The National Register. — London, England, 1822-05-12 00:00:00

Mr. HUME moved fur returns of agents appointed at Ct. ton, Mauritius, Cape of Good Hope, Malta, Arc. since ;00; their emolument., duties, expence of establish milts., and whether holding any other appointments, Bc. Ordered. Sir P. BURDETT moved for a copy of the surgeon's report respecting liellester gaol.—Ordered. Mr. P. GREN FELL wished to learn whe' her there would be any objection to produce the correspondence between the Government and the Bank, respecting the renewal of the Bank Charter; and when It might be ex. petted that such subject would be mentioned to the house. Lord LONDONDERRY said, he wished these ques tions had been put when the Chancellor of the Exchequer was in the house ; the right bon, gent, was now absent, and he (Lord 1...) could not give any dis►inct answer. AGRICULTURAL DISTRESS REPORT. Lord LONDONDERRY moved, that the house go into * committee to take into further consideration the Agri- cultural Distress Report. Mr. ELLICE opposed the motion, that the Speaker de leave the chair, fur the resolutions that had been proposed were such a series of sostrunu, as net to went the deli. berate emotion of the house. Mr. BROUGHAM wished that this resistance should be withdrawn. There were various propositions to be con- sidered in the committee, some of them extraordinary enough. The distresses of agriculture were acknow ledged, and were severe; and surely these were ample reasons fo► losing no opportunity to disease the question, to ascertain whether relief could be afforded in any one of the ways proposed, or whether, in fact, any relief at all could he granted. _ _ Mr. ELLICE having withdrawn his opposition, the house went into the committee. The Marquis of LONDONDERRY then rose, and pro heeded to submit his first proposition, namely, to grant 1,000,0001. to be laid out in corn to be warehoused, thus to relieve the farmer, and secure him against the losses of being compelled to go into the market when it was low.— His lordship supported his proposition with an illustration of the above argument and object. Much loss had re sulted to the agricultural interests from being compelled to come into the market when it was necessarily dep d from the abundant supply of corn; and others had no chance of coming into the market—except such relief as was now proposed was afforded—without great and ruinous losses. His lordship therefore trusted that the committee would see the advantage that was likely to be produced by adopting that resolution. It would afford considerable relief, and relief too of the most valuable kind, because it would be immediate. His lordship con cluded by moving, " That it is she opinion of this com mince, that his Majesty be enabled to direct Exchequer bills, to an amount not exceeding 1,000,0001., to lie issued to commissioners of Great Britain, to be by them ad. vanced, under certain regulations and restrictions, when ever the average price of wheat shall be under 601. per quarter, upon such corn, the growth of the United King dom, as shall be deposited in fit and proper warehouses." A discussion of some length followed, in which several members took a part. Mr. BROUGHAM opposed the measure. He was willing to admit that measures similar to this had been adopted for the relief of certain manufacturing classes; but in the present case he was convinced it could do no good. It wa proposed to advance money, not to the.* who most woofed It, those who bad no corn, but who had corn still left to sell. This would be still further to dis tress those already overwhelmed, as it would have the cfi . ect of advancing prices iii the market, when those indi viduals wanted to come in as purchasers for food fur their labourers and families, and seed for their land. Mr. HUSKIS3ON said he had opposed this measure when proposed in the committee, anti would oppose it now. After some further uhservatious from other members, Lord LON DON DERRY observed, the proposition was not hiss be had only brought it forward at the request of ushers, and would now, with the leave o f the House, with draw it.—(Hear.)—Th e resolution was accordingly with• drawn. Lord LONDONDERRY mid, be would bring forward bat :•ee ttttt I ret.olutiun to-morrow. Ms. IIitOUGHA Id advised the noble Lord to let the se cond noolulion follow the . . Lord LONDONDERRY could not agree to this prop°. siii )))) . The first resolution he had felt no interest in. but the second was that which embraced the main question. and he wished it to be fully discussed. It was then fixed that the discussion on the second reso. lui ion should he brought forward to-morrow. The other Orders were disposed of, and the House ad• jourued at eleven o'clo, k. ifDISPAY, 114 If T. Mr. BRIGHT presented a petition from Bristol, praying the Douse would adopt measures to mitigate the severity of the criminal code. The Marquis of CHANDOS presented a