The Express.
London, England, 1850-05-08 00:00:00

SLAVE TRADE.

Mr. 0. BERKELEY suited whether government had re-
ceived any amens sties suspecting the capture of a lugs
MAW. wi-h 1600 slaves oa hoard, 012 the coast of Africa.
Hr. HAWES said that a stammer had been captured oa
She coast of Brasil, called the Providencia, fitted up is a
slaver. She bad no slaves on hoard.
PRINTING OF PETITIONS.

Mr. H. HERBERT oomplaiaed that burial; recently pre-
sented a petition, numerously signed, respecting the Simi
ray on Advance. Bill, he had been surprised to find it
pointed as Um polities of only one person, merely because
there was only ems "'paters on the sheet containing the
petition, the root being pasted on separate slips of paper.
Me wished to know from the chair whether he had an)
remedy
The SPEAKER said there was as remedy, as it was a
mile of the home that signieuree to a petition thous' be st-
ashed to the sheet on which the prayer was written.
• short disenesios ensued, in the coarse of which Lord
CanTlMlnaon and others complained of similar treatment.
Sir G. GREY remarked that if it were permitted to
attach signatures to petitions on separate slips of paper,
signets's, might be wit from various parts of the country
by ties who had perhaps seen the petition. (Hear,
bear.)
After some minvenwien the sulieet drormed.
BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE.
Lord D. STUART inquired whether the Metropolitan
Interments Bill would be proceeded with in committee
on Friday neat, for which day it now stood ? If not, whether
it would he hr•utest on before Whitsuntide )
Sir G. GREY replied that the bill referred to could not
be brought on tither on Friday or Monday, is misesquesee
of the MOWS of other business ; bat be would Si it for
the Ynday after Whitsuntide. The bullets* Sit Friday
out would be the third reeding of the Irish Franchise Bill.
• ADVERTISEMENT DUTY.
Mr. M. GIBSON presented a number of petitions, pray-
ing for the total repeal of this duty. Similar petitions were
also presented by Mr. EWART from the proprietors and
publisher of several of the London weekly sod a large num-
ber of the provincial newspapers.
Mr. EWART in bringing forward his goalies for the
total repeal of this duty c immenced by observing that the
large number of petition he bad mewed from so many of
the public journals, of different politics, would be taken as
a sufficient apology for his introducing this question to tile
notice of the house—if, indeed, any apology were memoir,
for proposing the abolition of an impost which was one of the
most ohjsctiorable that had ever been imposed oaths coun-
try. This duty stood in the some position as the auction
duty wi.h regard to the grounds why it should be removed,
only that • ll the reasons which had induced the right Lion.
baronet (S.r It. Peel) to repeal the auction duty applisd
with far greeor force to the tax on advertisements. (Hear,
hear.) HA weal to the fullest silent with his hon. friend
the member for Manchester in his hostility to the taus on
knowledge, bat still ha was of opinion that this

