The Express.
London, England, 1855-05-01 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, TUESDAY EVENING, MAY 1, 1855.

the greatest benefit. He did not consider the
question of piracy. He never wished to see a copy.
right. It was rather • question of levying this
impost equally soon all ; and it was a matter of great policy
to this country, if they wished the press te maintain the
standard it had meshed, to allow, the largest aewspopers to
circulate in the Gauntry districts with as much freedom and
is little difficulty as possible. (Hear, bear.) the com-
mittee din nut think that just, be hoped they would refuse
it. Allusions bed been toads to the members truckling to
the lone. He km, of no nab instance" ; but ill es it
would become them to do rs, it wallet still less become the
press to Montle to them. (Hear, hear )
Mr K. GIBBON—I bed •me difficulty in nederstanding
preeisely what the proposition was until I heard the hoe.
member who has jest sat down It is simply this: that
there is a case for relief to the Moss newspaper—l dos%
know that coy other large paper was tesetioned—in respect
to transadesion througi, tee post; end that whereas the
Timm, with its doable supplement fall of most profitable
advercisemene—(hear, bear)—now pays a freight of
thnehadpence fur carriage through the post, f
the future it shall only pay for the carriage
of the same profitable sane theses of la. (Hear, near.) In
other words, hat helfeeney el.ell be deducted from the pub•
lie revenue. I ask, is the a case fur relief? Now, l ant
prepared to make this proposition to the Time. I will pay
that hallpenuy freely for the extra sheet of auvertimments,
if they will give to me the money welch they receive fr,
their adveriting connexion. (it Haar, hear," and laugh-
ter.) I will bind myself legally to that bargain—to pay the
hoOpoesy, it I may receive toe advertisement fund. There
is no doubt it is • great benefit to the public that the post-
ale should carry whet toe public wants as deeply as pos-
sible ; bat I coated that we must have regard to whet can
be &floe in the way of coe.pneu, and that we are net to tee
the public to carry the Times newspaper, sr any oth r
paper, by offering to do it at . Ina charge than it costs.
(a at, helm) it we an Garry • periodical publication the
attic( the Times end its dounic supplement for Id. without
low, we cos carry all other pubbeatio, s of the
same weight sad the same sip without loss ;
I•ealise sits post-office matt take into considere-
d the &attests, but merely toe weight and the balk.
(Heat, hear.) And, therefor*, there can be no lots in aw-
ning all, if we as carry the Times without loss at this rate
Then, I ask my hon. friend why atm he not propose toiletry
all ? And it cannot carry all, I say, why is the public to
be taxed to Duff a large newspaper lull of prolable ad-
vertisements ? Hen, hear) What has been the course in
reference to the fines newspaper ? lam prepared to carry
it at the lowest possible cheap' at which it sea be carried so
as to cover the mute the pantie. Tne late Chsacellor of
the Exchequer took the stamp .B the first supplement to
the Times. Form. tie the Tomes and a single supplement
had to pay a tax of led. to go through the post ; and not
only that, but, leader to have the postal privilege, it was
required to pey the lid. upon its whole inspreseue. For
the future only those particular c..pies that go through the
post will have to pay the tea; sod that is a oonsiatrable re-
lief by exempting • large proportion of the imp-ession trom
that •u.y. (Hear, beer.) lb. return of halimany stamps
only issued luring 1864 gees something over • total amount
of 20,0001. • year. (User, near.) Well, that stamp was taken
off; nobody objected to it; but what was the effect ?
Did the page, get any behalf ? Did not every body pay
Al. for the Town as anal ? (Hear, hear.) Was the lie
tense of priming th• Times, of getting it up, r collecting
'he news, greater then before ? Nut at all. (Hear, hear.)
If they paid the same, sea got the same price for their
paper, whale, I want to knew, "hut this 20.000 t aeat ?
rear, hear) I say that tbut we. • great 'bee to the Times
sea granted; nobody objected. But when tb, y came
here cud toil us that the limes newspapir is iejur.d, end
hue claim far relief, I sty it is • 1001111110{111 appeal, and
that this house ought to timed it. (Cheers.) And 1, for
one, shall record my vote topmast the motion of the boa.
gentleman, bonus I em sure that dyne repeal this Gnome
'settlement stamp, you will be merely granting to the pro-
prietors of a very proeperoul commercial establishment a
certain portion of the public revenue. (liter, hear.) If
you do so, Poe had better vote them the sum et once, and
say—" The Times is en institution, and ought to be sup-
ported et the pantie expense." (Ilea, hear) If, on the
tear heed. it can be shown to me that all printed nutter
can be carried at this rate, I shill be twist happy
to hear it; the lower the better. (Hear, tear.) But
this 3.600 inches, though it may include the Timm sad its
double supplement, may not in.eitie the hug.' t wspapor ;
for I am informed that the Matra ed Lofll/091 New.,
weighing oceasteally ten ounce., has • much larger amount
of inhibit paper-6,0h0 equate inches, at least. then the
Illustrulect Lonlon News will come sod say, Why nut
early our 6,000 inches for • penny I.* In fact, there is no
limit to it. In future, I would advise that we should allow
on- penny to frank no mere than it does et present. The
Times will be in no worse, but in a better, velum than
before. And let the Times and its authorities, and the
Chancellor of the Exchequer, consider for ih• totem, lo
reference to the advantage ot the public , what is
the prettiest amount of printed mat er whichma be carried
for the charge of a penny ? (Hear, hear.)

