Star. — London, England, 1816-05-28 00:00:00

attuentioti of tholletlise to the various resolutions before thel• ad Osto Ofibera Wise out of a proposition from the auk. Orr the 13th of June, 1781, a ploposK don been laid before a Committee, y which a renswal 9/ their-Chaster was ,stipulated for, and in 180D:a erctOotition Was received and laid be fore 0." Committee;' by which it was required that their capital should booxtended. A farther aunt was . at present required in Exchequer Bill', and there fore, frum.variouscossiderations, he thought it most expedient to worm of the proposition, and take from the Bank an advance of £3,000,000 at 3 per eta. in consideration of a permission for the exten sion of their capital, and on the stipulation that dining the contract Goivrn-rcpt should accept their notes, and all payments made in them should be con-' sidered as giWd. This was no more than a permis._ sion to the Bank to divide ‘3,1:01,00p of their own money, and it was in his opinion, beyond aliquesdoos the best and least exceptionable way of employing the sum.' The only question on this was, whether there was any thing which made this advance in the least degree improper ? The augmentation of the Bank's capital might he objected to, and this, as he thought, was, he must say, a most unexceptionable measure. Since the Charter had been given, by which she capital was increased to 811,500,000 the paper circulation had very materially increased; and it might be thought proper that such an augmentation' should be made in their capital as would become a . 'emit) , for the payment of their circulation. It was necessary and p: oiler that the extent of their trans actions should be met by a proportionate extent of capital. It was evidently both honourable and de sirable, that such an augmentation should take place, and if it was desirable to make an increase, neither • Government nor the House had any reason or any right to object to the mode in which the Bank Pro prietors might think proper to employ it ; and if they had a considerable sum of undivided profits; they could not, he was sure, employ it in a more honour able way than - by an advance for public , purposes on moderate securities. The only remaining part of the question to be considered was, that the notes of the Bank should be received by Governmeot as payment in cash. The only objection that he could find to that at present was, that minor collectors might pro cure cash as if it were absolutely required, and trans mit their collections to the Receivers-General in notes. But this be believed might in part be avoided. For many years previous to the Restrictions being laid on, Government received the notes of the Bank, and the practice, it was evident, would continue without it. Every thing by the means he was advising, would be done to avoid danger in case of a resumption of pay ments, for when that should take place, it was of the greatest importance, he considered, that a great run should be guarded against. Much advantage, there fore, it would be perceived, would result from this measure to both parties, and very little inconvenience to either. When there was such a variation of ex change as would make bullion above the Mint price, there might arise the species of traffic he had men tioned, with petty collectors. Such a thing might happen, but he was not aware that it would, though they would find means to avoid it. In c.ise of a re sumption, he thought every thing that was necessary, might be done to provide for such an event; in the mean time Government had all the benefits of the advance, arid he thought it would be as well if it should be continued for the 16 years during the ex istence of the Charter which the Bank at present .held. In case Government should thus lend assist -awe to the circulation, it followed that they might easily revert to their former sitlation when they found it necessary. The proposition was, he considered, as free from objection as any that could be devised ; by it a loan of three millions was procured with as little RS possible pressure upon• the money-market. The interest would be . about £60,000. To the Bank there would be both convenience and security, besides honour by the transaction; and however the profits i of the Bank might increase, the Proprietors were evidently legally entitled to them, and they would; and ought always to be divided amongst them. He stow came to the more general statement of the nap ply' for the present year. The Right Honourable Gentleman then detailed the Supply as follows: Pier the * Atilitary Services 80,165,000 From which was to be deducted . 