value duty was the most objectionable of them all.
It wee en impediment in the way of commercial end ogee.
cultural interelmage—it imposed -fetters on Metatarsi, and
prevented that free interchange between buyer and seller, the
manufacturer and the consumer, the enloyer and as ear
played, which was necessary to the full ifevelopmert of die
removers ot the ceuntry. Amongst the newspapers Rue
which be bad presentedpetitiouVusyligg for the repeal at
this duty, were the organs of the grecultursl intermit, as well
as those whose circulation was *maggot =unfeigned,' lad
trading communities. They looked upon it as injurious to
the agriculturalists, and he hoped, therefore, be should
have the benefit of the votes of those hon. mew
ben repeessatieg that interest. Mr. M'Culloch had
shown that perhaps the greatest pressure on Id
henry men was the tax on advertisements. Then
it was • tax that was most unequal in its application,
preening with ucdue severity on the roor ; the poor needle•
woman or Demme requiring employment being compelled to
pay for the two or three lines announcing their want, the
same .molest of tax as the noblemse who, in a hall-column
advertisemeat, described the estate be was desirous of
selling. Then sash' the tax was not levied on
all advertisements, but only inch as appeared In 'newspapers;
advertisements inserted in books or such works as Brad-
shawls Grids" paid DO tax, neither was thee any tax levied
upon the peripatetic advertising vehicle. es cuts,
omsi-
buses, boards carried on men's 'shoulders, and other until
vanes which of late years bud been retorted to. Thin the
extreme severity with which the revenue atthorities charged
the duty was most oppressive. For instance, if two or more
things were combined in owe advertisemene, the duty was
'Urged upon each. He would urge on the attention of
the house, and especially the agricultural members, the great
advantage the American former had over the English
farmer from being able to adverthe his troduce
freely. He remembered that Mr. Poulett Thomp-
son when same years ago he proposed various alterations
in our fiscal arrangemeats, stated that 10,000,000 advertise-
smuts were fly in in the American newsmen. '
while only 1,000.0:e0 found their way into the newspapers of
this country. Sine* that time the duty had been reduced in
this country from 3s. to Is. 61., and • considerable increase
in the number of advertisements had followed. Comparing
the number of newepapen in this country with those in the
United States the result of the comparison would still be
found very much against us. The amount pri.duced
by this tax to the rev tome was 107,0001., including
Inland snit Scotland, while previous to the reduction
it was 170,0001. 83 that the increase Ia the number of ad-
vertisements had been Or great, that the produce at the re-
duced rate was fast approaching to that point at which it
stood when the tax was double its present amount. If the
fax was repealed, the increase would go on to a much greater
extent, and then could be but little doubt that the us
would gain, in the increase of trade which would follow, far
more than It did from this soma. ( dear, hear) The hen.
gentlemen concluded by denouacing the tax, and moving for
he repeal.
Mr. Al. GIBSON minded the motion.
Mr. TRELAWNY (who was nearly inaudible from the
noise in the house and the continued cells for a division)
observed, thit as he had • motion on the paper for paying oft
the national deb:, he could not consistently agree to forego
. any source of revenue, however much he might be of
opinion in the abstract that this duty ought to be repealed.
The CHANCELLOR of Cie EXCHEQUER thanked
his hon. friend (MrArelawny) for the support he had given
him in resisting this motion. He hardly knew what more
he could say on the subject, than he bad already said on the
three or four occasions when be had had to oup .se propositions
for reducing or repealing taxes. lie bad stoted what sum be
thought it necessary to maintain to meet contingencies, and
how he proposed to apply the surplus that would be left, and
the house had confirmed him in the coarse he then took ;
he could not, therefore consent to any proposition which
would interfere with that arrangement. He quite agreed
that it would be impossible to have an ad ralenn du'y on
advertisements. The duty had been reduced :rola 3s. to
Is. 6e1., end the bon. gentleman admitted that since the
reduction the number of advertisements had almost doubled.
This showed that considerable benefit had alr. ady been
given in this item of tesetion. Under these circumetarces,
he hoped the house would concur with h.m in opposing the
melon. (Cries of " Divide.")
Mr. HUME mid the address of the right hon. baronet
was an aj. peal to the house to this effect " I have made
up nay mind. I will cot listen to any change of
my plane, and therefore I will not enter into the
particulars of this advertisement tax." He (Mr. Hume)
objected to ton great a deferent being pa.d to the judg-
ment of the right hon. baronet in this matter. He knew
that the governmeat of the country could not be carried on
without m•ney, bat then it was the duty of • Chancellor of
the Exchequer to obtain that money at the least possible in
conveniuco to the great muses of the community. (Hear,
hear.) The question was not whether tte advertisement
duty was new or old, but whether it bore on particular in-
terests,
_and whether the amount it produced might not be
ehtoined in a manner less burdensome to the people.
(Caiers.l The house ought to overrule the Chan-
cellor on the present occasion, the more particularly if
they thought with him (Mr. Hume) that he had made an
I unwise distribution of the surplus. (War) What did the
advertisement duty do? It prevented the giving of publis
city to the various articles required by the community.
He believed that half the profit realised from
advertisements were obtained from servants who
were out of place. and looking for tituations. It
no other elms except these were to be benefited by the
present onion, the Chancellor of the Exchequer ought to
be told at once that the tax must be repealed. (Chem.)
j If, indeed, the house were to be told that they must not in-
, .! tellers in the matter of taxation after the Chancellor of the
Exchequer had once issued his fist, then they might as well
Ishut up at once. (" Hear" and a laugh.) It was because
he wished to see knowledge prevail, and the springs of in-
, decry relieved, that be should most cordially support the
, motion. (Cries of " divide.")
Mr. EWART having replied, hoped the house would
now divide on the general principle, and vote that the
advertisement duty was a moat objectionable tax. (Hear,
hear.)
r The house divided—
For the motion
Against it
The motion was consequently lust
SLAVE LABOUR.

