Star. — London, England, 1819-06-10 00:00:00

\ , . She necessary explanations of their several uses and application.j • Your Committee do nisi pretend to describe or appreciate with ai•euracy the babe of th!se improvements, to estimate which to their full extent requires considerable professional experience.— They are, however, fully convinced, that the itsult of them will be to efl;ctuate, in the construction of ships of war, a great =yin of expmditure to thotublic,aod to .secure a proportio nate economy of human life, arising from their superior durabi lity, and greater power of resistanc? to the elements, and to the evualties in...dental to bauticalslife, which the modern system or keeping our fleets at sea, at all seasons and in all weathers, has rendered of the utmost importance. These services, although they have nothing of that brilliancy which forcibly attracts pub lic admiration, will continue to confer a Listing benelit to the kritish nation, lug after that period when the beneficial effocts Of victories, however splendid, shall have passed awal.." —These were very strong expressions, and no doubt i t had cost his Honourable Friend considerable labour to compose them—(a laugh). One of the improve mats- here alluded to, was in the construction of ships' rudders, and he understood it had been agreed , by the Admiralty to adopt it ; the second was in the form of blocks, for which Mr. Seppings had received ; the third was a new method of making straight timber crooked—(a laugh). The SPEAKER here informed the Ilonourable Member, that it was contrary to the usage of the House to extend a question to so great a length, and that the practice, if admitted, would be attended with the greatest inconvenience. Sir J. YORKE said, that if that was the case, he should take another opportunity of requesting an an swer to the question which he wished to put. Mr. N. CALVERT said, that if the question were intended to be put to him, he had no hesitation in saying that be approved of the inventions of Mr. Seppings. FOREIGN WOOL. Mr. STUART WORTLEY presented a Petition from the town and neighbourhood of Bradford, in the County of York, against the imposition of an addi tional duty on Foreign Wool. He thought it right that the House should provide taxes for carrying into effect the measures proposed 'oy the Right Hon. Gentleman opposite ; but in doing so, it shotdd take care not to strike at the mot of our most impor tant manufactures. He conceived an additional duty on the importation (.t . Foreign Wool, the worst that could possibly be laid. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said, that as the Resolution against which the Petition was directed had not yet received the sanction of a Committee of Ways and Means, there could be no objection to its being received. Had the Resolution gone through such a Committee, he did not think any Petition could have been admitted. Mr. BROUGHAM agreed that there could be nir difficulty in receiving the present Petition, as the Re solution which it impugned was totally unconnected with a Committee of Ways and Means. But he con tended that there were many instances in which Pe titions had been received, not only against the Reso lutions of Committees of Ways and Means, but against the Bills which had resulted from them. Ile quoted several cases from Hatsers Precedents in sup port of this doctrine, one of which related to the in troduction of a Bill in 1696, to impose a duty of ten r cent. upon Wool. " The Resolution of the Com mittee of Ways and Means," said Mr. • Hatsel, 4, brought such a cloud of Petitions against it, that' it was thought proper not to press the Bill." Though the Resolution had passed through such a Committee, it was clear that Petitions had not only been re ceived, but had proved effective. Lord CASTLEREAGH agreed that as this tax had not been formally agreed to, he should not op pose the receiving this Petition ; but this was not the time for raising a question whether Petitions could or could not be received against Tax Bills ? Lord MILTON was of opinion that the attempt to impose a duty on Foreign Wool of 6d. per pound, would have the effect of prohibiting all the foreign coarse wool. The Barbary wool was worth sd. Prus sian wool 10d. and the South American wool only ‘lhd. per pound ; now he would leave it to the House, whether such low priced wools would bear the addition of 6d. on the pound ? The Chancellor of the Exchequer came down to the House in a very suspicious manner, for he (Lord Milton) believed, that he relied on the support of those who had pre sented Petitions for protecting duties on foreign wool. Sir C. BURRELL could not agree with the Mem- Lers for Yorkshire, for the warehouses of the wool growers were glutted with that commodity ; and he was sure the proposed tax would not be detrimental t' the manufacturers, and would be a great relief to the agriculturists ; and he hailed the measure as a further relief to the latter interest. Lord LA SC ELLES thought, there could not have been a more oppressive or injurious tax imposed, than this on Wool. It was, Its he conceived, aiming a direct blow at our staple manufacture. Wool was at present very low ; but he would equally object to the tar, were the price of that commodity high. Mr. CL RWEN said, the farmers had no reason to complain ; for since last year, the value of agricul tural stock had advanced 80 millions throughout the country. It was therefore the Public who had rea son to complain of the high price of animal food.