The Express.
London, England, 1855-04-21 00:00:00

,DAY. EVENING, APRIL 21, 1855.

2106,

, of the Muse how aids deficiency is to be
r will be my duty to submit to their ea-
says and moans by which that deaden*
good." Alluding to the oblations that had
Item urged against the principle of a indeed loan, and
dlieg the authority of lir. Hume on that point, Sir O. C.
yowls declared that it wen not always possible, or if pos-
sible see expedient, to Reims the whole annual expenditure
a lie immuntry by taxes levied within the year. Sixteen
=rid be raised by borrowing ; and in addition the
t ;reposed to augment the revenue from tax-
ation by aunt of 6,300,0001. " I will now, with the meridi-
an of the committee, state to them the manner
ia which that addition is proposed to be effected.
In the fret plate, we propose to make an addition to the
moat duty on sugar of M. per cwt., to be varied &word-
ing to the quality. That addition is estimated to products
• sum of 1,200,0001. Is jertifioaticia of that proposal, I will,
with the permission of the manatee, state to them briefly
some AM with regard to the recent production and con
I samgela of agar. The stock of sugar, ea April 14 last,
tireelfl,lBl My, and at the same date last year the stock
Me AMMO Ina In oonsequenes of the large supplies,
libi sheet prise of sugar—that is to say, the price
of SOW wiliest the duty, is lower by lie. or 4s.
a rub Om ft was a year ago. I will now briefly
elate the imperative prices of sugar sines 1844.
The Memittee will see from the statement I am about to
Used. that even with the proposed addition to the mouth
Mee, the pries to the imeanmer will be coseiderably lower
Om it was eons years ago. In 1844 the quantity of sqpio
inverted was 4,129,000 owt., the price in bond was 330. 81.,
the duty 258. 24., and consequently the full price to the
isnimuner was 68s. 10d. In 1148, after the alteration in the
daty, the importation incensed to 6,220,000 cwt., the pries
it bled was 345. 6d., the duty 145., and the fall prise
mss. id. Ia 1864 the imports increased to 8,096" the
prise in bead was 26e., the duty its., and the fall peke
178. Under the new duties, taking the present prise la
bond 23.., and adding to it the duty,l6l.,the fell pries* the
consumer will be 88s., or only Is. more than it was lest year,
10s. lass than it was Ia 1848, and Ws. less than it was in
1844. W. further proms an additional duty of one
penny per pound oa tuffs*. The present duty is 3d.,
which I think is extremely moderato. I propose to in-
crease it to 4d.; this increase I estimate will prodaes
an additional revenue of 160,0001. I have already stated
that the reduction in the duty on tea, w,.icit would have
taken place this year, has been arrested by an act passed is
the beginning of the year; I now propose to make same
addition to the duty ea tea. (Laughter.) In 1863 the
duty on tea was 2s. 214. per pound, in the tint you of the
new wale it was reduced to Is. 104., and the next year le
le. 6d., at which it now stands. I propose to increase it le
18. 9d., which will be less than the rate at which it steed
in the first year of the redaction ; that addition to the du*
I estimate to produce 750,0001., which will make • torsi
addition to the revenue derived from the custom duties of
2,100,00 W. With regard to the stamp duties, they hue
undergone a systematic revision within the last few yam,
sad it is not my intention to propose any alteration
in them, with one exception, viz., to remove the
exemption which applies to cheques drawn on *alum
They are now exempt from all duty provided the penes
drawing the cheque is within 16 miles of the banker's pleee
of business. These cheques are now outside the law, and
the exemption is also a means of diminishing the duty en
seselpts, se, from those cheques being exempt from the
eleasp, they an often made to perform the duty of receipts.
I propose to withdraw the exemption, and I estimate
the change will produce 200,0001. (Chem.) I now
One, air, to the excise duties. The only excise duty in
which I propose an augmentation is that on spirits. (Hear,
Deer.) My proposal is to assimilate the duty on Sootek
spirits to that on English spirits. (Cheers.) The duty en
Hagfish spirits is now 7m. 104. a gallon ; the duty on Scotch
Isis. I propose to equalise these duties. (Hear, hear.)
The present duty on spirits in Ireland is 48. a
gallon. On account of the circumstances of Inland
I do not propose to raise—(sheen and laughter)—
lea esseant of the present circumstances of Ireland, and also
ea easseme of the lower rate which has been charged on
bib girlie, I do not pewees to shushes the duty on them
to that 'barged on English spirits, but I propose to raise it
le M. a gallon. (Chun and laughter.) The additions
which were last year made to the spirit duties, both in Ire.
Mil and Scotland, have not produced any increase of illicit
dlistillatios, nor have they diminished consumption. I will
Mato, with the permission of the committee, the compara-
tive senumption of spirits in England. Scotland, and
