The Express.
London, England, 1853-01-18 00:00:00

THE VERDICT.

OIPORD, MONDAY, MINI P.M.
" The deceased persons came to their deaths from a colli-
sion that occurred between a passenger train and a coal
train on the Bucks branch of the London and North
Western Railway. The collision took place in consequence
of the passenger train being started witLoat orders from
the station muter, and they find a verdict of manslaughter
against Kinch, the guard of the said passenger train, on
whom the responsibility of starting the train devolved ; and
they think the engine driver worthy of blame far proceed-
ing at a much faster rate than is usual at first leaving the
station. It appears from the evidence that in consequence
of repairs going on at the Wolvercot tunnel the whole of
the traffic between Oxford and Islip is now carried on upon
a single line, and the jury beg to express their opinion
that in all such cases a pilot engine should be em-
ployed in order to lessen the probability of collision.
They consider also that a policeman or signal man should
be stationed between the swing bridge and Wolvercot tun-
nel, as that part of the line appears to be at present quite
unprotected, and as it includes a level crossing. It appears
also that part of the line on which the accident occurre.: is
in such close proximity to the Oxford and Rugby line, that
it is very difficult to uistinguish on which an approaching
train is travelling until it is close at hand, and they think
that some distinctive mark should be adopted by their
respective* companies, us that their engines should be im-
mediately recognised both by day and night ; and the jury
beg especially to call the attention of the railway directors
and the legislature to the paramount importance of some
means of communication being established between the
guard and the engine driver."
The Coroner immediately ordered Kinch to be taken
into custody.

GREAT DELIVERY OF AUSTRALIAN GOLD AT THE
Berm or ENGLAND.—The Australian, screw steam-ship,
arrived with her valuable freight at Blackwell, between
two and three o'clock on Saturday afternoon, and wax
im-
mediately boarded by Mr. Superintendent Evans, of the
Thames police, acting under the direction of the Commis-
sioners of Police, and a party of river constables, for the
protection of the bullion on board. The Australian entered
the East India Dock the same evening, and was hauled to
the west quay in the import dock, for the purpose of dis-
charging the bullion. A party of the Thames police
remained on board till yesterday morning, and no person
but the officers of the ship and the directors of the com-
pany to which she belongs were allowed to remain in the
vessel. Many attempts to board the ship by gentlemen of
undoubted respectability in the mercantile world, who were
impelled by motives of curiosity, were repulsed by Mr. Evans
and his men, who never relaxed their vigilance until all
the gold, consisting of about 400 packages, weighing nearly 10
tons, was delivered over the quay, and deposited in 2 covered
tea waggons of the But and West India Dock Company.
These waggons were barred and locked, and at one o'clock
they left the dock for the Bank of England, under an escort
of mounted polio., commanded by flaperlatemdent Steed, of
the H, and Supeehttesitest Holm, of the t divisions.
Each waggon was draws by tine bswere, sad they pro
carded wiaiout isterrupdem um* they taxied Liamhosse
Church, where the it wheel demi *Hie waggons mass off,
which ceased a detention of three quart= of an hour. An
immense crowd soon collected em biesk_rg that the gold
waggles were ea the way to the Beak. The wheel having
bees mimedb amis.& flaral Mt the waggon, the procession
=kid lewd sheering from the mem.
triamlititiudirand no further accident took place. The
:2°l`containing the most valuable freight that ever en.
.. . Bank of England at one time, arrived there about
them o'clock, and the gold was safely deposited in the
coffin of the establishment.

ELEMENTARY DBAwn% YOH FEMALE CLASSES.—
The following new rules have recently been sanctioned by
the Board of Trade for the management of the Metro-
politan Female School, at 37, Gower-street: Students be- ,
fore entering the elementary school mast be able to draw ,
the copies of the letters A. O. and S., which may be ob-
tained at the school, and they must also have a knowledge
of the names of certain geometrical forms, which are con-
tained in a text book of definitions of practical geometry,
to be obtained at the female school, and no student will be
admitted without examination upon such book. Every
student desirous of entering the upper school must make
drawings from the most advanced examples in the ele-
mentary school, and have a knowledge of the elementary
laws of colour. A text book of the laws of colour may be
obtained at the school, on which every applicant for ad-
mission to the upper school will be examined. The new
fees ate as follows: General Course, entrance fee, 2s. Ele-
mentary Classes, Si. • month, 71. for three months, and
10s. for six months. Advanced Classes, 4s. a month, 9s.
for three months, and 12s. for six months. Course for the
Figure and Artistic Anatomy, 4 guineas a year, or 30s. a
quarter. The classes meet in the day time as usual, but an
evening class for those who cannot attend in the day is to
be forthwith established.