Mr. H. BALL denied both the propositions of the last
speaker. H. contended that the Post-ethos oould carry any
paper at a much leas charge than a peony, and could there-
fore c►ny the Times of the largest size without loss. The
effect of putting a gn titer tea on the Timm than on other
papers would be to transfer the carriage of that paper to the
railways, and thereby come a loss to the Past-ufnce. The
pit sent arguments ut Mr. (Mutat were isoonsisteat with
those I. formerly employed for the repeal of the corn laws.
Then he cootreated the large loaf with the hale loaf ; why
not give the same preference to a large paper f He beggro
to aware the house that he had no personal Miami in the
Timms. (Laughter.)

Mr. WARNER rose amidst loud cries of" Divide." He
pr Arated against the cotton that the Poet-office had soy.
thing to gain by the carriage or newspapers. The more
they could discourage that Medic the better for the re eeeee .
As, however, the pagan had established a sort of vested
right is postal conveyance, he thought they ought all to be
plated on the SIMI lootitsg—out by tiling a certain number
ut superficial inches, but by restricting the privilege to
newspapers properly so caUed. (Great interruption, and
cries of ''Divide.")

The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said that
if Mr. Lowe, proposition—that a uniturnt principle should
he applied to the postege of newspapers and of other articles
—were practically seduced, he feared that nearly the whole
of the present system would haws to be abolished. C./Gl-
owing the f poets'e upon letters, newspapers, books,
and other printed publications, the discrepancy was so great
that, were it the pleasure of parliament to rodeos them to
a uniform male, it would be necessary to sweep away ell
ezistang rates, and commence &moo. In this bill he had
Limited himself to carrying ato effect, with the smallest
possible alteration of the canticle law, what he understood
to be the decision and the wish of the house, viz , that the
compulsory newspaper stamp should be converted into
an optiusal stamp. In framing this bill, therefore, all the
existing anomalies, to which he was by no means blind, had
been retained. It was bounded explusively upon the main.
Jammu of the existing system. It therefore retained the
present rule with respect to the superficial inches of a news-
paper; that rule being test a newspaper printed on one or
two shuts might contain 2,296 superficial inches fora stamp
of Id. and id. extra fer each additional supplement of 1,149
ineba• Two years ago that rale was the subject oftegisla-
tion ; the charge was diminished ; and that which had been
previously eanied at lid. was reduced to Id. The effect
of the measure now before the house would be that every
newspaper would be at liberty to stamp what portion of its
eironlation it thought fit, and the remainder might he circu-
lated, not through the post, without a stamp. That change
would confers signal benefit upon all existing newspapers;
they would be relieved from the compulsory payment on
a sonsiderable portion of their impression ; and to that ex-
tent they would be benefited by the measure before the house.
Now, he (the Chancellor of the Exchequer) could 'soder-
stand its being said that a newspaper should be considered
as one publication ; that a charge alone penny should carry
any newspaper, whatever its sins might be, sad that all the
present rules about superficial inches should be abolished.
Bat the proposition before the house was simply to raise the
quantity carried from 2,293 inches to 3,600 inches, and no
specific reason was gives for adopting his hoe. (Mead's limit,
except that it wu rather larger than the present limit, and
would include some newspapers which were sot included in
the present law; whereas it would *sande others whisk
contained a greater quantity of matter than 3,600 inches.
He must say, therefore, that, unless the hoses were pre-
pared to throw aside that jealousy with regard to
revenue which was @wired fa some quarters on
the second reading of the bill before the house—unless
it wt re prepared not only to sacrifice that portion of
revenue which would necessarily be lost by the abolition
of the compulsory s amp, but also that forthec Forties which
would be tevolved in ma offer oa the pest of the public to
carry at a lower ruts a greater weight and a greater quantity
of newspapers—then seemed to be no reason for departing
from the limit under the present law. It had been argued
that as a portion of a newspaper was given grattitoWy to
the subscribers as no additional charge was made to the
subscribersbeyond a certain weight and a certain number
of superficial Inaba, therefore it was usreesonable that an
additional charge should be made by the Pat-ciase: The
question between the newspaper and its cinitemen with re-
gard to the price was wholly Indifferent to the Post-
Aloe. (Hear, bear.) All that the Post-pHs* had
looked to was the bulk and the weight of the
article conveyed. To them it was utterly indifferent
what the pries might be, or whether it bore any price at all.
There were certain newspapers which were distributed
gratuitously in order to give currency to the advertise-
ments • and in rich cues the trouble and expense of the
Poet•cfiles wore identical with those of the h4hest-priced
newspapers. (Hear, hear.) Therefore the argument de-
rived from the gratuitous distribution of that portion of a
riewspeper which contained the advertisements was not NM-
tient. For the reasons he did not feel justified in "seeding
to the clause proposed by his ken. friend. He might be
permitted to add that newspapers et present enjoyed a meet
remarkable privilege with regard to posVollicie transmis-
sion ; that they were charged at rates which, compared
with the ehergas for other printed matter, were highly
favourable ; that if any attempt won made to render
the system more edam the neer would womanly re-
dound, not to the ifdamtege, but to the dbednatege of
newspaper He admitted, howner, that thea==
tom was fell of saomellia mad that if lay
made to rains the spas at a=teatieat ydeelift
it aast anieserily =Wye
awe Winona new =doe the matidontioa M iho hew
was galled toe single point. Hs weld areaustesty urge
the beam le allow this wesure le sad WI wait to
See the oast el sheep
mtwhin le he ef peat
2.lmad Impletra Win th_egimlliebell ethet
dregaeldeligall eiale MIN On** al*