Inlaid Whig the last two years. In the financial year
1863-54, the almeareption of spirits in England was
10,31/4111 gibes, he 1854.65, it was 10 839,000 gallons;
Is Ilesind, Os eiesamptioa in 1853.54 was 8,634,000
pews i is 116446 it was 8,653,000, showing a
dos bereses of consumption, notwithstanding
as brow of duty. In Ireland, the consump-
ffielt 1. 1863.54 was 8,138,000 gallons ; in 1854.66 it
had Men to 8,443,000. From our experience of the past
increase in the duty on spirits I am tempted to advance
farther in the same direction. When I find that • consi-
derable amount can be raised from spirits wiliest lamas-
leg illicit distillation, and smuggling, and all the evils that
follow in their trais, I think they are as fair and as legi-
timate an object of taxation during the heavy expenditure
of a war as can be. (Hear, hear.) I am not • sanguine
projector, but I do not think I make an excessive estimate
when I calculate on an additional from this MON
a 1,100,0001. The additional
the customs, stamps, and excise will thus be 3,300,0001.
In seder, therefore, to raise a sum sufficient for the service
of the year it will be necessary to propose some
addition to the direct taxation. The additicas made
bit year to the direct and indirect taxation were
la this proportion, the increase in the ladling taxation was
sakeland to produce 2,800,0001, and that is the direct
iluatioa 5 667 0001. There was thus • greater bureau fa
direct the " taxation, mere than double that in the MOM
In the plan we have mew the honour to submit it has been
thought desirable to threw the excess on the other side of
the male, and to levy a larger sum by Mired Unitise, a
Ism 'um by direct. (Hear, hear.) We propose to Moe
11.1110,0001. by indbeet taxation, which will leave two MI-
NISI be be raised by Meet taxation. Now, sir, the asebir
,of direct taxes to width we could have recourse is notlerge.
;The land tax Ia this emstry la of a unbar Ratan, it is se
;Bud in the dilbsent Militias, ant subject to redemption,
titat say bureau of it would be havossibk, except in a per
;111 degree, sad with very great trouble. The only direst
Illanle of say magnitude to whisk ear attention we
directed wale the hues tax and the messed taxes. With
regard to the luau tax its pudic* is net very considerable,
ealy between 'eves and eight Medved thousand peuadm
end even if it was doubled, and some extension gives* he
area, it still would not produce above a million of eh&
dowel smuts. It is, after all, only a species of bone
tax. The same may be said of the assessed tam. They
fall on a narrower class of persons than the Mogan tax, but
they are subject to the °hie's** that they are My a mufti
form of income tax, and that any increase of lima maid
interfere with employment. The government, after earetel
consideration, have coma to the conclusion, that ,tie best
form of direct texatioa in existence is the income tax; it
reaches the largest number of perms, it falls with fairness
*a the different clams of incomes, and any additional sum tan
be collected by the existing machinery, thus obviating the
necessity of impulse sew taxes, and creating a new inspec-
tion sad new Excise machinery for an extraordinary ex-
penditatiet. we hope will not be of long duration. Oa
the w proms that the sum of two millions should
be raised by an addition to the income tax, that sum will be
raised by simply adding one per cent. to the present tax ;
that is by ridding 2d. in the pound to the 14d., which is the
pressat rate of Moms tax. Of this sum of two millions, one
sillies will be receivable this year. This addition to the
Mom tax, with the increase in:the indirect MUM, will
produce the sum of 6,800,0001., which, together with the
lona I have already meationed and the sum of three mil-
kiest of Exchequer Bills for the issue of which we
peewee to take power equivalent to the vote of credit
taken ia former years, will make up the sum necessary for
the monies of the year. I will now state precisely tha
ways and mesas I propose to provide. I have stated the
'barge for the year to be 88,339,0601. I estimate the re-
venue from existing taxes at 82,339,0001. ; the loan
18,000,0001. ; the new taus receivable in the year 1856 6
4,100,0001. 1 take four millions because one million of the
immossed Monte tax will sot be receivable this year; and I
she, to avoid say appearance of manias ealealato ,rit. omit
800,0001. of the indirect taxation, although the a swam, has
been made on a very moderate ealealatie,e, because I
wish to leave • margin for a decrees* ir', ceeemptiee.
Omittiag, therefore, this 100,0001., 4 further 18,1
pees to ask the house for vovmer to ism, it
me of wicessity, three millions of Viditienal Basbowase
Dills, it beteg understood that this if sae wii IN, wain lay
deematensime, take place until t'es hat bastalameat of the
15.., payable in December, shall hays been paid est This
will maks the total of the ways and mesas 111,1118,11101. To
Otilthle in, country to bear the Increased dew the details