734,000 Which would leave 5,431,000 For Ireland, included in the above 3,600,000 Ayr the Storekeeper General 80,000 Which latter sum with other items, which were enu merated, amounted in the whole to li,lss,eoo Making in Total 10,544,000 For the Navy 10,114,000 From which deduct the sum received hsr the sale of Old Naval Stores 690,000 %Which would leave • - 9,434,0411 Tor Ordnance 1,843,000 From which subtracting what would be paid by France, there would be left - - 1,696,000 want of time and from pressure of business he had been unable to bate a detailed account of the IL iscellaritons estimates made out ; but considering that there were some considerable items, he should reckon them altogether at R 2,500,000, or some sum nearly similar. For the sake of argumeut, at resent be proposed to assume that as the sum. The "debt due to the East India Company, for expenses which ebey bad incurred for Government, was £94.5,000. 'They had made an application for a repayment of this sum as speedily as possible.- The greater part of it bad been incurred in the very valmeble part of die East Indies, known by the name of Dutch Colo. pies. •-+ The debt due to that Company had been C2,/00,000. Some little resumptions, however, bad st different times been made Ivy them, and the UM of 41,500,000 was what was due, he belieied, up to lleastary last. To meet the exigencies a provision istsd been made by last year's vote of credit, and it sOold be seta that 4945,000 was nos the sum re quired by theCompatiy. It would be evident to the lipase, if reference was made to' the accounts which had been and would be presented, ia what manner die Company. had been paid, or the debt incurred.— The total amount of.tbe sums be bad detailed would 4 03,150,000. To this were to be , ed&l what 'were called the separate charges ; which: he- should accordingly proceed _yo consider. There • 111114 Srst s the repayment of whit were called the Loyalty Five per Cent. .Loans, to dee amount of se9799ooa—CAo' Honourable Member on the other side meadow' smother stun.]—The sum mentioned by the Ham.l, Member was to be paid on the sth April, but was a farther repaytneat to be made by October of 0211,080. There was iben to he provided 4807.000 } •. • ' for debentures in Prime. The neat sum required was one which tifspoitAtthe =coinage 90 11 4 savOr of the country: The say able explanation, which would bosun& on this sebject by the Right Nom Gentleman at the head of the department _which in. eluded that Subject, would enter more fully upon it than he could tic expected to do. He could only state, that it was at prebent scarcely possible to find data on which to, proceed in a calculation of the expense which would be incurred by such a transac tion. It had long been a question is his mind, Whe= ther the silver coinage belonged to the stock of the United Kingdoms, or to Great Britain only ; but as the coinage took place long before the Union, he was convinced that it belonged to Great Britain only, and it would be improper and unjust to call upon Ireland to bear any part of the expense. He should .propose £500,000, as it was not intended to recoin any part of the current money except such as .als. peared to have originally proceeded from the Royal Mint, and the House would be well aware that that part of the coinage which bore any stamp was, con` partitively, very small. The next of the separate charges was £1,.500,000, far Exchequer Bills, to the Bank, anted by Parliament in February last. There was then a sum of £2,260,000 for Exchequer Bills outstanding and unprovided for, and for the interest of Exchequer Bills. There was also part of a sum due to the tank in 1800, the half of which had been repaid, and the other half :Ince renewed. The total of thew charges amounted to £5,284,000, which, when added to the other sums enumerated, would make 830,425,000, and taking off the Civil List and a sum which Ireland provided, there would be kit £27,279,295, the amount of that provided by Ireland being £3,141,000. To meet these supplies, be should propose the following Ways and-hleans.