The Express.
London, England, 1851-07-01 00:00:00

said on a former occasion, the country had set its
heart, should be abandoned ; that the window tax
aught not to be repealed, and that a modified I
house tat ought not to be substituted in its place.
The honourable gentleman's argument now is that
the public credit was in danger. I think the hon, gentle-
man ought to have thought of that risk before ha went into 1
the same lobby on a recent occasion with my hon. 1
friend the member for Montrose. (Cheers and laughter.)
!cannot suppose that the hon. gentleman, whine acute in-
tellect is remarkable in this house, did not foresee that the
result of the triumph of my hon. friend would be the serious
endangering of the public credit. The hon. gentleman now
—and I am most obliged to Lim for his anxiety—insists
upon preserving the integrity of the public credit and the
revenue of the exchequer. On the Bth of May the
honourable member for the North Riding of York-
shire (Mr. Cayley) moved the repeal of the malt
tax. The finances of the country were put in jeopardy,
the public credit of the nation was endangered as
greatly on the Bth of May as they are on the 30th of
Juno. Yet I find that when the repeal of the malt tax was
prop- sed an hon. gentleman rose in his place and said that
if the motion were to be considered on merely fiscal and
financial grounds it might be easily disposed of, but that
there were far higher and other considerations in connec-
tion with the question; and in the division in savour
of this motion, asking a surrender of 5,000,0001., I encoun-
tered the name of Benjamin Di-racli. (Cheers and laughter.)
Have we tau Benjamin* in the field? (Great lai*hter.)
Is there one Benjamin vu reckless of public credit that he
votes for the sacrifice at one swop of 5,000,0004 of revenue
in a critical year ?—and another Benjamin who is too Kill.
pulous, in similar circumstances, to throw away 1,500,0001. ?
(Much laughter.) In these •• days of vacillation," to use
the phrase of the hon. gentleman, surely some explanation
is required ; and perhaps he, in those eloquent sentences
which he knows how to form ae well as utter, will clear
away so curious an inconsistency. If the house is in favour of
the repeal of the tax, it is bound to negative the resolution
of the hon. gentleman. (Hear.) I have not changed
the opinions which I expressed in proposing the repeal
of this tax, and the su,istitution of a modified
house tax. I believe now, as I believed then, that it will
afford a great relief to all chases in this country, and to the
agricultural class not less than to others. lam as anxious
as the hon. gentleman can be to support the public credit
and to maintain a surplus. I think surplus enough is lett
after such repeal of taxes as I have proposed. And be-
lieving as I do that the substitution of a house t
would be adequately productive for the demands of
the Exchequer, and, on the other hand, would immeasurably
contribute to the health and comfort of our fellow-subjects,
I should be excessively grieved if the decision of the house
to-night reverses that which it recorded on a former late
occasion—thus rejecting what I regard as the greatest boon
of the financial year to the country. (Cheers.) The ques-
tion now put by the hon. member is plainly aye or no—
shall the house tax he repealed; and I hope and trust that
the house will by a large majority reply in the affirmative.
(Cheers.)
Mr. NE WDEGATE, in supporting the resolution, wished
not thereby to pledge himself to oppose any measures of
reduction that might be substituted fur the government
measure.

Air. OLADSTONE could have wished to hear from Mr.
Disraeli, • more definite explanation of the course he wished
to be adopted, but nevertheless intended to vote for his
motion. The new conditions under which the income-tax
was held rendered the resolution eminently appropriate.
Ile had always disapproved of the proposed house-tax,
because it premed unfairly upon large mansions, and ex-
empted from taxation six-sevenths of the house property in
the country. He asked the house to consider the position in
which the income tax At present stood. It was impossible
to conceal front themselves that the proceedings of the
present time had inflicted a great blow upon that tax, and
that when the renewal of it came to be proposed again inthe
house it would nut he without serious, and probably obsti-
nate, opposition from more than one party. Let the
house consider what would be the line likely to be
taken by the principal parties in that house with
respect to a renewal of the income tax. There were
large numbers of gentlemen who said that it was
gromly unjust to levy an income tax at a uniform per
tentage upon the several schedules of the act, and they had
so far succeeded in impressing their views upon the house
that they had obtained the appointment of a committee fur
the avowed purpose of considering whether the imposts
under the different schedules ought not to be varied. Such
was the Cl/11NC of one powerful party in the house. The
members of her Majesty's government were not to be
looked upon as the friends, on general and permanent
grounds, of the introduction of an income tax. He
might indeed question the applicability of that remark
in the case of the Chancellor of the Exchequer,
for the right hon. gentleman had, not frequently, indeed,
but in IMIM, given something that looked very like an ad-
besiou to the principle of the income tax as • permanent
par. of the taxation of the country. But even if that were
not so—however it might be—it was certain that when the
income tax was proposed it was received by the members of
the present government with the most determined opposi-
tion. (Ileac.) And the noble lord at the head of the go-
vernment had within the last few weeks spoken in terms
which showed that no appointment of an unvarying and
permanent income tax was to he expected from that section
of the house. (Hear.) There was another party which he
gathered to be of opinion that schedule 1) of the income tax
act constituted an inseparable objection to the renewal of
that tax. (Ileac.) Ile would say again that there was a
party on the opposite (the ministerial) side who demanded
that the schedules should be varied; but there were
many on that (the opposition) side, of whom he was
one, who would not consent to the per tentage
being varied, fur they believed, whether rightly
or wrongly, that apart from all considerations of
policy, the house was precluded by former pledges from
anything like such a variation. (Hear.) Now that the
income tax bad been given up to the mercies of • commit-
tee. iu what condition would it be when it came out tram
that committee? What was to be the conclusion ? Was it
to be fora varied per centage ? If so, then it would not
receive the sanction of that house. Or if it came out of the
committee without such a recomtuendatiun it would be met

