The Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1860-09-11 00:00:00

recording their thanks to Mr. S. Price Edwards,thecellector,
for the readiness Witll which he has alway. endeavoured to
give increased facilities to the trade of the port.
IKE LAW AS TO THE TItANStER Atii) El:livers 151.. ocensf
The report on this subject is still under consideration; but,
as it is one involving many very important points, yoUr coun-
cil have deferred its adoption, with the view of making its
conclusions of a character that will be satis6etory to all
interests. In closing this report, yout council cannot but ex-
press their regret that several very important bills have been
withdrawn from Parliament, such as the Bankruptcy Bill, the
lien for Freight Bill, the Companies Bill, and the Admiralty
Jurisdiction Bill, and that no opportunity offered for the
introduction of other subjects, such as the Registration of
Partnerships, the United Kingdom Writs Bill, and the law
relating to Foreign Debtors. All these will, hoWeVer, con-
tinue to receive the Attention of year council, in the line that
they May be brought forward next session.. Your council
have been favoilred with the continued Valuable assistance of
the members for the, borough, Messrs. Horsfall and Ewart, to
;Yhom they tender their cordial thanks.
. The Criainsiast said, the report Was now before them,
and he should just make a few remarks before he asked
Mr. Horsfall to.move its adoption. There were two or
three things which he. sheuld like to bring Before the
Chamber,, and the most iMportant was the first—the
Bankruptcy Pill. The Chamber had that before them
over and over again, and he, thought that this year they
should certainly have got it through. He.was up in
London, and formed the impression at the time, as every
body.seemed. anxious to support the Attorney-General in
getting on with the bill. The Council had given it
great attention, and the Government had listened
very attentively to what they had to say, in some
instances indeed having made alterations to meet their
views. It was a long and very, important bill,
and would have still further consideraii;ons There was
a subject now agitating the town `veryunroll, Which had
been casnally,alltaled to in the report,—it was that of
lien for 'freight inward. The bill did not get -through
Parliainent, but he had no doubt that it would early
next session; and the question was, whether there could
not be prepared by next year some plan to give a lien
upon outward freight. He merely alluded to the matter
now that public attention might be called to it, for it
was one of very great importance. The stamp. duties
had been carefully considered by the Council during the
year. This had been a very sore subject from time to
time, for the small charges which the Chancellor of the
Exchequer proposed to pills such as the penny charge on
transfers, had be6n very diffidalt to arrange; and even
yet, as far as the Caned could understand, there were
differences between the public bodies in the town as to
the modes of affixing the stamp. Unfortunately this
was so ; but the Council hoped that in a 'Short time this
would Settle down, and people. Woad iinderitalisl haore
clearly what the regulation meant. In. the early part
of the session,,Very tkrly
.111 this half-year, the budget
,and We Frenchtarit Were considered. . The Council
expressed .',. Very decided opmion in general approval of
,the Measure. ' There were some details which it was
hoped the Chancellor of the Exchequer would meet
faiity, and satisfactorily. It had caused the Council a
great deal of trouble during the year to get these ques-
tions put into a practical shape; and although they
had not got all they wished, still they thought they
had been successful to a great extent in modifying
some of the proposals of the Chancellor of the Exche-
quer,—particularly one in whieh he proposed is.
export duty on transit goods, 'and 2s. 6d. upon free
goods, or all goods .exported. This was tlinught so very
objectionable that a deputation Was. sent
.to London
to rein'onstrate, and they got the ChamiellOr "Of flit
Exchequer to do away with that, and substitute another
clause, not so obnoxious. They had also succeeded in
getting the Chaticeller, in the huts, to Withdraw some
..