, approach the work of amendment with the advantage of
experience.
Mr. DRUMMOND ",id the right hon. gentleman pro-
posed to try an experiment ; bat it was an experi-
, went at the impinge of one single establishment.
(Hear, hear) He (Mr. Drummond) objected the other
day to the whole madam of the press, because he said its
system was that of stabbing in the dark. He equally oh-
jetted now to the house stabbing that establishment in the
dark. There Gould be no doubt after that debate that this
was an attack epos • single establishment. It wee nothing
toasty that only one establishment was effeeted by it. Ho
would take the case of a mina or of • 'manufactory of cotton.
It they passed a law that would be burdensome to a mans-
futtory which threw off a greater quantity of cotton
than the rest, it would be • direct taring of that
single establishment. Now, that was • very dangerous
principle to go upon. They were beginning to indulge
private pique, under the pretence of public virtue.
(Laughter.) They hated the DlNUS—(laughter)—they
were afraid of it. Go where they would every man was
res,ing and abusing the nom, and iasteed of standing up
bddly simian it, they were giving it this dirty stab in the
dark. They said it was of great Importance that the able
writing of that journal should be preserved; but how was
it to be preserved 1 Why, simply by the naves continuing
a profitable concern. If the profits were lowered
the same men could not be employed to write,
and the Times must dwindle down int.. the same twaddle
as the Monism; Herald. (Laughter.) He said this was not
justice. He would endeavour to do justice even to an
enemy, and he would vote ageism tide private attack in the
' form of a puldie measure.
Mr. M. MILNES replied. He should take the sense of
the house upon his clause; and he en d the public of
Manchester to remember that the member (Mr. M. 0.boon)
who had set himself en both in that house and in the coin-
try as the advocate of the free transmiuion of newspapers,
bad been the most violent speaker in opposition to his pro-
posal, as on a former might Ge opposed a proposition for the
transmis.ion of newspapers at a halfpenny.
The committee then divided--
Ayes B6
Naos
260-174
The clause was therefor' segatived.
Mr. WHITESIDE asked whether the right hon. gentle-
man intend- d that unstamped newspapers should be liable
to the provision, of the existing act with reference to regis-
tration and security ?
Tile CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said that in
his opinion the act reigned to would apply to bath classes
of newspapers.
Mr. WHITESIDE suggested that ft would be advisable
to set out in the bill any clauses of existing ads which it was
considered desirable to retain.
The preamble was then agreed to, and the house re-
mond.

MILITIA.
Mr. PEEL brought in a bill further to amend the laws
relating to the militia.
CIRQUE PORTS.
Mr. WILSON brought to a bill for the better adm.nlatra-
tion of justice io the Cinque Ports.
The ..ther orders of the day were disposed of, and tha
house adjourned at a quarter to one.