Star. — London, England, 1819-06-08 00:00:00

4 1! 4 : I 1 ' ' i '~ 111 .4 . there shotildbe an obligation to produce a Sinking Fund, which should gradually operate i to their ex tinction. From this system , however, t could not be supposed that there was no obligation not to con tract any new Loan ; nor could it be Mr. Pitt's notion that annual loans must he contracted. If, however, any such idea prevailed, he should consider it the first dug of the House to deliver the Public from such a system. The present surplus income of two millions was not such as could relieve the country from the necessity of a Loan. But whether a part of the Sinking Fund was appli ed to the service of the year, or whether any other arrangement were made, still he would think that an annual Sinking Fund of five millions, would provide such an impor tant means of reducing the debt as must prove very advantageous to the public credit. As yet there were no means of judging what effect would be produced by so great a surplus as five millions. There were, however, some circumstances which might assist them in estimating the extent of its operation. In the period from 1786 to 1792, a Sinking Fund of one million had been provided, and from the great effect which it produced, some idea might be formed of the effect which would be produced by the five millions. The effect of such an increase to the Re venue in the present situation, would be to raise the Sir king Fund of five millions to eight millions— (Hear, hear)! h is would be occasioned partly by the accumulation of compound interest on the small Loan—partly by the increase of income during the peace—partly by the reduction of some of the Funds when opportunity should offer.. He could not think that he was very sanguine, when he thought great improvement must take place in the Revenue. But when a clear surplus was provided by a Sinking Fund of five millions, it would be for Parliament to consider how they would dispose of any further sur pins ; and the Public might then look to be relieved from a part of the burden to which they were now exposed. The immediate object then of the measure which he meant to propose to the House, was such an increase of the Revenue as should produce a sur plus of five millions, applicable to the reduction of debt: and this would be obtained by increasing the present Revenue to the extent of three millions. By what particular means he intended to accomplish this increase, it would be for him to submit to the House when the consideration of the Ways and Means came before them. For the present, however, he must say, that he was far from expecting that the House would sanction so considerable an increase of Taxes as three millions, without a statement to shew that it was expedient and nece;sary that such an ad dition should be made to the public burdens. When such a statement was made, it would be for each Gentleman in this House to make up his mind as to its force. There might be differences of opinion as to the particular parts of the plan ; fcr it by no means followed that those who approved it should approve also of the details. All that he wished was, that the House should take such a view of its situa tion as would induce it to make a great exertion. By what particular Tax this three millions should be raised was a point comparatively of small importance. At the same time he felt that a great deal was to be considered in determining upon the most fit objects for any increase of taxation. But when the exertion was resolved on—when the situation of the country was found to be such as rendered such a measure ex pedient, it would then be for the House to consider how the burden might be apportioned so as to occa sion the least inconvenience. The House might, however, expect that he should now state what those articles were on which it was proposed to lay the ad ditional duty. The House was already aware that he proposed to consolidate various of the Custom Duties. This would include a variety of slight al terations in the duties on various articles. The first, and one of the most considerable of the articles on which an additional duty would be laid, was foreign Wool. The duty on that article was at present only one penny per pound, which was thought too low, with a view to the interest of the home grower of that important article. He proposed that the duty should be increased to six-pence per pound. This' additional duty would operate as a protection to the growers of inferior Wool in this country (Rear, hear). By this increase of duty, he calculated that an in-' crease of the revenue would be effected to the amount of £250,000 or £300,000. Under the same head of Customs, there were slight additions to the ditties onl various small articles, which, it was estimated, would give a further increase of about 42200,000. In all, under the head of Customs, he proposed an increase of duties which would produce £500,000. Remain ing articles on which new duties were intended came all under the head of Excise. In this branch, the most considerable article was Malt. It would be re collected that the war tax on Malt had ceased in i 1816. He did not now intend to propose that it should be renewed, but he wonld shew the House how he intended to modify it:—ln 1816, it had been stated that great and extensive benefits would be pro duced by the cessation of the war tax on this article; that it would afford relief to the Agricultural Inte rest, that it would even be beneficial to the Revenue, and, above all, it wiped give great relief to the Lower Classes. None of these expectations had been rea lized, and, in