The Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1860-11-22 00:00:00

MR. MILNER GIBSON, M.P.,

AT ASHTON.

(BY BRITISH AND IRISH MAGNETIC TELEGRAPH.)

Last evening, the Right Hon. Thos. Milner Gibson,
M.P., President of the Board of Trade, addressed his
constituents at the town of Ashton-under-Lyne. The
Mayor, Mr. B. M. Kenworthy, presided. Mr. Milner
Gibson, on rising, was received with great applause.
Re said the circumstance of his return rendered it a
duty to appear before his constituents. It was a more
difficult task than it appeared, to give an account of the
last session, because he could not be expected to con-
demn the two administrations with which he was con:
fleeted. He certainly should not praise the administra-
tion; but would merely say that.their earnest endeayoure
had to dO the licst foe, tile ,country ; if th6y had
dint su'e,eeeqd in•passing their measures of reform; it wet
RptAiciF facdt: There had been habit of late, be thought,
el disciedithig parliamentary speaking ; but it had been
said by an eminent writer that parliamentary govern-
ment was a government by speaking, and so he believed
it to be, and though the debates,
'
they had a oe lengthened
• • ......ency to elicit the truth and ripen public
epunon. There might, have been failures during the
last session, but there had been great commercial re-
%this galetilated,to benefit the neighbodrhbod of Ashton-
iinder:Lytie:
~,hete had been Misgiv,iiigs ,torthe:
traderif the cpuetryl ,bat ,althetigh, thq .e.x.pqrt Vide
had geown to its preeeet enormoes megnitude, at.was at
moment increasing. In the nine months of
„n 4 jear the value of the exports of British produce
bad been about £102,000,000. During the same nine
months of 1859 the value of the exports was only
£98,000,000. It was marvellous how the export trade
had increased from the adoption of free commercial
principles. The cotton manufacture formed a large
proportion of these exports, being £48,000,000. The
shipo,ng interest also showed ..signs of ; improvemep.t.;
because, comparing the nine months in 1840 and 1850,
British tonnage cleared with cargoes increased by 785,522
tons, against an increase of 475,165 of foreign tonnage, so
that they would see that British shipping was holding its
own. These facts broaght him to the commercial treaty with
France, and they might rely upon it that the French
Government made, so far as their tariff was concerned, a
very great change—in fact, had taken a step greater
than any step of the same kind taken by this country at
any time. For this treaty the country was greatly
indebted to Mr. Cobden for any benefit that might arise.
There had been a good deal of misrepresentations about
the commercial treaty: Sonic said that England had
been taken in, and that we had given a great deal and
got very little in exchange. A great change had been
made in the British tariff, and we ad Rivetimbcids,, airy,
thing. -,We had given en limpul,se ,te. the iriduetry of
khis country ,ae.the same time.) we had got the litreneh
gle,ernment to change her tariff—we had got two good
pigs instead of one. There was no bargain to make
any exchanges, and we were merely taking two good
thing at once, instead of only one. If the French had
. „
not changed their tariff-, A ;Vela nave been out duty to
51CFt tide chalige which we had made in our tariff. As
to the French wines, a great deal had been said. It
Was said that Englishmen would not drink French
wine ; but the increase in the imports arising from'the
treaty had been very considerable, and had increased
the revenue. It had been said that great distress had
been occasioned at Coventry by the conintereial treaty
but the Coventry `beavers,mild not be Made an eicep-
ton to the principle of
,free trade., . The
,import of
French ribbons had only been small, 15 per cent. ; and
he thought that ,by-and-bye th% effect of ,the,. treaty
Would be to ,put. the Coventry ribbon, manufacturers on
sourider,besis. i'The,paper makers made a cry as to
she ,intprt-ation of foreign paper ; but there had been
bo chutting-up of mills ; and there had been no great
importation of foreign paper, or any increase in its price.
The fact was that English paper makers were able
to compete with any other paper makers in the world.
Re was speaking of the customs on foreign paper, and
tot of the excise. He had heard it urged that it was not
good policy to make a commercial treaty with France—
and there was a small sect who regarded France as our
natural enemy—but he viewed this matter as one of the
greatest events of the day, and one calculated to benefit
this country more than any which had occurred in recent
years. He had obeereed a very sensible reniark made
y Mr. Bright at Wakefield, that it *as a strange thing
that $0,000,006 of, people iii Englaild and 36,006,000
of people in Prance, separated only by a narrow sea,
vould het just as well have as extensive a trade with
+o.h other, as with. people separated by the Atlantic.
(Cheers.) We had a great trade with countries with
More restricted tariffs than France, and he was satisfied
that from this time the French tariff would be, with
perhaps one exception—and that exception our
own—the most liberal tariff in Europe. With
reference to the income-tax, he wished to say a
Word or two. It had been said by many, "Oh ! if it
had not been for this Government and the trench
treaty we should not have had such a high iiieothe-tai:'
Re denied that, and belieVed they Would have had a
higher income-tax, for many reasons. The opponents of
the income-tax had always said that it was a war tax,
Which meant that it was a tax to which the Govern-
!dent had recourse when the military and naval expen-
diture was very high. That expenditure was very high
flow, and the question was, does this income-tax bear a
larger proportion to that expenditure than in past times ?
Re found that we did not pay as much of our war
expenditure out of our income-tax as we used to do.
Sir Robert Peel's income-tax paid 36 per cent. of the
War expenditure, but the income-tax at 10d. in the
Pound paid no more than 32 per cent., taking into actolint
the supplementary vote of £3,000;000 for the Chita war.
Re did not objent to the iiieonte-tax being Called
a war tat., but he objected to people calling it
a war tax and yet refusing to allow it to be
Used for that purpose. He contended that with a vote
of £3,000,000 for naval and military purposes, a ten-
penny income tax was not out of proportion. It had
been represented that there had been some general
transfer of indirect to direct taxation, and that the
income and the property of the country were paying
more than their fair share •of the burdens of the
country; but he found that for every £22 paid by
direct taxation during 1860 and 1861 there would be
£7B paid by indirect taxation. If large naval and
Military armaments were necessary for the safety of
the country—and there appeared to be a feeling
in the country that they were—then we could
tot avoid having a very large income tax. The
effects of former reductions of taxation had been
to realise more revenue from twelve excise duties
than formerly from twenty-seven, and it was a mistake
of the House of Lords to suppose that by getting rid of
a tax they were getting rid of so much revenue. With
regard to the late question of the paper duty, he was
stilt of opinion that it would be to the interest of the
country to get rid of it, and the House of Lords, in
refusing to assent to the paper duty bill, made two
blunders—one financial, and the other constitutional.
Ile was sorry to say that the House of Commons was not
sound upon that question. He believed that one great
inducement to the House of Lords for taking the course
they .did was that they believed the House of
Commons was not in earnest, and that the mea-
sure would never have passed the third reading.
The House of Commons did not wish to embarrass
the Government, and therefore left the House
of Lords to deal with the bill. The evil of the prece-
dent was, however, untouched, and in future such a pre-
cedent might be used for some unconstitutional purpose.
With regard to the foreign policy of the Government he
Should say very little. Their wish had been on the one
hand to preserve peace between the Great Powers of
Europe, and at the same time to enable the Italians to
regulate their own affairs; and he believed that that
Policy had been successful. What might be looming in
the future was not for him to say, but he thought that
there was growing up in Europe a stronger desire to
Maintain peace. The ' exhausted finances of some
countries, and the commercial views of others,
were likely to prevent war for some time to come,
although ,the Government had adopted the policy
of non-intervention, they still sympathised with oppressed
nations struggling for liberty and freedom. Holding
office as he did, he did not feel at liberty to act the pro-
phet. He recanted none of his • opinions upon public
measures; he stood where he had done in all the politi-
cal views which he had expressed to the constituency of
Ashton; and it would be his duty, whether in office or
out of office, to give effect as far as possible to all the
Principles which he had professed. (Applause.) In reply
to questions, Mr. Gibson said he was still an advocate
for the ballot. As to the Reform Bill which the Govern-
tient introduced, both Liberals and Conservatives seemed
to be determined to talk out the bill. The measure was
one dealing more with the question of the extension of
the suffrage than with the enfranchisement or disen-
franchisement of boroughs. At the present moment
nobody seemed willing to support a Reform Bill, and
everybody was willing to quarrel if no bill was intro-
duced. He stood where he did upon the question of
reform. A vote of confidence in the right honourable
.gentleman terminated the proceedings.