SOP
stelerstbs
M mei

of which I have now sabssitteti to the houbs. nothing Is De-
-011481,7 but that its reeoeroee choild remain unimpaired,
land that the vast immense of wealth which has been going
on without thearruption for many yesse Pest elonin net
suffer any diminution in consequence of the sinister luau-
eau of the war. Now, sir, there is ousel's:* of fesentenle
anticipation to which I think hardly sufficient a:tentten has
been paid in this house, sad for which it "as
to me scarcely sufficient credit boa been g►!ea
to the late government—l mean the measure adopted with
regard to the trod' with antral nations. It is well
known that daring the last war a great portion of the dis-
tress and calamity was owing to the measures adopted in
reprisal for the Berlin and Milan decrees. Thom impolitic
orders in Conseil deprived u of the trade with neutral
nations, and created an amount of loss and disturbance of
commerce which it is scarcely an exaggeration to say was
equal to the whole loss and suffering created by the in-
creased taxation. From that muse of national loss the
country has fortunately been saved by the measures adopted
with regard to the trade with neutral nations. The conse-
quence of them measures and of the liberty of commons
which snow prevails is, that a vast increase continues
to take place in the amount of our foreign
trade. In estimating the present power of the country
to bear increased taxation, I beg to all the attention of
the committee to a comparison between our imports and
exports in the year in which the French war broke out, a
year of peace, and those of the year before last. In 1793
the imports date United Kingdom amounted t 07,860,0001.,
in 1818 they were 33,987,0001., and in 1853 they were
123,099,000/. The exports were—in 1793, 18,488,0001. ; in
1818 they were 68,609,000/4 and in 1853, 342,322,000/.
These figures, sir, prove the enormous increase of the trade
of this country since the beginning of the French war and
ever since the peace, and they prove that an enormous
menet of wealth exists in the country frem which judi.'
clout taxation will obtain large supplies for any extraordi-
nary expsaditure. I fear, sir, that it has been necessary
for me to have troubled the committee for a considerable

time—(cheers)—bar: in laying the fasts before them I would
rather appear tedious than subject myself to the charge
of having withheld from the knowledge of the committee
any fact that was material. This plan, sir, bar been pro-
posed in a spirit of perfect fairness to the different inter-

este ameeraed. I submit it to the hoots in the confidence
that it will receive an impartial and fair consideration.
I hope that in passing judgment on the ways and means
by which the government propose to meet the exigencies of
the year the how will take the whole plan into considera-
tion at once, and not single oat any particular portion of it,
but form a combined estimate of the scheme proposed by
the government without any partial view. If the house
reject the plan now proposed we must look to some
practical alternative —to some other equally efts-
flout means of providing for the write of the year.
I presume that the committee will wish some information
as to the loan which has been this day contracted. Ia pro-
posing that loan to the public** government requires that
it should receive 1001. in money for every 1001. stock
crested, in order to avoid that state of things which some-
times occurred daring the last war—a large debt in stock
being created for which the government received but an
imperfect equivalent. By the mode which we have adopted
we shall receive 1001. for every 1001. stock. I may hers call
the attention of the committee to the large amount of the
debts contracted in put years, when compared with the
amount of money received. In 1798, a loan of 17,000,0001.
was effected, but stock was created to the amount of
34,000,0001.; in 1802 a sumo( 28,000,0001.wu borrowed, but
the stock created amounted to 49,000,0001.; in 1813 a loan
of 27,000,0001. was raised, white the stock created was
45,000,0001., and finally in 1815 a loan of 26,000,0001.
sterling led to the creation of 66,000,0001. stock. By adopt-
ing, however, the coarse which we have followed we at least
have secured to the public 1001. money for every 1001.
stock. The security for the loan will consist of consols
taken at par, and a terminable annuity of 14s. 67. per cent.,
which would neceasaril expire in thirty years. We have
every reason to believe that the terms of that loan are fair
as between contractors and the public, and that the public
has every reason to be satisfied with it. (Rear, hear.) The'
right hon. gentleman concluded by moving formal resolu-
tions embodying the principles of the foregoing statement."
Mr. A. BMITH asked if the Chancellor of the Exchequer
pare notice to the parties from whom he obtained the loan
that day of his intention to impose taxes which would vir-
tually affect the value of Bank Annuities /

