The Express.
London, England, 1848-01-18 00:00:00

Ike epproo.

MAILS
The eigiblelMisr Gibraltar, Male, Grease, the lonian Islands,
Fgypt, ad" Gegieltle of sad hina, ria Noutheingtos,
all be maim Ulp as sas morning of the Zeth January.
Itrgearload shame alias, Me Marseilles, to tlie Mediterranean,
=gm^ glagnestals.lisag fie., will he made up ow the
ages
The mailer VW% OWN, Lisbon, Madeira, Cadiz, and Gibraltar
will be Nei, op ea the ireelse a( the rah January.
Themes be MAY lISm Atarriai, lierrasda, and the United
arms,,ta bomb up =the swab* of the 28th January.
The male far flee HUM Wahs, Van Diemen.. Dui, and New
Zagged ellt he mem up ea the ressing of the 31st January.
The mesh' the Wee Omit et Africa and Madeira will be made
Hen
the ~kw tithe Mt hue.
The Wad Inane lialkimehillin Parma* Nassau, Harem.,
Headmea, New OMmeala Ten Grum Tampico, and Porto and
excluding them Nettire. Isentel, Carthairena, Santa Martha,
Charm, Panama,Woe Omit a South Amnia, and Juan-de.
Nit:vague, will be Mei 1111 the 111101,1 ill, of the 2nd February.
The mails for the Brame, the Hirer Plate, Monte Video, Fernara-
sium, lahia, Ifadelra. sad Ulna Ayres, will be made op cos the
erodes of the 4th February.

io CORTISPOT DENTS.
• MlTteltatmasts lataaaal Or • The Zapte." Wake fainting pap, mart
ba at tlaa oSea. Illaavorloramt. by Two &lck ea tla day et eual•caucaa

LION WATit A? LONDON !MPG!.
Torn Du- Monts., 0 Isla mu 0 ,abt
0.
T0.11.....r-416.1.4& MI. jpla 0 Alt@ 6006. and but I.