— tut he thought that this tax would be impolitic, be cause at present our manufacturers of Woollen were underselling the French ; and this tax would be giv ing a bounty to their manufactures. Sir J. SEBRIGHT was always very sorry, when he found the manufacturing and agricultural interests at variance, considering how intimately they were blended. The farmers in the South of England, had. suffered under the small quantity of provender dur ing. last year. `The Petition was then read, and ordered to lie on the table, and to be printed. Lord MILTON presented a similar Petition from Leeds. Ile agreed that the interests Of agriculture and manufactures were intimately blended ; but it was surprising they should agree to lay two millions on the produce of the land, and yet object to relieve the same interest from a tax of I.:2oo,ooo.—Pettion laid on the table. DUTY ON MALT. Mr. I'ETER MOORE presented a Petition from St. George's, Manover-square, against any Tax on Malt.—Ordered to lie on the table. Mr. BROUGHAM, pledged himself to shew seri• °tier, that the grower would have the whole burden fall on him, to the relief of the consumer. • Lord CASTLEREAGH s aid, they were now getting into the deba te the taxes by anticipation. The Hon. Gentleman 's argument went to persuade a ll c l asse s that it was to their interest to oppose every tar. That would be perfectly correct, if we -touT4.l do without taxes altogether ; b ►t as we cannot, the question was where to lay it with the least possible detriment to the people ? Mr. BROUGHAM said, that the taxes would not fall equally on all classes. A THE BUDGET. The house having resolved itself into a Committee of Ways and Means on the motion of the CHANCitL LOR of the EXCHEQUER,' Sir J. YORKE rose, and begged his Right Hon. Friend, who had felt, he was sure, for his former in terruption, would give way to him for a moment.— He again wished to ask a Gallant Admiral, whether it was intended to do any thing for Mr. Robert Sep ping, third Surveyor of the Navy ? Mr. GROG DEN (the Chairman) informed the Gallant Admiral, that such a question could only be put in a Committee of Supply. The House was at present in one of Ways and Means. Sir J. YORKE sat down, lamenting that he should have been mistaken. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER then rose. As the House had already applied itself to the consideration of the Resolutions on which he intended to ground the financial operations of the year, it only remained for him to enter into the de tails of the plans and arrangements proposed to carry those operations into effect. The House had also come to a resolution of rendering the Sinking Fund applicable to the public service, and making a pro vision which would prevent in future years the ne cessity of continuing the practice of Loans. He should now explain how those arrangements were to be effected in the present year. In doing this he should follow the usual course. He should recapi tulate on one side the Supplies granted for the cur rent year, and on the other the Ways and Me ins by which they were to be met. He should then take a view of the New Taxes, and point out the general measures to be founded on the Resolutions which the House had already adopted, in order to shew how we might look in future to a settlement which would render the imposition of new Taxes and the raising of Loans (with the exception of a small loan for the next year) unnecessary. So much informa tion was contained in the Report of the Finance Com mittee, and so much more had been elicited by in quiries in the House, that in recapitulating the Sup plies, he should have little more to do than to refer to the Report of that Committee, and point out the corresponding Ways and Means. The Army Extra ordinaries still remained to be granted ; but, adding them to the other branches which had already been obtained, the total for the Military Service of the year would be, according to the recommendation of the Finance Committee, £8,900,000. The whole Supplies for the Navy were granted ; they amounted to £6,436,000. Those for the Ordnance were in the same situation, and consisted of £1,191,000. Under the head of Miscellaneous Services, many items re mained for the future consideration of the House, particularly the usual Grants for the poorer classes of the Clergy, both in England and Ireland ; but adding their amount to what had been voted, the whole would come to £1,950,000. As some Supplies still remained to be granted, it was not his intention at present to complete the Ways and Means. But the application of twelve millions of the Sinking Fund would more than cover what was still to be granted. The total amount of the Supplies which he had mentioned was £18,477,000. To this were to be added £1,570,000 for interest on Exchequer Bills, and £430,000 for Sinking Fund on the same, forming a grand total of £20,477,000. To meet these Supplies, the House had already sanctioned the Grant of— The Annual Malt Duty - - - £3,000,000 The Temporary Excise Duties - - 3,500,000 The Lottery 240,000 Produce of . the Sale of Naval Storer - :554,000 Total - _-• £7,074,000 . It was therefore clear that, with the view of meet ing the supplies voted, a Loan of 1.:13,500,000 would have been sufficient for the