all points of view, the cessation of the Tax had failed of that operation which had been pro mised. It appeared from Accounts before the House that the number of bushels of nalt on which duty had been paid in 1816, was 26,400,000; whereas in the next year, which was the first after the cessation of the Tax, instead of any increase, the number of bushels fell to 17,000,000. It therefore appeared that the consumption varied without any reference to the amount of duty paid; and when the Tax was taken off, instead of the promised increase of the Re venue, there was a great reduction. In the second year after the cessation of the Tax, the amount of, bushels on which duty was paid rose again to "G,400,000; but beyond that it had never since gone. Ile meant to increase the duty on this article to the amount of Is. 2d. per bushel, making the whole amount of duty 9s. 6d. per bushel. He hoped that this increase would not only be no justification for • - - the prices to the Public, but not even for con as it now was (Hear, hear ! In order to form an ac ibject, he must request the the Report of the Commit oresented in the last Session. rtant evidence which that 11! 1 1,;.''H y• " ‘...P.6,44m,utry; um. lle meant to increase the d , bu amount o amount of f d l o s. ty 'l t3 d. s. 6 plr per this increase would not on raising the prices to the Pill • tinning the price so high as r • from all sides of the House.) curate judgment on this sul attention of the House to tE tee which had been prese . Among the mass of impel . document contained, there would be found the evi; dente of a Gentleman of the highest respectability, and of great eminence in that very professign, which was principally' concerned in the consumption of Malt. According to the statement of that Gentle , man, it appeared that the ps..e of Malt during the last year might be stated at about 81s. per quarter, and Hops at £2l or £25 per hundred weight. In the present year, Malt could not be above 83s. per quarter, if even so high, while Hops were not above £8 10s. per hundred weight. At this rate, the ag gregate expense of brewing a quarter of Beer was £9 6s. Bd. last year, while this year it was only £6 7s. 4d. leaving a difference of £2 19s. 4d. of which he only wished to take 9s. 4d. leaving £2 10s. in fa your of the Brewers beyond what they had last year. (Hear, hear, hear !) The total amount of the increase of Revenue which he expected from this addition to the duty on Malt was £1,400,000. The remaining articles of Excise on which an increased duty was in tended were principally those on which duties were now collected both under the head of Excise and Customs. By the double collection of duty, it had been found that a great addition was made to the expense of management. Government now intended to try the experiment whether the whole amount of the duty collected under the separate keads of Excise and Customs might not be effectually cured under one head. The articles to which he alluded were those liable to great frauds from adulteration, and on which, in fact, such frauds to a great extent had been detected. The Customs had not the means of detecting such frauds; whereas the Excise had the, means, and had already successfully use.' them to a great extent. The articles to which he alluded were Tobacco. Coffee, Cocoa, Tea, and Pepper. Upon each of these, at the same time with the transfer of the whole duties to the Excise, he intended to propose an additional duty. Upon Tobacco he would pro pose such an increase as would give an additional revenue of £.500,000. But even with this increase, the article might be afforded to the Public cheaper than it had been some years ago (Laughter)—cheaper than it had been before the end of the American war. On Coffee and Cocoa he proposed an addition, which would amount to £130,000 ; on Pepper, one which would amount to £30,000 ; on Tea the duty would be raised four per cent. the present rate being 96 per cent. which would be now made 100 per cent. and would produce an addition to the revenue oft 130,000. He was aware that it might be objected to the in crease which was proposed in the duties on these arti cles, and that it would tend to encourage smuggling. But he trusted that such measures would be taken for the prevention of smuggling as would be found effectual for that purpose. Nor did he think the ad dition to the duties were such as could afford any additional temptation to contraband traffic, while as far as they went they afforded an additional reason, for vigilance on the part of the Revenue officers. One other article remained, on which the duty which was now collected might be stated as being that which was as fairly collected as any in the country ; namely, that on Spirits distilled in England. No tax was better collected, as the trade was confined to a few opulent individuals. He proposed an augmentation on this head, which would produce five hundred thou sand. The total aggregate of the increase on the various articles which he had named was £3,190,000, which, allowing for some accidental deficiencies, might be taken as affording an increase to the Reve nue of three millions per annum. To recapitulate— the first great article was consolidating various arti cles of excise and customs under the head of excise ; then the increase of the customs on Foreign Wool ; and lastly, the additional Malt tax, and that on Bri tish Spirits. He felt that he could not too seriously impress upon Parliament the necessity of making a great effort by these or some other means. Now for three years he had submitted to the House annual plans of