petition from the timers in lIIC of Aylesbury, complaining of agricultural distress, mild pro) sag that the House would not adopt the resolutions of Mr. Ricardo. Mr. DUGHALE presented a petition from drysalters and bacon curers of Birmingham, complaining of the inemodity of duties between them and the bacon curers of Ireland ; the former had to pay SOL duty, where the latter paid only 41. Ordered to be pi hard. Mr. S. RICE presented a petition from the separatists of Limerick, praying that allowances similar to those extended the Quakers would he panted to them. M r. F. BUXTON bore testimony of the respectability of tlw petitioners. A her petition was presented from the separatists of London —Severally ordered to be printed. Mr. HUME complained of the non-returns of newspaper inivertiseinent accounts that had previously heeu ordered.— Ile said that the Government were in the habit of making the must shumeful use of the press. To those papers which held AM extensive circulation they did nut send advertise ments; but those of limited circulation—to promote their ono political views.—.they sent their advertisements, some.. Ines at great expeuce. Amongst various instances or abuse, be 'mentioned that in (we limper proclamations had heed" continued for three years niter the object of theta had erased.—(Hear, hear.)—lie also adverted to the complete exclusion 01 Government achy. ti-ement (runs the Newspapeis, cre account of the political conduct they had pursued, out willistandiug their great circulation —Accounts mitered. Mi. CII LT VI yN DE presented the report of the vaginal Lies craisolidatiiiii bill. Their wet e many aniendisiento, and he hoped. that in its prewist form, it mould be found to be ir.etul.—•Repuit ordered to be further considered ou .Mtn.stu) neat. THE NATIONAL REGISTER Sir K. WILSON expressed himsalf tatisfled with the amendments. The bill, as amended, ordered to be printed. Mr. P. OREN FELL. in the absence of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, wished to know t►hether there world he any objection to produce the correspondence between the Batik and the Government reqwctisi; the renewal of the Bank Charter) Mr. LUSHINGTON wished that the question should be postponed till the Chancellor of the Exchequer was present. NAVAL AND MILITARY PENbIONI.—Mr. IIUMI; said, be had is vain looked into the accounts to ascertain how the five millions dead weight charge fur pewitsro was made up; he therefore moved for retsina of pensiotts, half-pay, dm. constituting the five millions charge, for which the Chancellor of the Escheqeet's plan purported to provide.—Ordered. Mr. LUSH I NGTON iutroduced the spoiled Stamps' Rids —Read a first aloe. Mr. HUME asked when the returns respecting public de faulters orient be expected t Mr. I.USHINOTON aid. many at the accounts hail been drawn from different and distant departments ; but many of them were ready. Mr. hl A RTI N obtained leave to bring in a bill to prevent the ill-treatment of cattle. _ Mr.IIUMI asked when Ibe Superanuoation Bill was likely to be discussed ? Mr. LUSH INGTON replied, that it had stood on the orders nine or ten different days, and that other matters had prevented it front being brought forward. Mr. G. BENNET remarked that when public money was required there was generally found time to mention it to the House, uud he did not see why this bill might out be discussed in the committee of 'apply. Mr. WELLS presented a petition from occupiers in Kent, complaining of agricultural distress. Mr. P. GRENFELL moved for returns of the different re newsils or extensions of the Bank Charter since Ha. He said he movtd fur this account to chew that there had been but one instance, that of 1810, when it was proposed to renew the charter eleven years before its expiration. He considered the Bank " monupoly"—the noble Marquis had called it a monopoly—to be most mischievous; and be should take every opportunity to resist its renewal. He should like to know why the monopoly was to be enjoyed fur the I . •t within 61 miles of London. if the monopoly were prejo. dicinl at the distance of 65 miles, was it not equally injurious nearer the metropolis. He concluded with moving for the return. Air. LUSHINGTON had no objection to the motion, which merely regarded a matter ut fact. Account ordered. Mr. HUME moved for returns of consular fees, the authority by which they were ordered, are.; for a return of the consuls' duration of residence, abseuce, titc. He adverted to the conduct of Mr. Chamberlain, our COMM! at the Brazils. Out of 73 English merchants resideut there, 72 had complained against his conduct. His re ceipts for lone port, withlu exclusive of his receipts out of the civil list. Mr. Cham• bedsit) cost this country between 4 and 5,0001. • year. Were not these extravagant expences% Ho was sure that the subject merited inquiry, and called for revision. The charges ought to be greatly reduced—at least a half, if not two-thirds. The interests of British shipping required such reductions. Sir R. WILSON said, that the Braids was a cheap place to live in. Lord LONDONDERRY replied,that Mr. Chamberlain had stated the quarters loaf to be 3s. 100.