service of the pre-, sent year. But the measure lately adopted to return to Cash Payments had rendered it necessary that ten millions should be repaid, of which five millions would go to the Bank, and the rest to diminish the Unfunded Debt. To provide for all those expenses, two Loans were to be raised. One fur twelve mil lions had already been contracted for by a public competition. The other, also to the amount of 12 millions, he proposed should be taken out of the' Sinking Fund. This would be, however, for the fu ture consideration of Parliament, and he should now only state, that in order to affect the Funds as little as possible, he intended to divide the twelve millions .into twelve monthly payments, during which the Stock would remain in the name of the Commis sioners. The sum intended to be taken would be one million a month ; but in the January and July Quarters only £9OO, WO should be called for monthly; and in the April and October Quarters £1,100,000. This appropriation of part of the produce of the Sinking Fund, would still leave about £310,000 a month applicable to the reduction of the National Debt. The total amount of the Ways and Means would therefore be £31,074,000 ; and as the Supplies were only £20,477,000, there would be a surplus of £10,597,000, which would be applied to the reduc tion of the Unfunded Debt in the following manner: five millions would be repaid to the Bank, and £5,600,000 to the individual holders of Exchequer Bills. lie had stated that the first Loan had already been contracted for. The terms were highly satis factory, and he was ready to admit had been tea• dered so by the competition which had prevailed. The Loan was raised by a subset iption to the amount of twelve millions, for every 1:100 of which £BO in Consols were to be given (the interest of which was l not retrospective, but would only commence from July next, so that there would be no concealed bonus in the shape of interest), and £62 18s. Bd. in the 3 ,per cent. Reduced. He trusted that these terms, proved, in the most satisfaLtory manner, a spirit of reviving confidence in the resources of the country.' The other biddings for the Loan were as follows : Messrs. Reid, Irving, and Co. 1:65 10s. Messrs. Ri cardo and Co. £6.5 2s. 6d. From this it would be seen, that the list which had obtained the preference outweighed very far those with which it had been placed in competition, in the advantages which it offered to the country, as taking the smallest portion of Stock, it created the smallest charge both for ca pital and interest, to the country. The Loan raised that morning, and the Loan taken from the Sinking Fund, he Would regar,d as a joint Loan, in speaking of the Stock created by the two operations. Consi dering them as a joint Loan, the capital Stock created for the twenty-four millions raised, amounted to 1234,304,000 in the 3 per cent. Stock, taken partly in the Reduced and partly in the Consols. • The interest on it amounted to £1,029,120 ; the Sinking Fund to 4.402,594. It would here be observed, that he had thought it right to carry strictly into effect the-pro vision made in the Act of 1813, for forming an ad ditional Sinking Fund, whenever the amount of the Loan raised should exceed the Sinking Fund previ ously established. The observance of this provision might have been dispensed with where a Loan was raised for the purpose of diminishing the Unfunded Debt. Ile had however felt, that where a Loan was raised in tine of peace, the operation of the Sinking Fund ought rather to be strengthened than dimi -1 niched, and had complied accordingly with the pro visions of the Act of 1813. To the sums he had mentioned, the charge for management, £10,291 was to be added. The total charge of the Loan then stood as follows: interest £1,029,120 Sinking Fund 402,594 Management 10,291 • X1,44'2,005 With respect to the charge for management, he wished to state that he considered the Bank to have no claim for management on that part of the Loan which was taken from the Sinking Fund, hut only on the twelve millions which had been made in the market. He had shew•n that the total charge of the Loan was £1,442,005. The rate of interest to the subscribers was £4 ss. 9d. per cent. The calcula tion being, that the average price of the 3 per cent. Stock would be 69k. The total rate of interest paid by the Public on the Loan, the Sinking Fund inchi ded, was £6 Os. 2d. per cent. He thought he had a right to congratulate the House on a Loan to such an , amount having been obtained' on such tetras. He trusted they would not prove unfavourable to •those with whom they had been negociated, though they could hardly be justified as prudent on the part of those who had agreed to them, with reference to the present price of Stock ; but there was every reason to hope that they would prove beneficial to them. Before proceeding to the other parts of the subject, it might be well that he should here advert to the mea sures which he conceived would be necessary in the next year. As far as it was possible for him to judge at present, he should think that the utmost it would be necessary to raise nest year, would not exceed eleven millions for the different branches of the pub lic service. This sum might be wanted in addition to that of five millions to complete the payments to be made to the Bank. If then twelve millions should be taken from the Sinking