produce muss tWIIOIII. effect. either its the price sir importation of cheese ; therefore the proposition of the isincellor of the Exchequer would ow ensile' now It eeetAill loss to the Milln.' without benefiting a single class in the c o mmodity. lint if the present sup ply of gold were to continuo, so as to check the present rate of increase in the prosperity and elassomption ad America, then the supplies from that rising and highly praispensisiniti•freetmleciamtcy %Amid lie immeuse. and the proposed reduction of d u ties in that, case would sieved's"' a consideroble loss to the revenue. and injury to his 'sante. Hs. knew how impossible it was to resist soccess folly the progress of this one-sided free trade in the Mrs' of Commons; lent for the TeliSollll he NO given hat world 40101$0Se the reduction of duties on cheese a n d ladter in the only way he could do as, viz., by dividing the hats' against it. Mr. Or.onor supported the amendment, believing that the interests of Irish farmers wonbl he com promised by abolishing the duty on the foreign articles. Mr. SeoosEß having referred to the fact that a duty of 10s. had been imposed upon the articles of butter and cheese by the late Sir R. Peel, The CIiAIii:ELLOR of the EXKIIE(4I.I2I Said that 103 when Sir R. Peel had invested that duty upon those articles he had done so with a hope that after a moderate period that duty would be repealed. The Marquis of Gasser hoped that the same principle would be followed out by the present t'hancellor of the Exchequer. After alluding to the feet that, consequent upon the remission of the corn duty, a large transfer of land from arable into pasturage had taken place, he proceeded to remark upon the peril into which the course adopted by Mr. tiladstone was plunging the revenue of the country If premises were kept, and the income tax rivaled, and indirect taxation were to be abolished to the extent which the tiovernment proposed, he should like to know Insist what mauve the revenue of the country was to lw r i ve d ? The people of this country would not stand the imposition of an excise ditty, wiles* there were at the tonne time slinks raised upon importation of the prosittee of foreign 1411111triCA into this kingdont. He should warn the right hon. gentleman that, if he followed out the atatent which he seemed inclined to pursue, he would tined that the revenue of the yountry would shortly he insufficient Its meet her espentliturc. (llear, Aner.)" Two ditis were taken, one on the butter duty, and a second, upon the motion of Mr.Comixs, for Ti, tabling the impost on cheese. Roth , however , were negatived, and the Government resolutions were adopted by considerable majorities. SIAVERY. Presenting, Ott Monday, a petition from some ladies of Kingston, in isunttica, expressing their ab horrence of slavery, their regret to see the slave trade still prosecuted with so notch itarbarity, espe cially in the island of Cuba, and their prayer to the House of Lords to devise some means by which they could enforce the treaties entered into by Spain for the extinction of that inhuman and cruel traffic, 'l' he Earl of Csaitst.r. admitted that the increase in the evils complained tf by the petitioners was mainly to be attnbnted to recent alterations in our colonial policy, anal the encourstgentent which that poliey had given to the cultivation of slave-grown products :-- " lie mold not deny his own tmonplicity in the adoption of that policy, and to the present day he felt great doubt whether, iu so doing. he was right. or wrong. This he knew, that in the whole etturse of his parliamentary Vieth's' he mover temptietsced in any measure with vu much doubt and hesitation, and then' was no tine with respect tit which be would be so glad to get rill of all responsibility. lloweter, lifter several succesaive tiorennuettts, and SOMA of then 11101 who 'supported the change itt our policy, and some of them nun who opposumi it, hail taken the result's of that policy muter their emisideration, and had found themselves unable to move in the matter, he vertainly could not entertain anv r lpeetation of then probs• bility, or even the possibility, of such policy being now re vented." This made it only the more incumbent upon its to insist on the punctual performance of the solemn conventions into which the Spittlish tiovernment had entered with Great Britain for the abolition of the slave trade:— " ity a treaty which dated MO far back as 1P417, continued and acknowletligetl by subsimpient treaties, Spain tadrumly stipulated to suppress the slave trade on the part of Spa. nisi' subjects, null in consideration of that treaty she IV* el'iVed (Mtn this country the stun of 1110,11110/. He feared there was ito reason to doubt flint ever since the passing of that treaty its provisions hail lawn systematically, wilfully, 111111 sill lint 191110 111 l 1011141 y l'inintl.ll. Ile feared that, hi the Long series of captaitts•general mid governors of Cane, very few, indeed, 'mould be nattiest who had not rereiveil a Wipe of huslet 11111 l t•y, to use ths• plainest. terms, for every single slate landed 111101 the it‘lllllll of ('ohs. Itc believett that litmentl Concha, nod another gine:mot-general , might Ile 'rioted as liontourtible eveeptions : and, considering the universality of the prtiet ive, mid the amount of tutiortation, it NUS only just to mention this cinminitstance. lint it was still mono pninfttl to him to state that Ise feared the suspicion did not Idol' with then', but isseetedell still higher--( War, hear)—fur sooner slid one etsptaitet ieneral of Cuba seem to show a disposition to respect the faith of the treaty. and to manifest some &gni. of humanity and ho nour, than very shortly, for some n'as'al or other, he wan sore to be remotes!, in 111111.1* to ;lice place to a leas armpit loos Mill more aventesmodatimt funetionary in his 'stead. He feared that u n der the present c aptain•general ( I foment! estiteiltt ) the shoe trade was bring rimiest on with Intel minded vigstur and audacity upon the mast of the unhappy island of I 'Win, which he et ail.l state from his own owe ris•nce 4 ;IA IPA Whit Iso a paradise, hot which ever shorn the first white mint put his foot upon it had been Hinted into a hill. ( Hear, beer ) lle regretted too find that there was a large tool smast• mot importation of fresh 11110 . 11 Ph. Ile linfirr..lollo4l that 111.11V1 . 1 . 11 the titortith4 of November ao s l Febroury lust rotoo slates sere landed in t h e island of I 'film. and by had no doubt that a gnat many landings had been effeeted on different parts of the island to which no Pospivitas Httts.homl. - Among other pritetieal measures which might he suggested, Lord Carlisle poweeded to recommend an itnntediate change in the regulation by which supposed slave-ships, when captured, were taken to the Havannah or other shoe ports for judgment. By the present arrangement, even if a condemnation ensued. it too often proved of very slight benefit to the captured slaves. He suggested, therefore, that the taken vessels should be transferred to some free port, when they could be tried before a mixed com