— Tbe ordinary annual Taxes were not diminished, and those he should reckon as no inconsiderable portion. From the Consolidated Fund he had about £1,000,000 to receive, and another sum, which, however, he should reserve for future consideration. In the Customs, it was for the Gentlemen opposi.e to st.ew how far they would be diminished since the last year; but the account he had to lay befote the House of them, up to the sth of April last, was, he believed, very satisfactory. The Customs, up to this day, had been nearly £5,000,000. They were about £4,998,000. To these were•to be added the War 'l': sex, which were to become permanent, about A 3008,000. There were then--. hs Stamps The Post Waco 1E6029,000 7,600,400 Small Branches - - - 124,000 Pensions, Miscellaneous, ice. 46,000 Tontine Money - - 113,UC0 The Excise had been considered as war duties, but bad lately been continued for five years. Last year they produced £8,688,000: He therefore assumed that they would produce this year 03,500,000. He did not know why the same might not be expected from them which they bad formerly produced, ex cept they were diminished by the allowance to brewers before the sth of July, on account of the disconti nuance of the Malt Tax, though the Excise Board bad informed him that they should be able to make up their accounts by the end of the quarter. If that should be the caw, he might expect that the amount of the Excise would exceed what he bad stated. He should next reckon the Bank advance of six million pounds, and then the Lottery, which he believed would raise about two hundred thousand pounds,. He was not entirely certain of that sum, hot he thought that something near it might be produced. The amount a the moat satisfactory part of the Ways and Means, in every respect, he alluded to the surplus of grants nnapplied in 1815, was 45,663,000. A statement of these grants had been laid before the House. The amount which remained was . no less than ie11,120,000. It had not been known how much there was a likelihood of having over and ab9ve„ and how much wound be necessary to the service to which they were in part applied- - - and it might he recollected, that he had stated to the House very c3utionsly, as i.e' could not well calcu late the sum that might remain, that it might be three millions. Since that thric there grants bad been examined, and dee result was, Oat on the first ap pearance there was a surplus of .411,120,ta0. From this was to be substracted a sum for Treasury Bills for army services unpaid £1,550,000. A considera ble suns was then to be taken off for the Commissa riat in Spain and Portugal in 1814 and 1815, the total amount of which, with the other sum, would be £4,602,000. Against that was to be set the money remaining in the military chests, the balance of which, on December 31, was £1,865,000. There was also an arrear of £2,737,000, and there was to be substracted another sum of £1,720,000. There teas a reduction of Some considerable part of the Navy io January last, which left a sum of three mil lion six hundred thousand pounds. On the whole, there was a sum of upwards of five millions to be substracted, which left the sum of £5,663,000, which he had already stated. The next subject with which, he would shortly trouble the House was, the Un claimed Dividends. The House might remember some "conversation that had taken place on this sub ject some time before Easter, when he stated, that he would make some new arrangement. In consequence la his having well considered the subject,. he had come to the determination of submitting a Resoluticei for 301 thousand pounds from that fund. 'That was not all he should draw from that source, though he should not trespass longer on the patience of the House at present, than to say a few words on the , subject. Mr. Pitt and Mr. Perceval bad Very thins taken notions on these dividends. No regular view had been taken of the amount of this fund- They took it to have a certain fixed limit, so that however the amount of the balances were augmented, there would be no increase in the advantage to be obtained. It appeased to him, that the Bank were in a double' capacity and performed a double duty with respect : , :to these dividends. They might be considered as: agents, who. had in their hands money for which they were answerable, but they did not seem to have any right lb keep in their possession money never likely to be thime4 which was an a mintner !med. It seemed to him, therefore, proper, that whatever money re mained id the hands of the Bank under the head of Unclaimed Dividends, should be, alter a certain pe riod, put into the hands of the Commissioners for the reduction of the National Debt. Pursuing this plan, he intended to make such regulations. that all stock an which, no • claim Monist be made for ten years, ibeild be placed in tbe bands of tt a Co"- hers. Tlverp Vey other balances, ; however, nu- Slaimed, oT which be might for a' Av . ort time avail lam*. There were some grand nncafled for in the Exchequer—of these he should only