Fund, as had been done in the present year, but four millions would remain to be borrowed in the market. So moderate a Loan would produce little or no effect on the Funds (if it should be necessary to raise a Loan at all); and that, at all events, he thought he might be allowed to hope, from the present aspect of Europe, would be the last time he should have • occasion to resort to the money market in time of peace. The next branch of the subject to which he would call the attention of the House, was the consideration of the mode by' which he proposed to realize the pledge given by Parliament to raise three millions by new Taxes, and the mode in which he purposed to apply that sum. But before proceeding on this head, being on the sub ject of the Public Debt, he wished to state the amount of the Unfunded Debt, and to show how it would remain after the present Supplies werewonnd up. The amount of the unfunded debt was at- present about £49,000,000. The amount of Exchequer Bills being £44,600,000. The Irish Treasury Bills, pay able in July next, amounting £4,400,000. These he proposed to replace by £20,000,000 in Exchequer Bills, which had already been voted by Parliament, by a vote of £16,000,000, which he should move that evening, and by an issue of Irish Treasury Bills, to the amount of 2,500,000/. The total amount of un funded debt thus created would be 38,500,0001. — This, compared with its present amount of 49,000,0001. would give a diminution of 10,500,0001. Now, as he had already stated, it was his intention to propose that the sum of three millions should be raised by new taxes, to strengthen the Consolidated Fund, to enable it to support the charge of the loan raised in the last and in the present year, to which, so rein forced, it would be about equal. The amount of the charge of the last Loan wu L 1,600,000 That of tit , - present Lola - - - 1.442,000 The total being - , 3042,000 Being an excess of forty-two thousand pounds above the sum proposed to be raised. The sum to be raised it might be proper to divide between the two loans, but as this was merely a matter of account, a little might be given to one side or the' other without in convenience, though it would be *ell to allot to them as nearly as possible the same proportion. He would now proceed to the particular propositions which he had announced it to be his intention to bring for ward. With respect to the consolidation of the Cus toms, it was impossible to go into all the minute va riations that were intended—a schedule of these would shortly he produced. The only one of mate rial importance was that to which he had already called the attention of the House—an increase of duty on Foreign Wool. The others were all of a very mi nute description, and the produce of the whole he took at 500 . thousand pounds per annum. Out of such a variety of articles as were comprehended under this head, some might give more—some might produce less—some more than he calculated upon— but he had no reason to expect that the result upon the whole would be materially different from that which he had previously anticipated. The whole of the minute particulars would shortly be brought under the view of every Member, by a separate schedule, which he hoped would very soon be in their hands. He had mentioned, on a former occasion, that a considerable proportion of the sum proposed to be raised was expected to arise from a transfer of part of the business now carried on between the Boards of Custom and Excise. It was intended to transfer to the Excise certain duties which were before col lected by the Customs. These were the duties on tobacco, coffee, and cocoa nuts.. On the last men tioned.article a higher rate of duty was at present paid than on coffee. For many years the duties t.n the two articles had been the same. But when it be came au object to bring coffee into more general uz,e • p a r d o i p ff o e se re d nc th e a w t a c s o m irc a e de ai i l n a i t t l s l,, fa c v oc ou o r a , N ho n t ,p n r : or w cteeht; i: lejd.l4. , , , , placedco l te o N n u t t he sh s o a u m l de, footing.svitlir.:felrei He c ti e le t n o ta y. at • notice severally the articles which came under o f ;, head—Tobacco, Coffee, Tea, and Pepper. O n i:; - bacco thapxesent duties varied very materially. II - Excise duty on American Tobacco w as 93, ,-.• per !t ). On Spanish and Portuguese Tobacco os. and nn West India Tobacco I To these he added the C. l , toms duties, and the augmentation row propose:l on these would make the total duty on rhuitation To. bacco 4s.—cr. Foreign Tobacco 6s. 6 ;(I.—and on n). reign Snuff's 6s. per lb. On Plant:ition Coree he pe n . posed to increase the duty from to li. On Est India Coffee from Ild. to 15. 6d. anci on Foreign fee from 2s. lid. to 2s. 6d. per lb. The d•ity On I'cr,. per ha would raise from Is. INd. to 2s. 6d. p t ... The advance he had to propose on Tea he hail bef, a . r . stated, went to raise the existing duty from 6 to 100 per cent. On Tobacco he looked for an increase of revenue of 500,000/. on Tea of I ,`,(`(.X`l. on Ccii, and Cocoa 130AXV. and on Pepper 30,0n0t. 