ROYAL NAVAL BENEVOLENT INSTITUTION.—Yes-
terday the quarterly general court of the members of this
society was held at the Thatched House Tavern—Sir
Watkyn Owen Pill in the chair. The minutes of the last
court having been confirmed, the secretary brought for-
ward the financial statements for the quarter and for the
year ending December 31st, 18.52. From these it appeared
that the income for the year, including a balance of
9221. Is. Id. from the previous year, and subscriptions to
Hie amount of 9261. 17s. GI was 3,7911. 13s. Id., and that
the expenditure was 3,6221. 10s. Sid., of which ,8941. was
disbursed in grants. The balance in favour of the institu-
tion is 1691. 2s. 7d. The amount of stock possessed by the
institution is 36,1951. 12d. 2d., of which 1,2281. 10s. was
invested last year. These statements were confirmed, Lord
Waldegrave was elected vice-prcaid'nt, in the room of Sir
Thomas Briggs, deceased ; and the memorials from the fa-
milies of deceased members were taken into consideration,
after which the proceedings terminatek,,with a Tote of
thanks W the claims.

THE INCOME TAM
The Statistical Society, in their conrerucione last
night, conferred a benefit on the public by travelling some-
whet out of the prescribed limits of their scientific charter,'
and taking into consideration a subject essentially of fiscally
political character at this moment—the Income Tax. Dr.
William Farr (of the Registrar-Oeneral's office) read the
following paper on this topic ; and we give his May in
full from a regard both to the high authority of the lec-
turer on this elan of subjects, and to the nature
of the arguments of which he made use. Among
the company present were Lord Overstep, (president
of the society), in the chair ; Lord Stanley of Alderley,
(Vice-Presidont of the Board of Trade), the Right Hon.
Holt Mackenzie, the Right Hon. \V. L. Melville, the
Chevaiier Hebeler (Consul-General for Prussia), C. Bab-
bage, Esq., F R.S., C. Jellicoe, Eqq., F. Goldsmith, Esq.,
W. Spence, Esq., F.R.S., F. 8. I'. Nelson, Esq., and Dr.
Gay.
Dr. FARB commenced by detailed explanation of some
interesting statistical tables, " black-boarded" in the usual
way showing the range of incomes in the United Kingdom;
and 'he went oa to say that he would only address himself
to the main principles on which an equitable income tax
might be based, illustrating his views by facts collected
from various sources. He then proceeded :
A certain number of things in the trailed Kingdom
possess value ; and, because they severally belong to the in-
habitants, are called property. This property is constantly
changing, acquiring, and losiug value. When a part of it
assumes a new form, with some increase, the resulting value
is called produce, of which agriculture offers us the mat
familiar examples in its fruits, grain, and stock. Here is a
multiplication in the number of things of which the pro-
perty consi.ta. Thousands of grains of wheat, of blades of
of the young of sheep, oxen, and horses are created,
in which value is, as it were, incarnated and visible.
Produce appears also in another form ; the increase

may be in the quantity or characteristic quality
of the matter of which each thing of value is
constituted; as when lames, calves, colts, grow silently,
gradually, into sheep, oxen, horses. Take their value at the
beginning and at the end of the year ; you Sod that their
number has decreased by death, for instance, but that their
value baa increased, and will go on increasing for months, or
fur years. The increase in the value is indicated, but not
measured, by the increase in the number or bulk of the
produce, for crops of twice the average quantity will not sell
for twice the average sum. The value is measured by money,
' by coins of gold, silver, or by any other thing of which the
value is, or is assumed to be, invariable fur the time ; the
. .