take at present About 140 ttionsand phundx—the only remaining item to be considered was' that of 5ir2,500,00Q. For that sum he should Issue- Exehetper Nils: The total amount of these ways and means, including the loan of siz millions, the Bank advance of four .and one million to make good debentures, would be thirteeen millions. It might be expected that he should give some explanation of his method of making up for the chasm which the decision of the House left in his calculations with respect to the Property Tax. - The £2,500,000 Exchequer Bills would not hive been proposed if that measure had been carried. The unapplied grant's; it might be recollected, had only been stated at three millions, but he had since found that there were remaining upwards of five mil lions and a half—this made eight millions, and it would be seen that he had made such arrangements as to have every thing regulated as well as if the tax had never been overthrown, though his plans might not be so finally beneficial or so little injurious as the Property Tax. The whole of the debt, then, for the present year was eleven millions and a half. The Sinking Fund, up to February last, was R 11,130,000, and at the present time it might be estimated at eleven millions and a half. The amount' of the debt to be paid by Great Britain this year. including Exchequer Bills, was three millions. Ireland was this year to 'raise one million seven hundred thousand pounds by Exchequer Bills, and one million two hundred thou sand pounds more out of her Sinking Fund. There was, upon the whole, a reduction of the debt of the United Kingdom this year to tl , e amount of nearly three millions. This was the first that occurred for a long period, of any reduction of debt during the first year atter the conclusion of a war. He saw nothing, then, in the present state of the country that would give rise to gloomy apprehensions ; on the contrary, there was every reason to hope for better prospects, and for a state of flourishing commerce and financial prosperity. He had now stated all the points which he conceived necessary for the information of the House, and should be ready to satisfy any Gentleman who should require farthet information—(lle2e,hear.) —He should now point out the means by which the charges upon the Loans were to be provided for. On the first advance made by the Bank, there would be a charge of three hundred thousand - pounds. On the second advance ninety thousand pounds. To cover these, the new Tax on Soap would produce two hun dred thousand pounds; the duties on the importation of Butter and Chafe would amount to about fifty thousand pounds • and in order to make up the re mainder. he shou ld propose to lower the drawback on the exportation cf Sugar. The Right Honourable Gentleman then concluded with moving his first Re solution, which was, if . That the propmition lately made from the Bank of England to the Government be ap s )roved of." Mr. PONSONBY said, he should withhold the cbscrvatiots he had to make, until he had heard the statements of the Chancellor of the Exchequer for Ireland. Mr. V. FITZGER ALD then rose to bring for. ward the Ways and Means for Irelat.d. lie said, the whole of the Supply requited for th it country was A 10,251000. The first article he should mention among the Ways and reins for making grod this sum was the surplus of theConvilidated fund, which amounted to £991,575. This sum, with the perma nent Taxes, amounting to upwards of six misli-ni, and other sources which be should mention, *vol.! produce £10,245,193. He had great hopes that during the present year there would be a considerable increase of the revenue, because au unusual degree of suictness was hereafter intended to be observed in the collection of the Taxes, and because great expecta tions were formed that the practice of illicit distilla tion would be considerably checked. Great expecta tions were also formed that the, revenue arising from the Customs would experience a large increase ; anti during the last quarter the produce of every branch of the revenue was much greater than s it had been in' corresponding quarters. Another of the Ways and Means to make good the Supply fur this year would be an issue of Treasury Bills to the amount of £1,700,000. He did not mean to propose any new Tates ; but in older to make good the farther sums ' that would be necessary for the supply of the year, he should propose to cancel a certain portion of the stock that had been bought up, and was now held by the Commissioners for Liquidating the National Debt in Ireland. The quantity