The Express.
London, England, 1851-02-01 00:00:00

REPEAL OF THE SOAP DUTIES.

Yesterday, a meeting of the sosp manufacturers of
Great Britain was held at the Loudon T for the pal-
-1 pow or adopting a memorial to t►e Lords Cometissionrri of
her Yak my'. Treasury for the repeal of the duty on soap;
Mr. .1•31?! 8011lItt5 in the chair.

The CHAIRMAN, in opening the b.ainem, said he had .
W mnigratulate the trade on the unanimity amongst them
tau the subject of the upset o° the duty. The distentiente
were reduced to a small nennba. There wen some who
would not give any opini in on the question. From Liver-
' pool and Glasgow the associations reported that • great deal
of map was smuggled front Ireland into the west coast of
Holland and Scotland, the facility of communication between
toe two countries rendering the illicit trade every misting*.
IThe great increase of washing powders and liquids, as
aubstitutes for soap, acted very ctifairly on the
wap trade. The excise eould not prevent the sale
lof these mixture,, which paid no duty, although
they took the place of soap. The foreign trade ut
soap had slmost left this country; it was reduoed ou-
tlast in she last ten years. Whet was the rusoa for this ?
Purely because of the expellees on the manufacturer under
the excise regulations above the drawback allowed, which
prevented the competition with foreigners. If the duty were
repealed, then toe export trade of soap would Increase, as
every other manufacture had done. (Hear.) There was no
reason why the foreign trade in soap should not form •
material item in the exports of British manufactures. But
they might turn from their own grievances, and consider
the effect of the duty as • tax upon one of the first fleets
series of life, The tun on corn and provisions had all
been repealed, and, except soap, there was now no tax on a
single one of the strict necessaries of life. Mr. Porter says,
that it appeared doubtful whether it could ever he desirable
to extract a reviinue from soap, the use et which among the
people should be encouraged on moral consideration,.
A tax on clegalinoes is opposed to all principle, of unitary
lasorovement. The 'young upon which this tax was insti
tested has been condemned by every statesman of the day ;
and, although there sets a very lugs party la favour of the
repeal of the •iudoer tax, he had met with the universal
portion that nothing can D 3 worse than • tax on soap.
(Hear, hear.) It pressed most severely on the poor, their
soap being taxed 100 per cent., whikt Boap used by the rich
pato omy 10 per cent. They all knew the vexatious opera-
tion of the excise regulations, which, whilst they prevent
their working in the best and most economical manner, were
no protection against the fraudulent trader. The effect
of the excise laws on the trade was very demo.
ralisiog—the annual returns of conviction, proved
that the illicit trade was too great a temptation to be re
pitted. In the last tan years there had been 124 con-
victions under the excise laws on eoep, and during that
time the average number of maken was only 160. Indeed,
• duty which rules at nearly 100 per cent, brought • clue of
persons into the trade for the sole pupate of profit by fraud ;
tad, when a conviction for smuggling was effected, the pay-
ment of • Hue sufficed and enabled the offender to go on again
directly, with the additional knowledge of how to manage
better next time without detection. He would now ask their
attention to the memorial which would be proposed for
adoption, and for presentation to the Chancellor of the El-
-1 chequer to-morrow (this day).
Mr. SHAW, of Brine', moved the adoption of the memo-
Mal He felt that the soap manufacturers were very much in.
debted to the chairman for the interest and labour he took
in regard to the abolition of the soap duties. The chairman
li had so ably stand the who:e cage of the soap manufacturers
that it was almost unnecessary fur him to add another word
to what he had so clearly stated. He would only observe
that as one of the chief officers of the corporation of Bristol,
he had mach experience in regard to the spread of cholera,
and he begged to hear his testimony to the great impediment
which the sup duty presented to the observance of cleanliness
amongst the poor Qs that occasion. He quite concurred in the
observation of blr. Cobden that it was nothing short of
hypocrisy to talk of sanitary measures whilst the tax on
soap, the thief miens of cleanliness and therefore of health,
was kept up. (Hoer, hear.)
Mr. Aneurism, et Newcastle, seconded the motion, and
ter some discussion the memorial was adopted.
A vote of thanks was passed to the chairmas, and the
meeting sepuatted.