differenCe in the amount of money for which eithei the
things proceeding from the property, or of which the pro-
perty is composed, will sell, is the produce. Thus, if a stock
of horses is worth 5,0001. on the first day of the year, and
6,0001. en the last day of the year, while 2,0001. have been
realised by sales during the year, the produce of the stock
is 1,0001=4,00W. 11 3,000. 'fhe forms of produce are vari-
ous. The horse-dealer has, for instance, a young horse
worth 201. ; the services of the horse in the year yield 101.
and at the end of the year be will sell for 3.11. The annual
produce of the horse is 10=15 sl 251. In a certain time
the animal attains his maximum value ; and the pay for his
services comtitutea the whole of his ;produce. Such is the
nature of the produce of property in living animals, which
may be taken as the type of all property. Produce is then
expressed by the amount of money which the property
yields during the year, by increase of value or by the price
of its services. The income of a lawyer, a doctor, a clergy-
man, a merchant, or a tradesman, is in this sense as much
produce as the proceeds of a farm; it is the money value of
his services, and of the services of all the instruments and
agents in his possession. But anything which yields pro
duce that will sell for money is property, although it may
be itself inalienable • consequently all the free labourers,
artisans, professional' men, of the United Kingdom, having
within hem this power of production, are as essentially pro-
perty as the things usually designated by that name, and
characterised as personal or r. al, moveably or immoveable.
Exclusive of all his external property, every man is worth
inherent
something. I propose to call the property in a
man his Inherent property ; and all other property of
whfeh he has possession, external property. All pro-
duce evidently includes pre-existing value. Thus the
proceeds of a farm include the value of the materials,
wear of stock, labour, and skill which have been ex-
pended in its production; so, also, the proceeds of a mania-
lactory, a shop, a mercantile concern of any kind, a class
of prole-sional men. The difference between the value of
the produce and its cost is profit, which is consequently
increase of value. When, however, the cost exceeds the
value of the produce, the result is designated loss ; and
although this negative quantity is the result of innumerable
transactions, the aggregate result of the enterprises which'
are carried on is fa ofit ; as the value of all the property. in
the hands of man invariably increases, and after replacing
the value of inevitable labour, leaves a surplus at his dis
posal for his enjoyment, gratification, and delight. The
interest of money in pert et security is the exact espreo-
sion of this profit, at any given time, in any given country ;
and the rate of net profit now in England is, I con-
ceive, expressed by 3 per cent. per annum. The rate
of profit, in the popular sense, Is much higher; bat
in this sense the word can scarcely be used with
advantage in science. A merchant having capital engaged in
commerce, has a surplus on the produce of the year; and
sometimes mistakes for the profit of hiscapital this produce
minus the current expenses of the year; whereas the profit
of the capital is only obtained by a further deduction of a
premium fur insurance on the property, and of the wages of
his industry; the wages, as 1 shall immediately show, con-
sisting she of produce—that ice, partly of the increase of the
property which is invested in the nurture, educes ion,
and professional training of a class to which he belongs,
and partly of a portion of that property. Profit in this
vague sense may be at the rate of 6, 10, 20, 100, or 1,000
per cent. on the stock—that is the external property—which
is engaged in the business, trat:e, or profeision. The interest
of capital, which is property is • particular form, can inva-
riably be resolved into two, if not three variable elements—
the profit, the premium of insurance against loss, and the
reward of skill, in some cases, of making investments. The
latter may for the moment be left out of consideration.
Then, if 3 per cent. is profit, 2 per cent. covers common
risks of loss ; hence 5 per cent. is • common rate of interest
on engaged capital. No foreign government can now bor-
row any large sum of money at a rate of interest lower than
5 per cent. ; the 2 per o-nt. being, I conceive, the premium
of insurance against :loss of profit and capiial. Property
exists in an infinite variety of forms; thus, there is pro-
perty in land, in houses, in railways, in canals, in mines, in
' metals In manufactories, in fisheries, in stock in trade,
in farm stock, in the bodies of the industrial classes.