The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said that it
was impossible for the government to make any statement
of alterations 'in taxation until they had submitted those
alterations to parliament. (Hear, bear.)
Mr. LAING said that, although that was not the time to
go into the minute details of the plan which had been pro-
posed by the government, he thought the subject was too
important to allow of the resolutions whi,.h had been read
from the chair being passed entirely sub ailontio. This
wintry was now at the commencement of what, if the war
continued, would prove to be a series of loan., and parlia-
ment ought, therefore, to be extremely careful in assen.ing
to anything at the outset which might seem to lay down the
principle upon which those loans were to be contrasted.
An obvious objection to the plan proposed by the Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer was that it was neither
one thing nor the other, that it could lay claim
neither to the advantages of • perpetual debt nor of
a terminable annuity. He could understand that
a Chancellor of the Exchequer, finding the available nature
of the Three per Cents., should, throwing all consideration
for posterity aside, effect a loan through the means of these
funds. He could also very well understand • financial
minister, wishing in the circumstances in which we were
placed, to throw as much of the burden of the present con-
test as they could bear upon the shoulders of the existing
generation, snaking use of • system of terminable annuities,
in order to 'Stet that object. But the plan now sebenitt-ct
to the committee adopted neither of these modes. and
seemed at all event& at the first knob, to be calculated to
cease may of the evils analog from both systems. The Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer sussed to consider that a system
ot terminable annuities was impracticable, that money
could net le elitened urn them. How could be support
that idea when he oonsidend the large sum of stoney, up-
wards of 100,000,0001., whisk was invested is foreign rail-
way sham of a terminable nature ? This me feet proved
cenelmively that there would be no diffieulty in obtaining
matey upon such • Mee of security. la the mode whisk
the goveranent now pureed, there wan no prospect of •
mans for decrusiag the national debt. Ms need not refer to
alaklag feeds; every see had come to the concession that they
were a mere Mimics. The fact was, that the adoption of
a system- of terminable inanities was a. Isere quake of
rice. (Hear, hem.) He would unitise to say that if the
government tame into the market and offered annuities of
4,5, or 6 per cent. for 60 or 100 years, there would be no
difficulty in finding parchmen ; and by adopting this prin-
ciple in all transactions of the kind, a market for that elms
of esearities would be formed. In all transactions el this
hill 111•111kies ought to be kept in view—that the price of
Meanie Me waked by Manistee*, beyond the actual
IMAMe value of that elms of stock. Consols
were the only legitimate investment for vast sums of
Irma =lays, and hence their market value was enhanced.
Then was another matter conaseted with this subject to
white he wend refer, imam& as it had exercised an in-
jurious effect upon the funds, and so affected, injuriously
for the public, the present loan. This was the sale which
had taken place at different times by the government broker
of savings bank fends. The result of this procedure Wl,lll t'
keep teed. bale. so, seetwttostandazg the easiness of the
stoney market. This, of count, would have an injurious
effect upon the loan; still more so from the course which
the government had followed with regard to offering it to
capitalists. There were two warns open in these matters ;
the first to offer a pursed loan to the nation at large, or
to do so through the large capitalists, who then mud as a
species of middle men. He did not share the feelings of
many, with regard to middle-men ; but, on the contrary,
believed that la esetaia same they might be of great service
to the gourmand and to the country. But, upon the pre-
I sent occasion, it would appear that government bad taken
Iso means of insuring that competition without which any
system scald not fail to act inadequatily to the guile
bora. 11411 in sitting sown, he would say one word
skit Meal to the proposed addition to the taxation of
the egethey. Ile Beet confess that he had heard the plan
e( the Obninelin of the Exchequer with much regret, for
be esanduall it wrong in principle, and, from ita interior-
saes with emanterct, highly objectionable in practise. He
could not understand—when the people wen willing to
pay what was requisite in the present exigencisa of the
country, and the income tax remained below the level
1 which it reached in the last war—why the government had
mot rai,ed the necessary funds by further increasing that tax.
He trusted the home would leaks a stand on.this point, and
insist that the principle upon which, of late years, parlia-
ment had proceeded, should be adhered to. He hoped, if
necessary, that they would rather consent to pay 10 per out.
intone tan while the war continued, than fritter away the
swats of trade and impair the condition of the workbag
Oasis&
Me. GLADSTONE was induced to rise at that early stage
ot the discussion because be did not feel certain whether the
committee was aware of the precise eaten sad bearing el
the qualms which had been pat hem the chair, and
posed in the excellent speech of his eight bon. friend—a.
speech he might be permitted to say distinguished as mush
for its candour and fattens as its slearmen (Hear, beer.)
In that speech be had only to lama cue ledeliels. no
was, that his right hen. friend bad Mit elated bets the COW
of the votes he intended to ask kw tonight sad their meet
effect sad chanter, and if be (Mr. Gladness) presumed
to explain what be &preheated to Do their natant and Ma.
racier, it was only with the new of assisting the eameltne
in arriving at a casein/let, end of course subject MS MN*
dos from his right hoe. Mud if he *m be Is gem
(Hear, hear.) He applauded hie right berliked meta
oak the committee that eight for a vets Ile
whole subject of the lore fib which he bad made
and be presumed, thug! es his right hen. beget