of Stock now in the bands of the Commissioners was 87,892,000. So much therefore would be cancelled as produced a di. vidend equal to 81,200,000, the sum required to make good the supply. There would be no Loan or new Taxes. Indeed the state of the finances in Ire land was such as rendered it inconvenient to liy on new Taxes, and made it indispensable to anticipate those resources which had been made applicable to the payment of the public debt. The same practice bad been observed for the last three years in Eng ' land, where a great quantity of the purchased smelt• had been cancelled. This was the only juititication be could make for this step, and the whole of the ca. pital cancelled was little more than five millions— whereas in Great &Wan a sum of two hundred and eighty millions of capital had been cancelled in the course of three years, and thus taken out of the moans for discharging the debt. In the present stated Ire. land this was unavoidable. He then concluded with mooing his first Resolution. Mr. PONSONBY said lie now rose merely to cone gratulate the majority of that House on the abolition of the Income Tax; became it now appeared, from the statement of the Finance Minister, that none of the distress which had been so foully predicted in case that tax did not take place. was now to be funndo The House now had the testimony of the Chancellor of the Exchequer in favour of the opposition an sun Ceapily made to the Income Tax. there was ano ther subject for congratulation : the Opposition side of the House had been accused of attempting to strike at the stability of the Bank of England : now, however, it appeared that this Company, 'which had been reduced to a state of trepidation foe its credit and character, was now able toadvance a sum of nine millions to the Public, and waseleo able to add to its capital its credit and went ides. This was an additional source of satisfaciao, and proved the sohtrity Of our reaourcen, poyided 6e7 wog well managed. Is Dow spread Mg 1301 pot Nesied . aana in a awl h a vlog o f the .b o lievt done Right Cheq ll ei nbin Vie r ac 4 year I WO • I t v . t . e T h e o t ohNAtrhgairnii bargain b it t l e i el l j rn . pliferable to what it. W3s when Opposition i.A; md4ll)aei: able Ho e Gr 0 2 4. eu t t ns a Aet c i: k vt n s , H o la u ti A n r :; " :1: 1 ) Leave Baelk It had r;;;:k ,was Itt p iwer to have ro,,S much better bargain when it w as cn .,,„ dete iztt o great advantage the Bank trrii.t derive tr,,;,) alit tension of its capital. He certil a l a "!7e the 3 per cent. interest, for YR 110 advaira:"t be._ on the side of the Bank, which, w ou ld powerof making all its advances in paper. Mr. BARING thought the arran t ,Tme nt Rl' with the Bank was the must su i ta bl e to all p 4 that could have been made. With respect to the croachment made on the Sinking Fu n d a l /ref ayas different from that wi!icli had been pr ii r L ; made in England, and the Chancel l o r f et r stiie o e f x d pe le nsz c as h .t. l :' r, th e crier for England was far from giving a sat i o ,, ;•• statement respecting , the Ways and Hear; year, for they did not arise out , 3f permanent te , -.T Nine millions were taken from other swot: u permanent revenue ; next year it [night be seta is d to uc p e r d o v ; i daenadn could equal the Ch a nce llor i l nies be certain that our taxes would be equall y p a) a uct , 4 next year as they were at present ? He undeoz. off t that there was a fallinglll, anit; might be a greater falling off next y ear . H e did r,;; think the Right Hon. Gentleman h a d any cause th L to exult in the financial slate of th e country, fort! was to he expected that there would have been much larger surplus remaining out of thelatg e of the last year, when it was considered how skii; the war had been put an end to last year. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUEL said, that the Honourable Bank Director had tea founded the Estimates of the present year with; permanent Peace Establishment, which no one cuslj suppose was to be equal to the expenses of the fir: year after the termination of war. It should be collected, that besides other charges, the Go verame had last year paid off in less than twenty mini ms Excheqner Bills. Mr. BARING explained, and said he only ailed! to the amount of revenue, of which there wa s I expectation of an increase. He understood that t: silver from which the new coinage was Cu be mad had been bought by Government at a great expeia He understood a loss of Thirty per Ceuta would ,incurred. Mr. TIERNEY said, the Right Hon. Gentlew had stated, that