The specific produce of each kind of property varies infi-
nitely in its amount ; and the proportions in which profit
and pro-existing capital enter into the various kinds of pro-
duce also vary infinitely. These quantities and proportions
fluctuate from year to year in different dames of property ;
but, on the avers" the rate of profit on every hind of pro-
perty is equal. For if property of any kindiyields a profit
above the average, it Is by • transfer of eapital produced is
larger quantities, until the prig is reduced so as to leave the-
average profit ; and conversely. It is true that the quoted
rates of profit on every kind of investment, as well an
the rates of wages in different trades, and the prime
of commodities from year to year, vary. But these
rates must not be confounded with the actual pro-
fits realised: Thus the Portuguese four per cents.
ars quoted at 40}, the Spanish three per cents. at
49, English three per cents. (Consols) at 1001 in the Times
of to-day (January 12) • and the rate of interest on invest-
ments in these three stocks will, therefore, be 10, 8, and 3
per cent. reepeetively ; besides the value of the chance of
being paid off when Spanish and Portuguese stocks are at par.
What the actual result of a single investment in each of
them stocks may be it is impossible to say ; but it is pro-
bable, if the profits of all the investments which have
hitherto been realised in the three kinds of stocks are ever
investigated, it will be found that the balance of profit is
not on the side of the stock oa which either 10 or 8 per
cent. interest is promised. No constant relation
exists between the value of property and produce ;
Of between stock and the nominal rates of inte-
rest ; but there is, in every kind of property, on
• series of years, a shady relation between property and
profit. A large quantity of the property of the country—
such as furniture, jewels, the precious metals, cash, pic-
tures, parks—is often called nnproductive • but, I appre-
hend, erroneously. All these things have been purchased
with money, and mayconverted
again be into money, the
representative of capital, which can always be invested pro-
ductively ; and if, instead of investing 10,0001. in land,
which would produce 3004. a year, I invest it in furniture,
pictures, or jewels, it is evident that I select this investment
bemuse property in such a form yields me services which I
esteem at • higher value than 3001. a year. These services
are products; and the property is, therefore, productive.
When an object ceases to be serviceable, end ceases to
be exchangeable for value, it ceases to be property, and
at the same time ceases to be productive. The income
of the year taken generally is the sum of the year's pro-
duce; which, it will be recollected, consists partly of profit
and partly of pre-misting property ; and while the in-
comes of some of the twenty-eight millions of people in
the United Kingdom are almost entirely profit, the in-
comes of others are entirely pre-existent property. This
income is expended by each member of the state—(l)
individually or in families ; (2) in voluntary associations
for specific purßoses, such as clubs, societies, colleges, com-
mercial companies; (3) in townships, parishes, boroughs,
counties, or local purposes, or on what is sometimes called
local government; and (4) in our collective capacity as
members of that great company—to use Aristotle's designa-
tioa—the state. The ordinary revenues and extraordinary
resources constituting the public income of the United
Kingdom for the year ending January 6, •1851, was
66,834,7111., of which 56,271,2571. is called in the public
accounts the ordinary revenue, including 378,7831. from the
crown lands and small branches of the hereditary re-
venues; 22,197,0751. from customs dues; 15,400,4201.
from excise duties; 6,529,0501. from stamp duties ,•
2,422,1681. from lost-office; 3,789,9811. from land and
assessed taxes ; 3,410,3501. from income tax; 113,4261. from
surplus fee, from regulated offices, &c. If we deduct the
receipts from crown lands, the public income is in the pro-
portion of about 21. a head on the population. The income
tax, which has been levied annually since 1842, is less than
one-tenth part of the public revenue, and less than 4s.
a head on the population. The revenue of the state is that
portion of the produce which is expended in common, In
the discharge of common duties, en national objects, insti-
tutions, works, achievements. The protection of the pro-
perty and lives of the people is its main, but not its para-
mount object ; for it is not, happily, the destiny either of a
state or of an individual, to expend all its energies on self-
preservation. The state, out of its revenues, has (1) to
fulfil all its engagemeats with the public creditor, and thus
preserve the public faith inviolate—tar protect our honour ;1
(2) to protect life and property ; (3) maintain its own
existence and greatness in the political and social insti-
Utica. of the Nutty i (4) moots ecittostiol 4141411141

art, science, and religion ; (5) work out historiesl achieve-
EMU, in which the whole strength of the nation is exerted,
as it would be, for example, to repel as invasion, conquer,
as England has done, large territories, free slaves, avert,
wrongs, redress violations of the laws of nations, found
great colonies; to secure its immortality, and transmit its'
life as well as its glories to new nations, in this and in ibis
other hemisphere. Such are some of the purposes on which
the annual revenue of the United Kingdom has been and
should be expended; and to all such purposes there can be
no doubt that every person who is in, or has property in
that great company, his country, should contribute ; and
no more obviously juet rule for determining the quota of
his contribution can be laid down than this:—" That each
member of the community should contribute every year to
the public expenditure in a fixed proportion to the
amount of property in kis possession during that year."