very vexatious charges ttpith working in bond—a long
string of betty Chagos, such as 4d. a package for weigh-
ing st gak, Or any article, and a variety of others—which
Iv-Aidhave impeded commerce without increasing the
revenue; but in the end, he. was happy to say, the ,
Chancellor of the Exchequer had Withdrawn the pro-
posal. The French tariff had heed brOisght under their
consideration with the Workifig of it. They had sent notice
to the various trades; and Were rather surprised that so
little interest was taken in the subject, for it was one of
setions importance. Two or three trades had taken an
interest in, it, and he fancied they had been successful to
some extent in getting their affairs arranged with the
French Government. The Council were surprised that
other trades did not move in the same direction -. hoar--
ever,. they had done their duty. The next stibjeet, On
his notes was the Paper Duties. This had 'caused a
great deal of discussion; and they hdped -that next ses-
sion arrangements would be Made. Satisfactory
was the
paper-makers. With regard to the duty, that was not
now a question to discuss; but they had taken consider-
able trouble that the paper man ufacturers should be
dealt with fairly, under regulations that existed. This sub-
ject, at one of their meetings, had called for the remark of
the importance of their not meddling with party politieh:
He thought they had acted wisely in keeping Aulte cleat
of that, and he was sure he should haVe their support
in it, as he had alwavS had,-ssfOr gentlemen must recol-
lect that it was a difficalt 'thing for the President of
the Chamber to take the exact position where a political
question beglas or ends, and gentlemen oat of &ors
should not take offence if the President, in his Seal, *re-
strained and kept very strictly ;within that rule, as it
was one of the fundamental rtiles of their Council.
(Hear, hear.) There was a very important question
now before the Gorernment, with regard to the sale of
ships ; and if they were not very careful they would
find that our ships would be sold in London, and not in
Liverpool—under Admiralty order of course. But
it was very objectionable that they should be sold
in London. They wanted them to be sold in
Liverpool ; and the Council should give that
their attention in the next half year. Then there
was a very 'important -question as to the transfer of
goods, which was one that they had eoasidered bate-
fully, and postponed from tide to tiiiie, He was sorry
Mr. Robertson was'not there, belt% absent film-domes-
tic ait iction, or he Would have told them more about it.
It was a subject which required very great care, and it is
not necessary to say more than that it would have the
careful attention of the council. A report on the sub-
ject had been privately circulated among the members.
There was one subject upon which they had great diffi-
culty in getting information,—that was upon the
Customs; land Usages of Trade, and Which a 'committeehad been ,appointed to investigate. He thought it WAs
importa S that, in a 'commercial town, ode blanch of
trade or commerce should know the
tii
Usages of another.
He sho Id he obliged to any gentleman, or any of the
associat ons who *would give them information on the
subject. It was a very important question=a practical
questio and one which the Chamber *Mild do gooll
by givi .e. its attention to. He thought these *ere all
the subj cts he need allude to in passing; and in sitting
down h should ask Mt. 'Ronson to read the letter
which t ey had received from Mr. Ewart.
Mr. Tfolisofilelatl"ST follenvvr-,ss- .--"- ~--, , , - ss-
.--•
• • New Brighton, Birkenhead, Sept. 6, 1160.
My Dr.a.e. Sari,•,--I regret very much that it will be quite out
of my power. to attend your 'half-yearly meeting on Monday
next.
I am obliged to go to the Isle of Man tomorrow, and cannot
possibly return in time. I
would gladly have put off my trip until
•
the folloWirtzt week,
but I must be in London on the 11ih, and thente I go on to the
Continent.
Though the session has been the longest and most arduous
since I have been in Parliament, I cannot say that
.the real .
practical business has been at all commensurate with, it. ,
The.fact is, that too much was attempted to be it out fer us
at the commeeement. The ceeceittence was that the budget,
parliamentaryn reform, bankrUptncy, and 'ether important mea-
sures (any two of Which would hat's been nearly enough_ for a
session) jostled each other innalmost inextricable confusion. •
With reference to 'the budget, it must be a souhosrc,, articles great
gratification to the chamber that so many of t
which yiddUd comparatively E 0 little revenue, and the repeal
a Ilib duties on which had been previously,
body, have been erased front the tariff book,
But in adopting so wise and comp'
Chancellor a measure the
argot Dy Your
Chancellor unfortunately accrapanied it by a system of
_Rely
and vexatious charges on 'ail imports and sxporte. These
e less harassing by suggest-
yiboguracmhaoirneb:irm
ultimate,}'d
tb arrangemente"nder thandcommercial that hilai tt
are much Ind( bted to you and the deput a:ion in London foi
the Valuable aid you afforded. ersigtsinoafilthePerolaP'utedry
These charges, however, are annoying enough has at present,
by Mr. Gladstone, an
and I hope they may before long be entirely repealed. the
Bankruptcy is. much to be regretted that those tisertli.ntesAreS,
Bankruptcy and Companies' Bills-, were withdrawn. Y
honourable collaue and myself drished to have inildl
a clause into the lagtter bill, redUcing the amount of shares _
joint-stock banks of limited liability to 820 per share, instead
of £lOO per share, es sit present fixed by the act.