FATAL ACCIDENT. Yesterday a fatal accident
occurred at the timber-yard of Messrs. Grayson and
Co., Sandhills-lane. Some carters were engaged in
loading a timber waggon, the pole of which broke from
its fastening, and with terrific force struck a young man
named George Winstanley, who was conveyed at once
to the Northern Hospital, but died on his way there.
The deceased, who was 18 years of age, resided at No.
6, Cotter-street, Toxteth-park.
COUNTY COURT.—At this court, yesterday, before W.
Hutton, Esq., judge, the only business disposed of was
the hearing of insolvency cases, which involved no
feature of public interest or importance. In the case of
John 34,Kenna, supported by Mr. Husband, and
opposed by the detaining creditor, (No. 6 on the
schedule) William Shone, of the firm of Messrs. Peter
Shone & Son, his HonouK adjourned the hearing till
next court, a course adopted with several of the other
cases.
CRUSHED TO DEATH.—On Tuesday, Dennis Moran,
aged fifty-six, a master tailor, residing at 4, Carlton-
.street, met with a serious and, as it proved, fatal acci-
dent, at the 'anal bridge in Great Howard-street. The
bridge is at present undergoing repairs, and a boarding
is put np which diminishes the width of the street at
that particular point about one-half. On Tuesday,
about mid-day, Moran was passing, when a lorry came
up, and he was crushed between the vehicle and the
boards. A policeman had him conveyed to the Northern
Hospital, where his immediate wants were attended to,
after which his son insisted on his return home; where
lie died yesterday.
A PROSPECTIVELY WEALTHY PAUPER.—Yesterday,
at the meeting of the West Derby Guardians, an old
woman, from Orrell, applied for parochial relief. One
of the guardians, who knew her, asked if at Christmas
next she would not come into possession of £l,OOO.
The applicant admitted that such was the fact, but said
that the amount was in the hands of the lawyers, " and
lou all *now, gentlemen," she added, " then when
awyers once get hold of money they never part with
it." (A laugh.) We believe the application was declined.
THE LIVERPOOL VOLUNTEER PRESS CORPS.—This
corps has been accepted by the Lord-Lieutenant. In
addition to the funds already received, we have to
acknowledge the receipt of £5 ss. from A. Castellain,
Esq; T. B. Job, Esq., £1 ls.; Henry Greenwood, Esq.,
£2 2s. ; D. Anderson, Esq., Ll is.; and several other
gentlemen have intimated their intention to contribute
largely to the funds of the above corps, which continues
to increase daily in numbers. The drill proceeds most
satisfactorily, and this, the first and only Press Corps in
Liverpool, promises to be one of the best equipped and
Most efficient companies of volunteers in Lancashire.
MR. PUNCH'S NEW CONTRIBUTOR.—As the Hero
was short of fuel, the Duke inquired of the Prince
Whether lie should signal to the Ariadne for any ?
should advise you not," was the princely reply ; " for
they will never bq such fools as to send coals to New.
castle."—Punch.