208-169

Mr. G. BERKELEY pos4;;;;diarsMotion Motive to the
szclasim from our markets of the produce of slave labour, to
Friday, the 3lst inst.
JOURNEYMEN BAKERS.

Petitions fro;;;;;usl4.rta---Coi the to ropolie baviog been
presented by Lord R. Grosvenor, Mr. B. Gib vise. Lord
D. Stuart, Mr. Cowan, and Mr. Duncan praying for a
select committee to inquire into the condition of the journey-
men bskere.
Lord R. GROSVENOR moved for a select committee to
inquire into the measures that might be adopted to improve
the sanitary condition tithe journeymen bakers. That class
of industrials aufisred ly from their prolonged confine-
meat in the hot, tasted, and uncleansed dens in which
their work was csrried au, and the bread therein made was
trot the same circumstances rendered unwholesome to the

Sir G. GREY doubled the probability of any practical
benifi: resulting from the vague inquiries of select commit- I
teen, who had no substantive plan of reform to direct their in-
vestigations. Parliament had two years since negatived as
imprecti• able a bill presented for a similar object, and he
therefore oppased the motion, as calculated to raise hopes
which the legislature would be unable to accomplish.
Mr. S (AFFORD su d the motion.
Mr. BRIGHT f that Lord R. Groseenoes clients
were dangerously addicted to socialism, and read same ex-
tracts Irons an unstamped paper, ealkethe Bakers' Gazette,
to show the peculiar notions upon the sunject of sieges and
labour which they appeared to entertain.
Lord D. &CHART called on the house not to refuse to
inquire into the cireuvostanoes that affected the health and
morals 0116,000 individuals.
Mr. G. THOMPSON repudiated, on behalf of the jour-
nelsons bakers, any special connexion with the organ quoted
by Mr. Bright, or participation in the doctrines it happened
to profess.
After a few words from Mr. S. Caawroau also in favour

of the motion
Lord R. GitOSVENOR nplied, and
The hoses divided, when there appeared—
For %Miamian 44
Against it
THE CHESTER AND HOLYHEAD RAILWAY
COMPANY AND THE 00YERNELENT.

Sir R. BULKELEY moved for a select committee to
examine the contracts for the conveyance of mails between
Kingptown and Holyhead. The hon. member entered into
a detailed statement of the negotiations tarried oa between
the Admiralty and various commercial bodies for the Dublin
Mail Padget contract, which had resulted in the Chester and
Holyhead Railway Company being superseded in the service,
to the in-a of that company and disadvantage of the public.
Mr. F. FRENCH denied the right of the railway com-
pany to complain, and believed that the government had
acted fairly sad judiciously in throwing the contract open
for public competition.
Sir F. BARING would have concurred is thinking the
committee unnecessary, but for the charge laid against the
government relating to the contract for the mail. As the
administration of his department wet in question, he joined
in requiring a full investigation, at the same time denying
that there was the slightest foundation for the stigma which
Sir R. Balkeley had east upon it.
Mr. S. HERBERT wished to have the inquiries of the
committee extended to the future mode and cost of 'Recut
lag the mail packet service between the ports in question.
Mr. B. OSBORNE apprehended that the hard bargain
the government had driven would result in crippling the
powers of the Chester and Holyhead Railway Company,
who were engaged in a week of national and even imperial
importance.
Mr. R. MANGLES having given some explanations
,re-
Thepe and busbies details,
CHA.NCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER submitted
that the facts mild be more profitably laid before the com-
mittee when they came to collect evitonoe.
Some farther oonvenation ensued, after which the com-
mittee was agreed to,
The SPEAKER then went through the remainirg
notices of motion but none of the hon. members who had
notices on the paper being present, the house prootedel to
the orders of the day,
BENEFICES IN PLURALITY BILL.
On the motion that this bill as amended should be con-
sidered,
Mr. FRB WEN moved the insertion of the following pro-
viio and douse. after elates 6 :
Provided always. end be It enacted, that nothing heath:before
contained eh U be e netneed to prevent any mart.ual perm, pas.
served of nee ur more than one knell. e, on the 14,11 day of Amturt,
our Ur:mound r ght hundred anti thirty. fight, and to wham or in
triad fur whom the etivewson of, or the neat prearmetian or mmi.mr-
liun to any otot t benefice ha. born C'lllllnetl, wrank4, to derwe I by
any deed or w.ll made beim° the Lyn:My-third ,ay of IhreeMbrr,
see thousand eight hundred end ttlrtyateveo, fr,en taking the said