The Express.
London, England, 1851-01-16 00:00:00

PUBLIC MEETING DT YORK.

Oa Tuesday a large meeting of the citizens of York
was held at the Ouildbs,l, far the purpose of cotenieriag the
propriety of petitioning parliament for a repeal of the
window duty.
The LORD MAYOR, who presided, having upraised
the pleasure he telt in meeting his tellow.eit,sens on this
occasion, said he apprehended ...ne could only be one
feeling throughout the oouatry In reference to this tax. Very
recently parliament had pissed an act for promoting the
!seeks of towns. Uaquestionable, good drainage was
important in preventing the spread of pestilential effluvia;
but did it tollow that whint from beneath we wen
endeavouring to improve our physical condition, we should
neglect the means of enjoying from above the light of
heaven, and the admission of atmo.pheric air into our
dwellings? We lead now commenced measures for the
prevenuon of disease. Let us, then, carry them out for the
6aettt of the population.
Mr. Aid. LEE3dAN submitted the first resolution. He
said it appeared to him they approached the diecussioa of
this question under exceedingly favourable circunartences,
inasmuch as they well knew that the Chancellor of the
Exchequer was likely to have a considerable surplus when
he came before parliament in the ensuing session. The
Chancellor of the Exchequer could not but be now aware
of the depth of helms which exists in this country against
this particular tar, atter the division which took place in
the House of Commons which shoved this tax not only with
the reprobation of the people, but of the representatives of
the country. When L .rd Duncan brought forward his
motion, Isetsession, for the entire repeal of the window duty,
our nuance minister had prepared ins estimates, and made
the whole of his arrangements for the year; yet such was
the feeling of the house upon the questieo, that when
Sir Charles Wood walked into the lobby of the house he
hid some difficulty in determining whether the ministry
would not be in a minority, and, in fact, government, by a
severe whipping-in, were only saved by a majority of three.
It might, Mercers, be fairly assumed from the: Mecum-
,tance that the government itselt would be now ready to
look to and deal with the tax in qu ones. (Applause.)
It was a tax which does not belong to these times,
and it had now arrived at an age at which, in his
judgment, it ought to he quietly consigned to " the
tomb of all the Copulate." '1 la e tax was commenced in
1696, in the reign ot William 111., and was as °owns to
the people upon whore it was then impo,ed as it is now.
This tux raises about 1,800.0001. a year, and it would he
mil how did he propose that the Chancellor of the
Exalt goer should meet the deticiency which the remission
of that sum must create ? His answer was, if the Caen-
celior of the Exchequer has properly wa'ched the spirit
of these times, he mast have discovered that the people were
determined on a tar greater measure of retrenchment in the
public service than had yet taken piece. (Loud Applause.)
Th. country was not called upon to show the Chancellor of '
the Exchequer that he had a surplus equal to the sum sought
to be remitted. All that the couetry w celled upon to do
was to urge upm the Cuancellur of the Exchequer such
economy said retrenchment in the various departments of
the state as would enable him wholly to repeal this odious
tax. (Applause.) He knew it was said there were other
area which the Chancellor of the Exchequer would ha called
upon to repeal. One man said there woe the tax on paper
which ought to he repealed, another said the malt too ought
to he repealed, whilst a third argued the mop duties should
be remitted. But, met as they were to-ley, as men of
Watteau, he would urge this meeting to concentrate its
ecergies, and go to the minister with one settled, fixed pur-
pose, pointing out the effects of this tax upon every one,
acd say to him, however he might be pressed by other in-
terests, " Upon that tax we have placed our finger, and we
call upon you to repeal it, as the most odious of the whole."
(Applause.) With respect to the operation of this tax gene
rally, he held in his hand a document showing the amount
paid in twelve of the largest town. in England, end which
was as Meows : Liverpool, 23.11661.; Beth, 21,6061 ; Man-
chester, 20,5751.; 8ritent0n,17,5724.; Birmingham, 14,9861. ;
Bristol, 13,2201 ; Clifton (near Bristol), 6061. ; New-
castle. oth Tyne, 7,8221. ;1, reds, 7,696 f ; Coeltenham, 6,7671. ;
Plymouth, 11,9241. ; and Norwich, 6,4651. ; wishing a total
of 166,4701 for taxesion for light and sir. But, coming
nearer home, what was tne effect of this tax on our own city :
He bad been at some pains is ascertaioing the amount which
is paid here in window duty, end bound it was OAR a year.
They would be able to judge of the t tfect of this tax when
he informed them that in the house in which he lived he
paid ten per cent. on his rental for window-duty. One of
the great evils connected with it was the inequality with
which it was levied. He could point out to them instancee
of large shops in that parish and various others, in which
the greatest inequalities prevail. One of the great objections
raised to this tax, and very properly so, is that whereas it
establishes a principle which is en odium', so unequal, in a '
financial sense, that persons sat themselves to work in every
possible way to evade the imposition of the duty, yet it also
..perates most prejudicially in a sanitary sense. (Applause.)