For no more exact measure to contribute to the public re-
venue can be found than the value of his property supplies.
As it is the measure of the loss against which he is insured
by the state, it is alas the measure on which his contribu-
tions to the public exchequer should be rated. " The sub-
jects of every state," says Adam Smith, in hie first maxim
on taxes, ought to contribute towards the support of
the government. as nearly as possible, in proportion to their
respective abilities—that is, in proportion to the revenue
which they respectively enjoy under the protection of the
state. The expense of government to the individuals of a
great nation is like the expense of memagemeut to the joint
tenants of a great estate, who are all obliged to contribute
in proportion to their respective interests in the estate."
Thu celebrated maxim of Adam Smith would be strictly
applicable to the taxation of the kingdom, if the ue of
every subject was derived from the same source ; for, as the
dividends of A, B, and C in a public company are in exact
proportion to their stack, their respective contributions to
the common expenses are proportional, as well to their
dividends, as to their stock ; and, if a call is made, each indi-
vidual contributes, without question, the ratio of his shares
—in the ratio, therefore, of his income, which it is here
'mimed is all derived from the same fund. If A, B, and
C had incomes derived from the Three per Cent. Consols of
1,0001., 2,0001., and 3,0001. a year respectively, and each
was taxed 301' 601., and 901. a year, they would be taxed
equitably, as between themselves, in the ratio of their
respective properties, whether their stock would sell for
33,3331.466,6671., 100,0001., or half those sums. Again, if
all the incomes of the subjects in the state were of the na-
ture of long annuities, which are now quoted at et, as each
individual's revenue, consisting pertly of profit, but chiefly
of capital, would be strictly in proportion to the value of
Lis property, a tax may be equitably rated either on the
revenue or on the property. So if the community was re-
presented by tho persons in this society, of these= sge,and
whose incomes were derived from a profession, they may be
taxed either at an equal rate on those incomes, or on the
values of those incomes; and few would have any just
ground of complaint. But the fact is, that the revenues of
different classes of the community are the produce of dare-
! rent kinds of property, and the uniform tax on this produce
is neither proportional to their profit, property, or ability.
Thus, in the present year—
, A has property £33,333 is Consols ; income £l,OOO
B has property 1.:6,500 in Long Annuities; income £l,OOO
C has property £15,000 in houses ; income £l,ooo
D has property £30,000 in land in England ; income £l,OOO
Z has property £lB,OOO is lend in Ireland; income £IAO
F has property £lO,OOO in Lite Annuities,; income . £l,OOO
U the revenue expressed the value of these properties,
it Is evident that you might exchange the Con-
sols for the life annuity ; if you admit that
the one is more than three times as valuable as the other
for sale, you cannot contend for a moment that it is equal
to the other in levying a tax on their owners. It will be
immediately seen, in conformity with the principle pre-
viously laid down, that though the incomes are the same—
the produce is the same—the profit is in proportion to the
value of the respective properties. Thus the year's interest
on 33,3331. in consols is 1,0001.; the interest on the 10,000!.
on the annuity is 3001. ; the additional 7001. composing the
annuity of I,ooel. is pre-existing capital returned. The
original statute 5 & 6 Vie. c. xxxv., which is popularly
called the Income and Property Tax, is not so entitled; it
is " An Act for granting to her Majesty Duties on Profits
arising from Property, Professions, Trades, and Offices."