Finance, founded, as he knew, and as the House knew, on measures of temporary expediency. The time had now arrived when such measures ought no longer to be resorted to, and when the situation of the country required the adoption of some settled and permanent system. The House had felt this, so far as to enter into a minute investigation as to the financial state of the nation, and one of the results had been a resolution to return to a sound currency. The present, therefore, seemed the fit season for es tablishing the Financesof the country on a solid and secure basis. All the points of the weakness, as well as of the strength of the empire, had become known both at home and abroad. By the return of the Army of Occupation from France, the military force had been reduced to what might be considered the permanent peace establishment—at least that which must continue for some time. It was not likely that any,further great reduction could be made. Some other expenses which occasionally occurred would be reduced—especially that of the Militia. But it would be reasonable to calculate on this, or on the increase of the Revenue—or the Sinking Fund—or the reduction of any of the Funds. These were re sources slow and gradual in their nature, and it was impossible to state with accuracy any probable period when they might be reckoned on. Five mil lions, therefore, seemed to him the smallest sum which' could be safely reckoned on for a Sinking Fund ; arid the addition of £3,000,000 of taxes would enable us to proceed with such a fund from the present year. The Loan for this year provided for the repayment to the Bank of the sums advanced by them, and for the Exchequer-bills. It was only the amount of the several branches of the public Expenditure which was estimated to leave a sum of £13,000,000 or £13,500,000 to be provided for; and if that whole sum I were raised, there would remain a surplus of three millions. In looking to the increase of this surplus from the new resources it was not to be expected that the new taxes would attain their full amount in the first year. At the same time it was also to be consi dered, that all the expenses of the Loan would not fall within one year. One question, however, might be asked, of some importance, with respect to the produce of the taxes. There was a very general ap prehensioe that a considerable defalcation in the Re venue would be occasioned by the stagnation of trade, and it might be asked, whether this might not be ex pected to have a great effect ? He was, however, happy to state, that hitherto this effect had not been produced ; and he hoped that the symptoms of ame lioration which already appeared would lead to sub stantial improvement. Since the 6th of April, there certainly had been some diminution in the Revenue, but it was not of a very alarming nature. Up to the • .~ total amount quarter of the last :vthe of the deficiency , as 4th cwn omo o f pma r Jun e, etda th w the corresponding The Excise year, was i.:107,000, or about two per cent. He had fallen off by about 1:215,000 ; but it was not im probable that this deficiency would not continue any longer. In the Customs, there had been an augmen tation of about £84,000; in the Post-office, an in crease of £45,000 ; in the Assessed Taxes, an increase of £14,000; in the Stamps, a diminution of C 33,000. Thus there was a total diminution of 12248,000 ; from which was to be substracted, an increase upon other branches, amounting to £141,000, leaving a diminu tion on the whole Revenue of 8107,000 in the quar ter ending 4th of June. He had no reason to think the Finance Committee had taken too sanguine a view. But at the same time he should not, under the pre sent Circumstances, think himself justified in specu lating upon any increase of the Revenue; although he did think that those causes which produced that stagnation which had 'lately affected the Revenue must now have ceased to operate. The effect w hich had been produced by the preparations for resuming Cash-Payments, had certainly been considerable; but a great part of the evil had been occasioned by the alarm, and that had now subsided. It had been found to be groundless, and when it ceased the Re venue might be expected to return to its regular state. Navin? given these details which the occasion seemed to cad for, he had only to say, that he would be ready to enter into any cxrlaration which might be wished to elucidate any part of what he hall sub mitted to the House. But he could not sit down; without expressing how great a degree of responsi• bility rested with his Majesty's Ministers, not only l in proposing any new Taxes, but also in the ma nagement those which were already imposed. lie Was ready, however, so far as it was possible, to add to that obligation, to do so, by moving a further Re solution, calling upon the Executive Government for the most economical management of the Public Revenue—(.4 Laugh on the Opposition Benches, fol lowed by repeated cheers.)—lle hoped that the events of this Session had already given a pledge of the sincerity of their endeavours in this respect—(Hear, hear.)—ln the great departments of the State,' scarcely any vote had been proposed which had met with opposition. One subject had been alluded to in the course of the Session, which he felt to be one of great misfiirtune—namely, the expenses attending the collection of the Revenue. This was a subject well worthy of great consideration, and its investi gation ought to be speedily undertaken. With this view he would, after the other Resolutions, move one which should set forth—" That with the view of ac celerating the period when the country might expect relief front a part of its present burthens, the House thought that a vigilant controul should be exercised, and a minute investigation instituted as to the mode of collecting and managing the Revenue, with the view of making every possible diminution in the ex penditure of the country."