This was perhaps as apparent in this city as in any part of
England, and Le was not aware that it was so
apparent in any other place as in two of the dis-
tricts of Yosk, which he would mention. They were aware
of how much importance light and air were tor sanitary pur-
poses in their dwelling., and that in one district (Layer-
thorpe) during the lest twenty-five or thirty years there had
been a large extent of building. He wooled endeavour to
show them the effect of this tax in that district. They were
aware that until they reached eight windows no payment
is required, and therefore the anxiety of a person in new
buildings was to keep himself below the operation of this
tax. They know the amount of disease which existed in
Layerthorpe during the late epidemic, and that the medical
men said tile want of drainage and ventilation was that
which produced that disease. Let them see whether
that was not likely to take place. In the whale of
the three united parishes of St. Cuthbert, &a., there
were 730 houses. How many, did they think, was the
number of these houses that were rated to the window
duty ? Out of the whole 740 there were only thirty huusee
is the district which pay window duty, houses having in
them less than eight windows; and se with other districts.
He begged to move the following restitution: "That
under the present law!, for the assessing, levying, and
collecting the taxes on air and light in England and Scot-
land, the sum of about 4,4001. per annum is annually. paid
by the householders of the cty of York ; th .t in the Judg-
ment of this meeting such laws are alike unjust,
and bear moat heavily and unequally in their pecuniary
operations upon tradesmen and others in the industrial ranks
of life, interpesine obstacles to the prosecution of those ac-
tire measures which are so desirable for the requirements of
the dwellings and the promotion of the health of the humbler
classes, both in this city and throughout Great Britain, and
opposed to the general feeling and spirit of the present
times ; that for these reasons, this meeting is of opinion that
the period has arrived when it becomes the duty of parlis.
mutt to undertake the entire and uncnnditicieal repeal of the
window duties, and to provide, by measures of retrenchment
in the pu'die service for any deficiency in the revenue occa-
sioned by the abolition of this most obnoxious tax."
Mr. W. D HUSBAND seconded the resolution.
Mr. J. 0. SMYTH, M.P., rose amidst loud applause, to
support the resoluiion. lie said he gladly seized the
opportunity which had been afforded to him of supporting
the resolution, and at the I into time of expressing to the
meeting his eympathy its all that concerned the interests of
the citizens of York, and all their local aff ties. He
did not hesitate to say that he hoped to he able to follow
the same, or nearly the same course, as he had done last
year, in favour of a repeal of the window tax. (Applause.)
Ile had always fait that the window duty was one of the
most unjust and unwise taxes to which the people of this
country were called upon to contribute ; partly because it
was levied irrespective of the value or rental of the pro-
perty severed, and fell heavily upon the tradesmen or
shopkeepers, according to their respective occupations—
partly because the small householder is obliged to deprive
himself of the blessings of light and air in order to avoid
being taxed, and partly because it tends to di-figure our
budding*, and, as the Lord Mayor had very justly obsereed,
is inconsistent with every attempt at sanitary improve-
ment. As closely connected with this subject, he felt he
need hardly remind his hearers that the present income
and property tax terminated this year, and he suggested
that it would be wise to consider whether those imparts
should be continued or otherwise. Indeed, the conside-
ration of this subject of the window tax would require
a revision of the whole system of our taxation, and he
quite agreed with Mr. Alderman Leeman in hoping that
measures would be taken to rectify the inequalities which
at present exist, sad to render assistance and relief to
those impor ant interests which were now suffering.
The LORD MAYOR then put the resolution, and it was
carried unadimously.
Mr. Ald. EVERS moved " That a petition be presented
to parliament, founded on the foregoing resolution, and
that the petition to signed by the Lord Mayor on behalf of
the mistime."
Dr. LAYCOCK seconded the motion.
W. M. B. MILNER, Rol., M.P., said it was with greet
pleasure that on the present occasion he was able to avail
himself of this opportunity to present himself before so
jsatiny of his constituent', to aid in supporting this resolutioa,
and to discum with them the propriety of petitioning parlia-
ment to remit a tax the most doieetionable, the most offen-
sive, and the most intolerable of any which are assessed on
the people of this country. (Applause.) It was also grafi.
this question last year. They would recollect when this ques-
Imof 7 i agt to
appear him
to to
bbee
jaubkl explain
nessowithhatielgartht wirthrh:orgaradthtoe
dna was brought before the Rouse of Commons by Lord Dun-
ean , the session had considerably advanced, the statements of
Dun-
the Chancellor of the Exchequer had been made, all the
arrangements of the financial year had been completed. and
the surplus that then existed had been promised. Under
these cireumstarces, he did not feel that it would be right
or just last year to give his vote in favour of a measure which
might have done considerable Injury, or at least might have
caused considerable confusion to the financiel accounts of the
nation. But new the case was far different: no surplus had
been promised. They were met in January, before partite.
went has met, and before the Chancellor of the Exchequer
has come down with his financial statement, to petition
parliament to repeal at once and entirely a tax which is
odious in every point of view, and most mischievous to the
sanitary condition of the people, and to take ee
which a wise government and a benevolent people are
anxious to promote in every possible way. (Loud applause.)
After the many able addressee they had heard, he did not
thiek it was necessary for him to trespan at any lengt
on their time. especially when he considered thsth
in
meetings of this kind, where the representatives of a
city or borough are present, it was their duty to listen
to the opinions expressed by their constituents, rather
than to elver at any length into the subject of the meeting
ot wh'ch they were present could not, however, sit
dawn wi.hoot stating that he agreed with hie lri,nd, Mr.
Leeman as to the necessity which exists of te2' their ener-
gies being exerted in obtaining the remission e, this tax.