The profit, it has been shown, is proportional to the pro-
perty; and is connected with it by a constant factor, often
called the " year's purchase." In the execution of the act,
it is assumed throughout that income—produce—is profit ;
that the annuity of 1,0001., which, reckoning interest at
3 per cent., is valued at 6,4731., is profit; that
the life annuity, including the capital invested, is
profit ; that the rent of houses is profit ; that
the income of merchants and tradesmen is profit, that the
gross rent of land is profit, in the true sense—as much as
the interest of money in perfect security, or the net rent of
land. The property of the country is divided for the pur-
poses of the act into five classes, comprehended under
five schedules :—The following is an abstract of the re-
turns foe the year ending the sth day of April, 1551:
A. Rent of hads bonus, mines, tithes, dividends of canals,
railways, gas works, other property.
Incomes on
which the Tax Tax at 7d.
was Paid. in the .Cl.

Incomes
Assessed,.

-------._._.
A. C 105,329,971 £90,570,171 £2,641,630
B Protita of Occupiers of Land—Fanners.
B. £48,023,508. £10,647,291. £310,516.
Note.—The rent is the basis of this assessment. It is as-
sumed in the act that the farmer's profit is in England
equal to half the rent (7-14th rent), in Scotland 5-14th rent)
C. Dividends and Annuities payable out of any Public
I Revenue.
__ _ _ _ .

C. £26,435,182 £25,583,452 £746,184
E. Salaries and Pensions payable by her Majesty out of the
Public Revenue of the United Kingdom.
E. £11,690,853 £11,366,983 £331,537
D. Annual profits or gains to any person in Great Britain
from any property whatever, in or out of Great Britain.—
(2) Profits or gains from any profession, trade, employ-
ment, or vocation, accruing to any person in Great Britain.
(All not included in previous schedules.)
1). £65,717,048. £53,266,800. £1,553,615.
The " total amount of [income called property (?) in
the return] assessed," according to the heading, is
257,396,5601. ; the income on which the tax was paid
amounted to 191,434,6971. The returns require explana-
tion: the tax is not levied on property in the possession of
persona in Great Britain whose income is less than 1501. per
swam ; nor on the property in Ireland of any persons
I who reside out of Great Britain. So that we only know
with any accuracy that the income of Great Britain belong-
ing to persons on incomes exceeding 1501. is at least
191,434,6971. If each item were discussed it might be
shown that the incomes under these several schedules bear
no constant proportion to the property, or to the profit on
that property, in the possession either of the classes, or indi-
viduals of whom the classes are composed. I will only
notice thre• cases. I will take of the clan C all the incomes
derived from the Three per Cent. Perpetual Annuities,
which now return 3 per cent. interest. The man who invests
10,0001. stock of these annuities at par, obtains an income
*INN. a-year ; and at the rate of 7d. in the 11. on his Uwe=
(equal .02916 in the pound on profit), is taxed at 81. 15s.
manually ; that is, at the rate of 17s. 61. per 1,0001. on his
property (000875 in the pound on property). There is
another large class of life annuities—on equally good seen-
, rity. The life annuity which the same sum williourehaao at
the age of childhood or old age is very different; but
'taking the average value of an annuity on the life of every
male of the age of twenty and upwards, I find that it is
worth 14.951 years' purchase; consequently 10,0001. on
each life will purchase annuities of 668.8791. on an average
(equal 6681. 17s. 7d.) ; the tax on which is 191. 10s. W.
annually. Persons having incomes from several properties
returning equal profits (3 per cent. interest), pay in the one
case 7d. in the pound, in the other 151 d. per pound on
their annual profit; or at the rate of 17s. 6d. on one,
and of U. 19s. per 1,0001. per annum, in the other, on the
property. Now the greater part of the incomes under
Schedules B, D, and E,' are incomes derived from stock in
trade, and from the professional exertions of the learned
and educated classes. I presume that no capitalist would
mabark at risk as sleeping partner 10,0001. in any of these
Ibusinesses unless he made 5 per cent. by his money, and is
ordinary years his income from it was 5001. ; because in a
large number of such investments, in average concerns, the
capital is lost, and in others makes no profit. The tax on
10,0001. so invested would be 141. lls. Bd. Stock in trade is
therefore taxed at the rate of at least 11.95. 2d. per 1,0001.