'firs motive for transferring the duties he had mentioned from tie Customs to the Excise was this, that it wt at to effect a saving of nearly all the officers now em. ployed in that branch of the public service. ni l arrangement would also afford considerable accom. modation to merchants. Nothing was more complained of at present than the multiplied regulations y:hi c t i they were forced to observe, and the necessity they were under of making applications on the same b... siness at various places and at different periods of ti. e day. But the principal advantage of this arrange. silent was this, that it would prevent the adulterat:oa of the articles which it comprehended. Some of these were sold in very small quantities, and often ground, so that it was not easy to determine whether ur nut they were genuine. By the transfer of these from the Customs to the Excise, a watch would be sobs's them to prevent their adulteration. On this accoutt, as well as on others, the tranfer was obviously do sirable. Two other subjects were yet to be brought under the consideration of the Committee--(Heal —The first of these was the increased duty on MA, which, he had stated in his general opening, he c.s. culated would produce £1,400,000, including the sum which it would raise in Ireland, to which he 'proposed all the new duties should extend, with the exception of the Tax on home-distilled Spirits. The sum which he had mentioned, he calculated, would be raised by a duty. of Is. '2d. per bushel on Malt, or 9s. 4d. per quarter. When he first opened this sub. ject to the House, he had certainly entered into some details, to chew that the Tax which he had suggested might be borne. Every inquiry he had since been able to make had only served to strengthen the im pression which he had then on his mind. For infer. mation on this subject, he would refer the House to the Committee on Breiveries, which sat in last Ses sion, which would be found to contain much Yalta bee matter, which had been furnished to it by a most respectable Gentleman, then a Member of that House. With that Gentleman (he meant Mr. Barclay) he had recently had a communication, and he would now state to the House the view he took of this subject Mr. Barclay had stated the real price of Malt in the last .year to have been 4s. below the prices which had been quoted. According to him, though Sls. 4d. had been paid for a finer sort of Malt, the general purchases had been made at 775. 4d. Hops !:,1,1 then sold for £24. or £25 per hundred weight. Muds of the Barley grown last year was unfit for malting, and, consequently, the price of Malt was higher now than it was then. The average price in the present year was 90s. But Hops had fallen to 4:10 per hundred weight. The result then waS as follows: Malt was in 1818 per Quarter .C 3 17 0 1 - in 1819 4 10 0 Hops were now so reduced in price, that the Bspense of Brewing a thiarter of Malt for Porter, which was last year is 0 Was in the present year 5 Y 4 Deducting the Pike of the present year, there re mained in favour of the Brewei This being the case, there being a balance in favour of the Brewer of 10s. 4d. on the price of brewing quarter of Malt, Mr. Barclay was of opinion that the duty proposed might be borne without great 'men , venience; and he was further of opinion, that if the present season should turn out as favourably as present there was every reason to hope it would, the Public might reasonably look forward--af be (the Chancellor of the Exchequer) had stated on a former evening—to a diminution of its price —(Heal , hear '1 He hoped, whatever might be the difference between the calculations of various persons, that the House would find the general result the same, and besatin fled that his position, that the present duty not oily did not go to justify a rise in the price of Porter, but was compatible with a diminution of price, atmr a time, was fully borne out.—The only remaining ar ,tide to which he had to call the attention of the Committee was the duty on home-distilled Spirits. It was not his intention that this measure should ex tend to Scotland or Ireland. The present duty oil Wash for distilling Spirits, which paid Is. 9d. ou the gallon, he proposed to add ;td. to, and charge, in fu ture, with a duty of 2s. k rhe Sugar NN ash, which now paid 2s. ficl. per gallon, he would render liable .to a duty of 3s. 3d. The duty on Spirits, he calcu lated, would produce an increase to the Reverue of £500,000. If the effect of this Tax should he to de minish the consumption of Spirits, and increase the consumption of the • wholesome produce of the Brewery, no man would more rejoice at the effect et the measure than he should; and with this feeling he had thought it right that a Tax on Spirits should ac company the new Duty on Malt, to protec . both the health and the morals of the People—Wear.lrear.)—. Those concerned in the Spirit Trade had, howeve: urged, that this measure would give the Traders it Foreign Spirits an advanta.ge over them, if some duty wcre not imposed on Spirits imported. On thi= subject, he had come as yet to Po decision; but he might hereafter find it necessary to come forward with some additional measure to protect their inte rests from the injury it might sustain, if undue ad vantages were conceded to the Foreign Trader. — Having gone. through the different su!;jects he had wished to . press upon the attention of the Committee• he begged to say, if on aay point he had . net beat distinctly understood, he should be happy to aderd any explanation that might be required.. 'Mr. GRENFELL did aot clearly understand whet: the Bight Ilono:n•able Geutlentan had :a.,1 en the ) !t i' '4l