—The House was aware that an investigation of this kind had been instituted in the Customs, and had been found productive of many most advantageous arrangements. He hoped soon to be able to lay before the House the account of a similar investigation in the other branches of the Public Revenue, which should shew how consider ab!e reductions might be made in the expenses of collection and management, or the reason why it was impossible that any such could be made—(Hear, hear.)—The Right Honourable Gentleman concluded by moving the first Resolution—" That since the termination of the war in 1815, the Property Tax in Great Britain, and other Taxes in Great Britain and Ireland, which yielded a revenue of upwards of £18,000,000 per annum, have expired, or been re pealed or reduced." Mr. TIERNEY rose and said, as to the last Ileso lution introduced by the Right Honourable Gentle man, there could be no doubt but that when he pro posed it, he was conscious of practising a ruse de gtterre upon his (Mr. Tierney's) side of the House ; and if the Right Honourable Gentleman believed that it was calculated to do any good, certainly he could not have gone a more effectual way about making it successful than by proposing it himself— (A laugh, and hear, hear ).—Of all the strange things he had witnessed in that House, the strangest of all was that of calling on the House to pass a Re solution to do that which was an obvious duty-1 (Hear, hear).—The Right Honourable Gentleman then wanted to make a rule, and promised he would obey it. But his remaining Resolutions were not promises but taxes—(A laugh).—He would not at tempt to follow the Right Honourable Gentleman— he meant no imputation—but he must confess he did not understand him. The two first Resolutions had nothing to do with the subject of the proposition— those about Ireland still less—they were merely de claratory of facts, which nobody disputed. For his part, he had nothing to do with any of the Resolu tions but the last. He would not now speak of the articles proposed to he taxed—he would merely dis pute the abstract point of an addition of taxes— , ( Hear, hear).—Now he begged to be understood as by no means saying that it would not be necessary, at some time or another, to have recourse to taxation. He begged carefully to guard against any such mis construction of his meaning. As soon as he shall be satisfied that in any department of the State the Go vernment has straitened and bound up every avenue of the expenditure ; and, as soon as he shall be satis fied that the public service cannot go forward after these exertions, then would he consent to support ad ditional taxes, and bear his part of the unpopularity of them—(//ear, hear).—But his' objection to the taxes now was, as to the time and the manner of raising them—(Hear, hear).—lle had to thank Mi nisters now for coming forward with a distinct state of the country. They had now acknowledged that they had reduced the Sinking Fund by various ope-' rations, so that no more now remained of it but two millions. The public must he astonished to hear these confessions of our real situation from Ministers, after the flourishing speeches which they had so often put forth in that Ilouse. Mr. Pitt and his glorious principles had been often referred to in the course of their pompous declamations; and after all it appeared that these principles must be abandoned in order to save the Country. Every man who heard the Chan cellor of the Exchequer must be galled to perceive the inconsistent course which Ministers had been avowedly pursuing so long. But in the midst of all this, the public creditor had nothing to look to ; the Right Honourable Gentleman said we had nothing to do but to look up to Mr. Pit t ' s s y stem and adhere to it. In 1802, that system had b een a l tered, and the Sinking Fund was broken through. In Ibl3. the Right Honourable Gentleman had said, in L, various and complicated speech, that the redaction of the Sinking Fund would be of use to the Stocklu,ld e , and that the increase of it V.'culd have the effect sa bringing down the interest of money , o low as the Goo only knew what would become of those Gentle men who had money to put out at iiiterset—O laugh Indeed, he remembered that there was a statcmer, laid on the table by the Right IlonGurable Genth man as to the danger likely to arise from an incrva: of the Sinking Fund. If that Fund had ne , nleftll.. touched, it would ntw have ;irritiunted tc. , twcistv-c,n tnillions. Out cf this, five millions were taken ti the purpose, it was said, cf saving T.l,.es to tL_, amount. The benefit of this, as had been stated would be felt by the country to the latex time. Well, the Right Ilonoura.l o .e Gentleman's plars h been agreed to, and now we ale aknat to leok for 7.i this great good, he turns ronnd and toll, th e is an en Ito al your expectittiory—yriu ha•ve row bi two millions of a Sinking Fund, and want tlaee lions to make it five millicr s." In print of fact, th e . : avowal of the necessity of five millions WAS no mo r ,, than saying„ in order to support the Stockaolder, Taxes to the amount cf three n:i:lions ap: necessary It was absurd to think of applying for any effector purpose a Sinking Fund of five millions to a debt no less than eight hundred