LONDON, TUESDAY, JAN. 18.
IN estimates of the comparative merits and de-
merits of different modes of taxation, the cost of
collection is an important item.—From a table in the
finance accounts of last year, it appears that the cus-
toms duties are collected at a coat amounting to
51. lls. 10d. per cent on the gross receipt; the excise
duties, to 6/. Os. 10d.; the stamps, to 21. Is. 81d. ; the
taxes, to 31. 6s. 4;d. These figures de not convey an
'adequate idea of the objectionable character of the
excise, as a source of revenue, viewed solely with
regard to the expenses of collection. Of 15,563,0811.,
the gross receipt from excise duties in the year 1846,
only 14,345,645/. found their way into the exchequer ;
and the payments made during the year on balances
outstanding at its commencement are included in the
first sum, while the amount of balances and bills out-
standing at its close have not been excluded from the
second. It cost about a million and a half to collect
fifteen millions and a half.
Still, half the wastefulness of this tax remains un-
shown. The manufacturers of the commodities upon
which excise ditties are levied are compelled to work
under the surveillance of the excise officers: their
processes are impeded, their expenditure in wages in-
creased, the adoption of more :cor.omical and effective
methods prevented, by their being obliged to work
according to regulations laid down with a view to
facilitate inspection and render evasion of the duties
impossible. The cost of production is hereby en-
hanced, and the productiveness of labour and capital
diminished. The excise tax diminishes the fund out
of which it is to be paid—it lathe eld story of killing
the goose that laid the golden eggs.
Paper, which is one of the comparatively small
number of articles still abandoned to the tender mer-
cies of the excise, may serve as an illustration of these
general remarks. Every paper maker is obliged, by
the act passed in 1839 to "consolidate and amend"
the laws for collecting the excise upon paper, to aid
and assist the inspecting officer " with a sufficient
number of his servants." The effect of this obligation
was, sometime ago, planed in a striking point of view
by the Edinburgh Weekly Journal:
We lately visited • paper mill where the officers were em-
ployed generally for six or seven hours each day in charging
the paper, and we counted seven as the number of servants
(men and boys) actually employed at the moment to do the
excise work. On another occasion there were eight in at-
tendance on the supervisor. The expense to the manufac-
turer. at this one mill, is reckoned by him at not much less
than 31. per week for wages alone in excise labour; while the
goods, by being frequently moved aid knocked about. are
sometimes seriously injured. This is • money tax of 1501.
per annum, by which neither the trade nor the country is
benefited, but the contrary—and is but a portion of the
heavy pecuniary expense entailed on those engaged in this
proscribed manufacture.
The consequence is, that between the effects of the
direct tax paid under the name of excise duty, and
the indirect tax paid in the shape of increased cost of
production, the selling price of paper is so augmented
that the British manufacturer cannot engage in an
export trade, and even finds it difficult to keep his
ground in the home market. This was explicitly
affirmed by Mr. Cowse, now member of parliament
for Edinburgh, at a public meeting ; and to feel the
fall force of Mr. Cowes's statement, the reader must
bear in mind that there is a customs duty of 3d.. per
lb. on foreign brown paper imported into this country,
and of Ad. per lb. on all other sorts.
I may state (said Mr. Cowan) that as a manufacturer
of paper, I have had for a great number of years to con-
tend with foreign makers, who have, in consequence of the
working of the ex, ise laws, a superior advantage over the
home manufacturer. For instance, they can bring their
manufacture into the London market, and dispose of their
pods sada the advantage of a bounty from the British le-
gislators. I lately received an application from one of our
moot distant colonies for a large supply of the coarsest paper
we manufacture, the cost of which is about 35. a ream ; and
what do you think is the duty ? It is about 60 or 70 per
' cent. It is quite tree that we get the drawback; but when
one considers the great amount of labour we have in making,
printing, packing, carriage, and shipping, and loss of time,
more especially upon • low-priced article, it becomes in fact
a complete prohibition on the exportation of paper.
It appears from these statements that the excise
adds demonstrably to the price of every pound of
paper used in this country, I id. (the excise duty) and
3d. or 41d. (the customs duties proved inadequate to
prevent the concurrence of foreign paper in the home
market) on the coarser and the finer sorts respec-
tively. Bat the entire increase in the price must ob-
viously be much more than this. Manufacturers have
learned that low profits on large and numerous
transactions,are preferable to high profits on a limited
business. The manufacturer who can produce for the
foreign as well as the home market, can afford to sell
his goods to the home consumer at lower prices than
he who is restricted to the home market. The British
paper-maker cannot venture into foreign markets ; he
cannot even keep the markets of our own colonies.
How should he ? Let us see what Mr. COWAN said
as to the comparative pressure of taxation on the
British and foreign paper manufacturers :
I had the honour of a visit a few days ago from a very
intelligent Italian, named Signor Ceri, who has been sent to
this country by the Pope to Father information on the best
mode of forming and conducting railways. This gettleraan
happens to be an extensive paper-maker in Tuscany ; so ex-
tensive that he supplies his own government, the Pasha of
Egypt, and the Grand Seignior in Constantinople. When
he .passed through our manufactory, we happened to be
charging paper at the time. Looking earnestly at what
the officials were doing, he put the question to me, " Pray
what are all these men so busily engaged about ?" I replied,
that these were excise officers weighing and charging the
duty on paper. lie expressed great astonishment at what I
said, and told me that at home ho paid 71. 10s. a year in the
shape of a direct tax.
These considerations must be kept in mind while
reading the following statement made by the pub-
lishers and booksellers of Edinburgh, of the propor-
tion which the excise duty bears to the whole cost
of the paper on which our books and newspapers arc
printed
The price of paper for a magazine or pamphlet containing
six sheets dewy, the paper weighing 25Iba. per ream, at Ott.
per lb., 1,000 copies printed will be 111. 14s. The duty being
lid. per lb., and 5 per cent. over, it necessarily follows that on
such a pamphlet or magazine the tax will be about 21. Is.
On an ordinary sized octavo volume of twelve sheets, and the
impression also a thousand, the tax will of course be double
that amount, or 4/. 2s. By doubling the impression, the
seem paid as tax is doubled, and so on. As much paper is
employed weighing from 28 lbs. to 30 lbs. per ream, the tax
is correspondingly higher, and it may be stated as a general
truth, that on most of the octavo-sized volumes issued, a tax
of about 61. is exacted.
From these facts the reader may judge how heavily
the excise duty upon paper presses upon all, and
especially upon cheap, newspapers. Let him take
this surcharge in combination with the stamp duty
on newspaper!, and the advertisement duty—to the
separate consideration of which we have recently de-
voted articles—and he will be able to form some idea
of the extent to which unequal taxation clogs every
attempt to reduce the price of his newspaper.

THE application for a mandamus to compel the
Archbishop of CANTERBURY and his officials to hear
the opposers to the confirmation of Dr. lissirDEN has
again prolonged the duration of the tiresome con-
troversy which has so long occupied the columns of
newspapers, and the minds of those who are in-
terested in ecclesiastical matters. We have more
than once suggested, in the course of the proceedings,
that such a writ would form the proper remedy, if
any of the ecclesiastical functionaries who were re-
quired to take a part in carrying out the nomination
of the crown should hesitate to perform their respec-
tive offices. A recusant chapter or a reluctant arch-
bishop might have been compelled to elect or confirm
by the Court of Queen's Bench, which is no respecter
of conscientious scruples. It was scarcely to be
expected that the opponents of the election would
, have been allowed a permanent or temporary
opportunity of appealing to the letter of the law
I against the agents of the crown. We are not aware