—poultry and wine very high. Mr. HUME said, the noble lord had only read part of Mr. C.'s correspondence ► his lordship should have gone further, and then the house might have bed a different view of the nietter.—Motion agreed to. Lord A. HAMILTON presented a petition from owners and occupiers of laud in Lanarkshire, complaining of agricultural distress. Mr. MAXWELL said, there was no hope of relief, ex cept from a reduction of taxes.—Yetition ordered to be printed. AGRICULTURAL RESOLUTIONS. Lord LONDONDERRY moved, that the house go into a committee on the further consideration of the agricultu ral resolutiom. After some conversation, the house went into the com mittee, Lord LONDONDERRY thew brought forward his resolutions containing the scale of protecting or import duties, as previously detailed in the papers. Sir T. LETHBRIDGE followed, bringing forward his scheme of protecting duties, purposing to fix the scale at 3:is Sir F. BURDETT strongly condemned the plan of the member for Somersetshire, as calculated to increase the distress of the country, and he also objected to the noble lord's plan. as not at all calculated to relieve the country. The lion. bart, imputed the present distress to the altera tion in the currency, to taxation, and to non•importation. He was convinced there ought to be no prohibitory dir ties ; that there ought to be tree importation, and that by inch a course the country would again become prosper. ous, and the landlord get that which lie contended it was necessary lie should have for the good of all classes high rents. He smeongly urged reduction of expenditure and economy as the only means of relieving the country. A long debate followed, and the discussion was ad journed at one o'clock. WEDNESDAY. MAY 8. Mr. P. GRENFELL asked, for the third time, when ilie house might expect the correspondence between . the Government and the Bank, re s p e cting the renewal o f the Bank charter. If he received no satisfactory answer, be should move that the papers be produced forthwith. Mr. LUSHINGTON could only repeat the answer that he had given before, that it would be better to wait till the Chancellor of the Exchequer wad present. Mr. GRENFELL moved, that the correspondence be laid before the house forthwith. Mr. BROUGHAM ssipported the motion. as he thought it was not orating the house eespectfully to withhold die papers. Sir J. NEWPORT was of a similar opinion. Mr. LUSHINGTON opposed the motion, because he *might it was not , hewing the usual courtesy to the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Mr. OREN FELL said, lie should press his motion. The gallery was partly cleared for a division, bat the opposition being withdrawn, the inotien was agured to, and the correspondence ordered to be presented forthwith. Sir M. W. RIM. EV gave notice, that when the Navi gation Laws Repeal bill was brought foe ward, he sisousid 111UVI: a Clause tor the repeal of the uue sinning tonnage 011 skips outward and homeward bound; be meant the tor. nage duty geaerally.—(Hear, hear.) Sir R. HERON. In consequence of the pressure of business, and as a Poor Bill was already before the house, postponed till next session his motion regarding the law of settlement of the poor. GOVENNMENT ADVERTISEMENTS HUME com plained of comments that appeared in the Morning Chi... nide, on the subject of his motion for returns of the expence of public tiepin intents fur advertisements, as that paper charged him with wishing to interfere with the private concerns of newspapers. He had no such desire —the imputation was false; all he desired to know was, the way in which the public money was laid out for Go vernment advertisement. Having so far set himself right with the house and the country, be had no further com plaint to make; he considered that a public man was a species of public property; and all he desired was, that the truth st t Id be spoken. The Swap Duties Relief bill was read a second time, and ordered to be committed to-morrow. idler Sir M. W. Ridley had expressed a hope that there *add be sane relief regarding ships' debentures under particular eir ' Mr. LOCKHART ebbed whether there was to be say alteration out the ad valorem deity on mortgagee. _ Mr. LUSHINGTON replied, that there was a b 45 es the subject. Mr. LUSHINGTON then moved. that the been go into a committee on the Stamp Duties Act. Mr. BRIGHT wished to know whether there was to be any alterations in the commercial stamps? Mr. LUSHINGTON said, the proposed bill would ope rate a great relief to trade. The resolutions he expected to have printed. Mr. HUME asked whether there was to be any altera tion in the agency charges for distributing stamps ? Mr. LUSHINU lON replied, that he bad no instruc tions on that subject. He added, that his first reaolntiou was respecting policies. Resolutions agreed to—report to-morrow. Mr. G. BENNET gave notice. that be should, on F.l. day next, move fur leave to bring in a bill to alter and amend the present state of licenting public houses. Mr. LEN SARI) postponed till Thursday, 10th instant, his motion, which be had already postponed once, res pecting the repeal of the Seditious Meetings bill. He hoped nothing would occur to prevent him frees Wiggle' forward his motion on that day. AGRICULTURAL DISTRESS RESOLUTIONS. Lord LONDONDERRY moved, that the boom go into • committee on the agricultural distress resolutions. Mr. WYVILL opposed the motion. He could not eon sent that the country should any longer be deluded; the rego:ntions would be useless. If they were passed, they' could not last six mouths. There were but two modes of relief, either to repeal Mr. Peel's bill, or • large remission of the taxer He could not allow that the delusion of the resolutions should be carried farther, without the sense of she house being taken on the subject. He observed, that there was eio chance of relieving the cannery, except there was a reduction of taxation to the amount of v 0 millions at least. He therefore moved, as an amendment, that the only effectual relief of agriculture was " • large remission of taxation.' Mr. LOCKHART said, he could not consent that the interests of agriculture should be Mended with questions with which they were nut entirely connected. If the Norfolk decision regarding poor rates, and the liability of the clergy, were correct, then were the great interests of the venerable body of the church gone. It was true en doubtedly in law, but if it continued, then, be repeated. the interests of the venerable body of clergy bad been must seriously affected. As to the remission of taxes, if such a reduction as had been proposed were to take place, the interest of the debt could not confines to be paid; and he undertook to say, that the agriculturists bad In no instance called for any thing that would affect the cond. noted payment of the interest of the debt. (Hear. hear.) —As to the reduction of taxation, that would riot effect the desired relief; indeed the noble lord's resolutions chiefly proceeded on that principle. He then proceeded to defend the scheme of protecting import duties—the price of core, with the duty, ought ttr be regulated by the prices at Datum. Suppusiug the duty was 15a. it could be imported thence at S7s. How then was the English grower to compete with the foreign grower s Besides, the noble lord's resolution declared that the English grower could not grow curn at a less rate than 10a. the quarter. What the farmers wanted was, not high priers, but pro. tecting duties ; they did not want to be compelled to ►ell at a loss. He begged to add, that the farmers bad 114 connection with the wild awl visionary schemes fur a re duction of taxation; they desired to support the public faith, and were anxious to support the Government of the country. Lord ALTHORPE said, that every vote he had given this session was its favour of a reduction of taxation, but still Ise wished the committee to proceed. He thought the corn laws were so bad. that he was therefore desirous that the committee should proceed. Lord LONDONDERRY said, it the amendment were carried, it must 1w considered like saying, that there ought to be a repeal of taxes to the amount of esillious. Mr. BROUlitiA3l declared, that it would be only stating, that in all they should hereafter do, it would be requisite to keep in view a large reduction of taxes. Mr. WYVILL said, he had heard nothing that could induce him to withdraw his motion; be more than ever ■aw the necessity of pressing it. Mr. REAUMON r and Mr. CURWEN expressed them selves in favour of the amendment. because they felt convinced that whatever plans were determined on with. out a reduction,* large reduction of taxes, there was are chance of the country being rescued from its digiceties. The house then di. idrd. The numbers were...4%w the autendinerd, 31—Against it, Ito—Majority, 83. The house then went into a committee. _ Mr. BANK ES, at considerable length, denied that the distress of the country originated entirely in taxation—it was caused by a variety of circumstances. He coutros vetted the doctrine, that the cultivator of laud, if he could not obtain a remunerating price, ought withdraw his capital, and employ it otherwise. This was not in his power, and therclore pasharuent were ►ound to protect them as far as possible. Mr. HUSIUSSON defended the report of last session, which he said was founded on the hire policy of the vie'. 111111 Wider that impression he had retrained Irma attending the committee of the present session. He had piuposed his resolutions, with a view to 'hewing isle 0,11 ( For continuoliou ssi pagc 114.