on its value, lljd. in the £en its net profit. It
is evident that the professional incomes of the
clergy, lawyers, medical men, mercantile men of
every kind are worth less than equivalent life annuities
well secured. I moan that income which is the direct pro-
duce of services, and cases when the ability to perform
those services ceases. I have shown that life annuities
well secured, independent of services, are worth on an ave-
rage fifteen years' purchase (14,951), while perpetual an-
nuities at the same rate of interest are worth 331 years' pur-
chase; consequently, the taxation to be at an equal rate on the
property, ought to be in the ratio of 45 and 100 on the pro-
duce—the incomes of the two classes. The table, to which
I now direct your attention, shows that the incomes con-
sisting of wages are of still lower value. A whole genera-
tion of the class agricultural labourers (male), consisting
of 2,096 individuals of all ages, 1,356 adults of 20 and up-
wards, would beworth 303,9001. ; on which their wages
would be 14 per cent. per annum, the cost of their mainte-
nance 9 per cent., leaving a return of 5_ par cent. on the
capital embarked in the living property. You must there-
fore deduct from the value of professional incomes a certain
amount as the value of the cost which must be incurred
in obtaining the produce of the inherent property. Land
produce includes the rent, the interest of the farmer's
capital, the wages of the farmer's skilful industry.
In practice it is unnecessary to enter into nice refinements,
as all deductions from produce are allowed for in the ave-
rage market value ; and as we know that land, houses,
stock of every kind and annuities can be valued, and are
valued every day for the purposes of business and com-
merce, they may also all be valued for the purposes of
taxation in this country, from returns more simple, and
involving no more disclosure than those now in use. The
principles on which simple tables may be calculated for de-
termining and taxing nearly all the property in the coun-
try are discussed, or indicated iu the subsequent mathema-
tical part of this paper. 1 have proved, I trust, that a
tax at a uniform rote per cent. per annum on
all the property inherent and external in the
United Kingdom, may be justly entitled equitable.
I have endeavoured to discuss the income and property tax
as a pure question of statistic science. Although thitee who
take the view I do are accused of appealing only to the
Popular prejudice in the country, a sirong feelie.g no doubt
prevails; but, as far as I have been able to scertain, the
indignation of the inteiligent classes of the community is
not directed against the aliment, or the •,:rinciple, of an
equitable property tax—it is inflamed by the injustice of
its assessments. 1 thick that this feelog deserves to be
respected. It is a remarkable fact, that the wrath of a
people is more easily excited to 'action and resistance in
%%whoa vt iiiwpitAble %audio, thou is those which vict•

late the loftiest sentiments of our Ware. And this con-
duct is generally denounced by historians eIS baseness. net-
tle*, a Unman hiaterinn of high order, recording the revolt
of the Netherlands says : Then Alba exacted bun-
Unanitded
3neofve :bin: Co tag
00;
dtbse:
and
thedth penny of the gross property (yrsammhe rerntogri:)
of every alienation
"144(oireliitiiisethstherue 'flaa;tl)daboittanfheimtsmteoonfetthhabeirnny
what the executioner's axe had not excited, the tax-
gatherer did—a rebellion. To the tenth penny—it is hu-
miliating to say it—to the tenth penny Holland owes her
freedom. The part which a system of taxation unparalleled
in its injustice played in exciting the French revolution
is well known ; and the writings of lisi.guillebert Red
Vauban, as well as the returns of taxes, trove that it was
not the amount, but the injustice of the levy, that
ruined and exasperated the country. In sensitis Men on
the subject of injustice generally—and of injustice evident
In taxation particularly—the people of England are net
behind any other people in the world. In the imperfect
reports of the proceedings of the House of Commons, the
earliest instance of a division being coutempiated, is found
in 1.523, under Henry VIII., and it referred to the grant of
a subsidy There has been the greatest and sorest hold
OR the lower house for the payment of the subsidy that was
ever in any parliament. It has been debated sixteen days
together; the resistance was so great that the house was
like to be dissevered " [divided.] his debate is " instruc-
tive," says a late writer on constitutional history, "as indi-
cating the national characteristic love of money so early
developed. It is curious and humilieting to think that par-
liament, ever ready to ratify religious innovations, which
must have seemed either impious schism or baneful supersti-
tion to every member of the legislature, and who prostituted
the powers of parliament to uttaint the unhappy women
or discarded tools which the tyrant wished to he rid of,
should have bristled up with something of modern consti-
tutional obstinacy at the vote of a subsidy." The im-
portant part which tonnage, poundage, shipmoney—taxa-
tion in fact—had in the Enginh revolution is well known ;
and the dissatisfaction in this period, and in the century pre-
ceding, was, Mr. Itaikes must allow me to say, not created
by the amount of the taxation, nor by the huglisle love of
money, but by the English love of justice. The national
income in the reign of Charles I. was 900,0001.; after the
intestine struggle was over, the people paid double the
amount of the tax which they had pail previously
(1,800,000/.); after the next revolution the people paid
tuxes under King William 111. amounting on au average
to 305,2051. Hampden was oppressed not by the amount
of the 20s. at which his estate was rated, but by the injus-
tice of its exaction; and he shed his blood in resistance.