with the hostility of a powerful party, and it might suit
the Mews of other political parties to join that party.
He did not undertake to calculate all the contingencies
that might occur; but this much he would say, that ao
impost which produced five millions of revenue was at pre-
sent placed in a must precarious position. (Hear, bear.)
And if the income tax was in a precarious position, he would
ask the house whether it was warrantable, whether it was
politic, he might almost say whether it was honest,
altogether to exclude from view all preparations fur
a contingency so grave and so probable ns
the lapse of that impost ? If that were so, what
provision was the house to snake fur the public
credit? They might talk, and justly, of public economy,
and he thought that the house had not exceeded their
duties in enforcing economy and retrenchment. (Hear,
hear.) lie hoped that more might be done in that direc-
tion, and results would be found in arrangements already
completed, from which a saving might be effected in the
public expenditure. He was one who thought that they
could not dispense with the income-tax, and at the same
time withhold their hand from imposing any new descrip-
tion of taxation. And what was that to be? Ile
should say, give a resource in a fair house tax,
nut one to reach entirely the amount of the pre-
sent income-tax, but to fill up a tolerable por-
tion of the revenue, and he should not be afraid to meet
the contingency. But the moment the government assented
to a vote of the house which placed the income tax in a
precarious position, they asked them ti adopt a new
scheme for the imposition of a house tax, upon a basis
so narrow that it never could be eligible for the main-
tenance of the public revenue. Disclaiming the duty, on
the part of those not connected with government, of sug-
gesting details, he thought that members ought to proceed
on the principles laid down by Mr. Disraeli, and to lay on •
house-tax constructed on a broad basis. He was not pre-
pared to state that basis, whether it should fall on owner or
copier, fellow the franchise or otherwise ; but upon the
general principle he had no doubt. The present measure
cut away from the reach of the house a large share of re-
venue at • moment when it could be ill spared. Bast he
could not my that government would be justified in with-
draw~ing the repeals proposed by the Customs Act.
Mr. i.ABOLCHERE had never regretted any vote of
the house so much as the vote on Mr. Ilume's motion,
though he did not think it was designed as a blow at pull-
lie credit. He was convinced that this house would never
shrink from its duty as regarded the finances of the country,
let the decision on the income-tax be what it might. It
was, therefore, only a question whether they should dis-
appoint the nation, and disarrange the financial arrange-
ment for the par. Ile abstained from further reply to Mr.
Gladstone, beyond reminding him that general direct
taxation might often be oppressive and inexpedient. In
reply to Mr. Disraeli, he said that ships built in bond would
seldom be found very profitable, and dwelt upon the large
orders which had recently been executed by British ship-
builders for foreign employers, as a proof of the prosperity
of that interest. (Hear, and cries of " Divide.")
Mr. HUME could not see why his motion had occasioned
so much uneasiness. Ile believed that the time had come
when the income tax must become permanent, but it must
be made so in accordance with justice. The people out of
doors were awakened to a sense of the partiality with which
taxes had been laid on as regarded the rich and the poor.
The house then divided—
For the motion
Against it 212-113
The bill then passed through committee.
Sir B. HALL gave notice of a clause to extend the bill to
Ireland, and
Mr. HOME of a clause to include all houses above the
annual value of 40s.
GENERAL BOARD OF HEALTH BILL.
On the order of the day for the third reading of this bill,
Viscount EBRINGTON moved the omission of certain
words from the first clause of this bill. He objected to the
introduction of those words, not only on the general princi-
ple, but from the practical experience of those towns which
were now suffering from their introduction. (Cries of
" divide.")
Mr. FREWEN seconded the motion, which, after a brief
conversation, was withdrawn.
Mr. FULLER moved the insertion of " Hastings" in the
schedule.
Sir W. UMBER seconded the motion.
Atom ease dimession,
The Mame &died :
teethe amendment 95
77-18
The= tans read • third time.
The Lem gaieties Dill was read a second time.
the berme >ru went into committee on the County
Oweete famire compensations, and the resolu-
lismigrisi fa`
Tha gessma's Fund Bill was read • second
ME&