millions, though the Rigi Honourable Gentleman had with great confideno asserted that it would extinguish the National lk in forty-five years. However, he did not pretend . say it would have 1.11:1t effect without the concurrence of a great number of very favourable circunistanct- But be (Mr. Tierney) did not think that a peace that ccntinuance wits to be assumed but as a most improbable event. In looking to the continuarr of a state of peace in general, he was justi:ied drawing the conclusion that it would be of no such duration. Five years of pace had already elapse which bore a great proportion to the period tisiria, allotted to political tranquillity, yet, after the expira• tion of those five years, the country was told that was to start anew with a diminished Sinking Fur in the hope of discharging the enormous debt, getting rid of the burdens that bowed its spirit to; limits of endurance. By such a proposition Govern ment seemed to laugh at the House and the Count The annual application of 1:5,000,000 to I:800,000.06o of debt, could in no moderate time produce any sen sible relief—it was a mockery to suppose that burdens of the people could receive, by the opera. tion of such a plan, any perceptible alleviation,— There could, at all events, be no national result, which ought to bu an adequate temptation to Minis. tern to commit such a breach of faith as the proposed diminution of the Sinking Fund must be considered. lle (Mr. Tierney) was not for interpreting literally under all circumstances, the Sinking Fund Act ; if the melancholy state of the finances of the nat.. requited that Government should depart from principle formerly acted upon by Mr. Pitt and Lori Sidniouth, the duty to the country at large was paramount duty, and if the country at present boured under a pressure of taxes beyond which any additional burdens would be unjust and improper, let, in that case, said the Right Honourable Mem ber, the whole Sinking Fund be applied to the dread. ful exigencies of the public service. But Nlin;sters, when they brought forward their Resolutions, shewr no symptoms of compunction at the course ahi their extravagance had at length, in the face of insulted Empire, compelled him to take—Mein they exhibited no sense of shame, no traits of that lutary remorse which gave the slightest indications of amendment ; so far from it, the Right Honour able Gentleman had accompanied his modest prop sal with the usual grace of his flourishing periods—. (A laugh.)--Nor did he condescend to tell the House what had been done with the millions already voted, and which were unprecedented in their amount dor. ing a time of peace. The country was afflicted wit' various and unexampled calamity—three millions( new taxes, after five years of peace, was the siwpl panacea of the Right Honourable Gentleman (Hear, hear.)—This little pill, and the palatable _ lution in which it was administered, was, without any necessity of confinement, to restore the nation to a state of convalescence—(lfear, and laughter.' He (Mr. Tierney) did not think it just or fair that such additional Taxes as were now proposed for purpose of augmenting the Sinking Fund to ire. lions, that the Stock-holder should be exposed public odium, and made to bear the whole but of national execration. Thirteen millions and half of the Sinking Fund was to be applied to public service, and, in the name of the Stock-hcl three millions of new Taxes were to be raised, stituting more than one half the Sinking Fund to be in operation for the interest of the Stock-hoi Thus the latter should bear the odium of the Taxes; fur it would be said that now was his has from the value of the reduced currency; but it ott to be recollected, said the Right Hon. Member, the poor Stock-holder had previously borne all inconvenience of a different state a things, and now entitled to the turn in his favour, and ought therefore to he made the subject of either reprok or derision. The Right lion. Member again adv to the disproportion between the Sinking Fund the Debt and other burdens which it was intendi relieve, and deprecated the idea of its efficacy as and impracticable. He then proceeded to ob: that the proposition of the Right lion. the Chanel of the Exchequer contained three positiOns ; the was, that it was necessary to have a Sinking of only five millions, and the others that it 'a maintain public credit, and deliver the country its embarrassments. The two latter positions, ht not hesitate to say, were untrue; and as to the it might possibly be supported, hut net till h, argument had been fulai-hed in its favour than been yet laid before the 'louse. In order to giv opportunity for better satisfying the !louse et subject, he',elt it his duty to meet that proposity not, indeed, by a n t 2g:uire at present, ten: by me t; is previous question before he sat d lull. Ile c not take it upon himself to justify the 1: millions of additional 'fuses en a r'11:1 so oppressed by taxation, at least arguments than those by which the mess been as vet advocated. ,But whe were called for; it was not consider:_ the real amount kc•f these three millions under tit jViii 11 thrc d a 111 of er, of v d h. tl 14 ) . le t. - re IGr ed. :7. I e:e bct ore ler, tral of ght ace to rce co., cf axe i in uch at it and ,the err.- arF. .0(x) sea- era- n.— suit, dsed :red. Ott !.on .orsi as Z any per !ern- &rd. ters, iced hied fna :HMIS aar- opo- di— Ouse eta, dor- ms 111/ P k a ! e so- thout atioa er.}— at by )r the gill- ed to irden i one .o the older, con- then older. new are:: .)ught , 11 the d was ht not d ana led 1) s ;ser. Ce. e fro.r. re a:t couiJ i,.c•