Every man pats with satisfaction his fair share, legally im-
posed, of a public tax, or a private contribution; and resists
an unfair demand with indignation. This instinctive senti-
ment has an important siguihicatiun. Upon looking closely
into the question of equity in taxation, it will be found to
be the basis of the security of property, on which the
fabric of our society rests. If all propoerty is taxed
at one uniform rate, the exchangeable values of
different kinds of property remain unaltered ; and the
owners remain in the enjoyment of its undisturbed pos-
session, as they know that whether the rate of taxation is
lowered or raised, to supply the exigencies of the country,
it will affect all property in the same degree. The chess
of an equal mil of au arbitrary system of taxation may he
thus illustrated: Let the nation consist of 1,000 land-
owners, each in possession of rents of 10,0001. a year,
worth 300,000,0001. The rents will be 10,000,0001. Let a
tax of 1,000,0001.—0 r of 1-30th en the value be levied first
equitably ; then each landowner would expend 1,0001. a
year, ou certain public objects in which he and ail other
landowners were interested. Now, let the same revenue
be raised by an arbitrary duvet, who raises the same
amount of revenue, 1,000,0001. • year, by seizing every
year the forfeited estates of 100 proprietors. You see at
once what an engine of oppression this system of taxation
becomes ; the same amount of revenues raised, but the
free soul of every subject is tortured, subjugated, or de-
stroyed ; if the value of the rents is in the equitable state,
3), it is, in the arbitrary state, not worth 10, not five years'
purchase. If the tax is levied at different rates, by Citadel
and parties on other classes and parties, or at the same rate
on different property, the same insecurity is created.
If the proprietors of land and property in the best class
of securities pay 71. in tho pound ou their revenue, the in-
dustrial and professional classes pay at least lid. in the
pound under the income tax, on their net profits or their
incomes, after excluding the returning capital. Come-
quently the important class of petaons who derive their
revenue from personal or real property, will pay on a
higher quota, and the class in whose life the property
which returns income is invested, will pay on a lower
quota in any system of equitable taxation than that which
now exists. Still, security is of so much importance to the
former class, that they are more interested than any other
class in the establishment of such a system ; for if the right
to levy the same amount of tax on properties which the
science and the common sense of the country have discovered
to differ in value—is once deliberately saucumed, no visible
property will be safe. If one class in power is favoured
one year, another class will struggle for the same, or greater
favour the next ; and in the struggles and convulsions that
always follow the reign of injustice, none are, judging from
experience, so sure to suffer as those in the poessesion of
realised property. Ajust distribution of the taxation of the
country over all classes, and over all the property of the
country,—bearing, like the pressure of the atmosphere,
equally on all sides, if firmly established, will present an
irresistible barrier against anarchical inroads on the rents
of land, or the interest of money ; and while it leaves the
industry of the couutry free, will, on the firm ground of
the public credit rest as on an everlasting foundation. And
I have plena I think, that the tax called a tax on profits,
is, as it is levied, a tax en income—a tax on produce—and
is therefore unjust and inequitable.
Dr. Farr concluded amid applause.
The reading of the paper led to a discussion, which was
ultimately adjourned.