These bills will be re-introduced next session, with, I hope,
fewer clauses to provoke opposition, and with a more certain
chance of success.
With many thanks to you personally, and to the.counell,. for
the kind and valuable assistance you have ut 141 k times ren-
dered to my excellent colleague (who may probably liav_e
ban
opportunity of perstmally.expressiug them) and to myself, e-
lieve me to be, my dear sir, faithfully yours,
J. C. EWART.
(Signed)
W. J. Toinlinsea, EA., President Chamber of
Cominerce, Liverpool.
Mr, T. B. lloitsFahh, M.P., then rose and said—Mr.
President, I have very great pleasure in moving that the
report now read be received, adopted, and printed for
circulation among the members; and I trust, Sir, I shall
be excused if I feel in duty bound, in the first instance,
to acknowledge the last paragraph in the 'report, whith
is. expressive of the thanks of this Chamber to my
hon. colleague and myself. I beg to assure you,
sir, and to assure this chamber that although considerable
difference of opinion may exist as to the work which-has
been done during the past session, I talse.thisyete as an
assurance that my honourable colleague and in self. haVe
at
least attended to the duties which devolved upon us.
(Applause.) Sir, with your perititsion, I will refer
first to that most important question to which you have
now adverted, namely,
the Bankruptcy Bill; and'
I agree most cordially in the expressions of regret
that the bill is not now the law of the land. lam very
unwilling to, throw the blame on any party; and yet,
sir, I cannot but think that if the Attorney-General
had pressed that bill forward at an earlier period,
there is no doubt that it would have passed,- and passed
in a form satisfactory to the country. (Hear, hear)
Sir, there is no doubt that the bill niet with
opposition in committee s first and foremost by that
Conservative financial reformer, Sir Henry Willoughby,
who keeps a very jealous eye over the finances of the
country. Well, Sir Henry Willoughby objected to the
compensation clause—he objected to the compensa-
tions which would be necessary, under the bill, being
charged on the Consolidated Fund. He said that it
ought, in the first instance, certainly, to be made charge-
able on the fees of the Bankruptcy Court, and if there
was any deficiency that then that deficiency should be
charged on the Consolidated Fund. The Attorney
General,, with great good humour and good will, acceded
-to this 'proposal, and the bill went on satisfactorily till
it arrived at the 152nd clause. To that abuse exception
I have the greatest
' was taken by Mr. Henley. Now,
the
possible respect for Mr. Henley', and I think that
Attorney-General took a somewhat cont' I need
view of
the nature of Mr. Henley's observations• always have
been, and I am sure this chamber must be, in favour of
there being ,no distinction between traders and non-
traders. If any man cannot pay his debts, he ought to
be made bankru. Well, sir, Ido not think that to
the general principle Mr. Henley ever objected; but he
said there were certain matters of detail, certain provi-
sions necessary
properly.
underparticular circumstances, to make
the bill il l woHe stated one case. For in-
stance : if a
gentleman left a large property to one mem
ber of his family, and with certain claims upon it by the
other members, the power should not be given-to make
that individual a bankrupt if he did not
matterim immediately pay
; but that was a
all those legacies
and I have no doubt provisions.m.been intro-
duced,sion was drawing to a close. Thes
mereht
haveiof detail,y
to have met the case. But the fact the ses-.
raised, and the Attorney-Generalafnodu difficulties were
postponed till next session. But the
Bible to get the bill through,
n i t
learnedit‘V a'VCI:
l is
Attorney-
General quite
el.iriP°
retbrse,
will take warning by the
bill will not only be the first tob
tshuobjthecifteavlelnutdeAdotsto
hieshrt_heing_npon
past, andtr I trust this
session, but the first to receive the Royale ina os
sdouncte. d
(nAe
r. -
pßlial
Bill,
s et
0. )
stock companies. That bill had . '
conTshoelidnaetxet Companies
joint
passed through the
House of Lords, and was withdrawn at a late period of
the session a the House of Commons. But I feel