this was about the fiftieth time had mentioned that this was not the Peace Establit: mcnt ; but it was also about the fiftieth time that. had asked, what is the Peace EstaLlislarent? firmly believed that the Right Hon. Gentleman his colleagues had no interrion of b7ingiag down!, peace establishment below 22 million pounds a.yet The observations of his lionouri , ble Friend desert!! the most serious consideration, and he was stirptii!: that the R ght Hon. Gentleman should vat ere tell them that this was a mere temporary surp!7. In making that statement he was wiltalfy deco T': the public, as he must know that t: - :cie were 14 th lions and a half that could not arise agitio. He lid i cantrived to scrape tip all the odds and ends, tccha the unclaimed dividends and other items cf a simile loature ; hut it could not be concealed, that the prt, meet of die country was mast frightful and alanniq The Hight Hen. Gentleman, however, had ttid they that they were in a rn:;•.t tiolrishing state; bin le seas sine that the. Co Fatt4 would 'tun pre duce any thin;! Ilke what was calculated far the pra sent year. Did the. Chancellor 0: the Exchever mean to state seriously and 'iobet . iy, that the War Duties could be raised from year to year ? Thereat fact was, that the revenue had been decitningoad was at issue with she Right lion. Gentleman on that point. The statement which he had given in, up ta the sth of April, 1816, included a WASS of tarsier. posed in 1815, and which ought to be exclutiesl. The amount of the Consolidated Fund in 1815 ate £35,734,000; in 1806 it t% as 4:39,4:19,000. was an apparent increase, but arose from certain nee tuxes, such as the stamps and the Post-office, alike f armed a total af ,e 900,000. To this, however, n is i; be added the amount nI the stamp duties, ending +; OW sth r f April last, of which r.i account had b t yet laid before the House. With respect to, the a t ditties, on the sth of April, 1815, they amaiinied 419,939,000; on the sth of April last, they wee it 9,491,000. This, he repeated, was an aprvirent al• crease; but the total fallingaaff of the revenue in tie last year amounted to no less a sum than . -1 ,31•8,01 Now, the Right Honourable Gentleman milli soy what he pleased as to • the flourishing state of ear finances ; but he (Mr. Tierney) possessed minima sense on the subject, and he was certain that the re. venue could not be kept utg. The war duties were never designed to he continued in peace, and it W3t delusion on the country to he saying, you have sna a state of revenue that you CM .ovail yourselves h t surplus of the Consolidated ['IPA amvunsing 1.1 . 0.1.000,000. The Excise was tailing to a vny 'considerable - amount, and would continue to Lui much lower. Could any body believe, when the landed proprietor received no mats, and the merchuht was unable to find a market for his goods, that tie .revenue could go on ? The last war had been ctll.:1 a war of commercial adv.tutage ; but the peace was the arrival of a moment of alai m. lie woo surprised to Lear the Chancellor of the Exchequer ( 41 on them to v.)te that the country was in a fl.utri,hi ,. ; state,aod that there wai nothing to make tlwm Javal. When the Right Hollow ahle Gmttlernan said that tt: ought not to despond, he agreed wisp him an the neral principle; but it was impossible to 1, ok at the situation of our affairs, and nqt feel the utmost anxiety and alarm. The Right Honourable :;enikt 'man asked the House to rely on his wisdom to (ITC" feet them against future difficulties; hut he did iat believe that the Right Honourable Gentleman could go through the next year. He had told them oat he had borrowed nine millions of the Bank; but there was so much hem twat in his statement, that the/ 'Did he mean to say that his Honourable Frani was could hardly tell what he had borrowed (Mar , gua r. ) Wm% in stating, that not more than nine could be applied to the public service next year ? net this an alarming prospea for the country ? Was 'it not a melancholy consideration, teat is a titne of peace se were to go on from year to ear without decreasing our debt J He did not profess to hare ail reti;edy foe this evil; but what he said *as, that the !UNIX of Catagiolu bid slot dons its duty, by oaf tnan Mama ter 154 »toad boom innne were (lido tuillic gleam debtt belle' the I that Ail moth alwa cheq that the The tenet Gen that (A I :hej to r • iricl .Gel reel mil lona Wo km :me fivo Wit coL tin wa tali • Ge WS spi oin - I l i IZ thl _ha • um to lay or 1114 .. col *xi ~ eye, : 4.10 , •• tai the 16 0 di a V .r V "3 b li -4• M II