The Express.
London, England, 1850-04-25 00:00:00

THE STAMP DUTIES.

TO TOT IMMO OF TRU MILTII.IIOS.
sympathMe with you is your desire for
fall and authentic detain respect to the Stamp Duties
8.11, aad is the disappointment with which you most
regard the difficult and illusory informatioa which
ham been vouchsafed.

I apse with every syllable which your earner-
pendent, "A filolicit.w," has written this morning,
and as you gave publicity to a table with
which I supplied you on the 18th instant,
I now forward you a table showing the
effect of the proposal of the Chanoellor of the
Exchequer on all transactions by way of conveyance,
&c., up to 100,0001. In this table I show or date in
detail the data upon which my calculations proceed;
and if the result of such calculations even approxi-
mate to correctness in preference to the returns laid
before the Ileum of Camomile, it is obvious that the
measure most be withdrawn.

-----
I must request you to print at the foot of this letter
the returns of Sir C. Wood as to the estimated gross
produce of conveyances and loss consequent on the
proposed alto:nations—and as to the amount now re.
coved for stamps from 10s. to 1,0001. in value—as
this letter necessarily refers especially to those re-
turns.

It will be seen by the first of these returns that
there is an estimated loss of 266,2991:45. 6J. (and,by-
the-bye, I do not see how a certain number of stamps
at 10s. per cent. can produce an odd 6d.), on convey-
, antes of smaller amount than 1,0001., and that of that
lloss 187,247/. 7.. 01. arises upon the three first items,
namely, conveyances of smaller amount than 1501.
Now, are these figures correct ? I proceed, an to
these first items, to show that they are in my judg-
ment most grossly and seriously orronc one.
First, as to the 10.. stamp. " A Solicitor" rightly
states that th:s stamp covers memorials, and also a
large clam of receipt stamps, besides other things. I
have counted to-day the register of Middlesex for the
year 1847. It curtains 440 pages, each page having
en laden to from 42 to 45 memorials. The Chancellor
of the Exchequer cannot object to my reckoning on
this datum the memorials in Middlesex at 18,000;
and the member for Halifax will not be offended at
my attributing to the three ridings of Yorkshire as
many memorials yearly as in the county of Middle-
sex. To be gaits safe, however, 1 will assume
that the Yorkshire memorials, receipt stamps,
and all other things bearing a 104. stamp,
only equal the mimorials in Middlesex. How, then,
will the matter stand ? Why that at least 18,0001.
muit on these accounts be deducted from the gross
produce of these stamps, and two-thirds of the re.
sidue„according to the calculation of the Inland
Revenue Commissioner., will leave only 6,5001 appli-
cable to conveyance stamps, inatt ad of the 21,2591.
put forth in the report. And my opinion is that such
6,500/. is abort three times more than the real
amount ; but let that pass.

Secondly. As to the 1/. stamp. Your correspond-
ent is again quite right, and I wish that he himself
had gone into further details, but the following will
be found a correct analysis:
The money received for stamps of 21. value and
upwards (and these stamps may be assumed as ad
ralarem stamp') shows that there must have been
119;200 of such deeds in 1819. Now, it is a low, a
very low, calculation to assume that each of these
deeds had oce " foll ewe r." It is again a low, a very
low, calculation to sesame that 10,000 further 208.
' stamps were used for leases under 201. rent, for coun-
terparts of such leases, and for the other occasions
I for which this ramp is proper. But even on these
figures 160,000/. are deducted from the 201,0751. re-
ceived for the se stamp', and the proper proportion to be
credited toconveyacces be ing, according to the commis-
sioners, two-thirds, the sum of 25,000/. ought to have
been credited in the first table, instead of the 138,170/.
which figures there. And my opinion on this also is
that there are not one-third as many conveyances of
property between 201. and 501. in value annually, as
this greatly reduced amount would require ; but
better informed persons can determine this.
Third.y. As to the 11. 10s. stamp. On this I do
not like to venture an assumption. The number of
'leases granted annually at a rent exceeding 201., are
very numerous, but they who may take the trouble
to read this letter will, probably, be better able than
lam to form such estimate. On the stamp return
an ad rat.ron duty is assumed on 60,000 transactions,
and it should be reduced by the proportion properly
chargeabl, for counterparts of leases. With this re-
mark I will give my table of the three first items of
the conveyance table of the Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer:

C:metede!ti.
Present Graft pro. Propo+cd mated produce F-stiroated
rate. duce. rate. at propo3cd leas.
rate.
LO 10s. £6,500 21. 64. 11,623 £1,675 Os.
11 Or. 2.5,000 64. 6,2 A 18,750 W.
11 101. 84,374 10.1. 28,124 66,249 10..

£79,874
Even without attempting to correct the third item,
I have thus shown the grounds why I consider that
the above gam is much more than the probable
amount of loss in respect of the present number
(without calculating increase) of conveyances under
1501. Menlo., instead of the large sum of 187,2471. 7s.
estimated by the Chancellor of the Exchequer.
In regard to conveyances for 1504 and upwards I
need not trouble you at so much length, for I have
constructed a table showing the present receipts ac-
cording to the calculations of the Inland Com-
missioners-namely, on the assumption that two-
thirds of the stamp' were used for conveyance trans-
action., and have shown what, on the same amount of
transactions, would be the duty on the altered scale,
such duty being taktn on an average medium amount,
which gives to the Chancellor an advantage in favour
of a loss of IL on every transaction. This is, in fact,
an extenaion and working out of the table which you
have already had the goodness to publish :
Amounts. Duties. Two•thinls of pm- Produce at pre-
sent tran.euon. sent rate.
150 .. 300 .. 2 .. 137,000 74,000
300 .. 600 .. 3 .. 30,000 .. 90,000
600 .. 50 42,000
750 .. 1,07 .00 .. 7,
.. 2,000 .. 18,000
1,000 .. 2,000 .. 12 .. 4,000 .. 36,000
2,000 .. 3,000 .. 26 .. 1,400 .. 35,000
3,000 .. 4,600 .. &I .. 400 .. 14,000
4,000 .. 6,000 .. 46 .. 200 9,000
6,000 .. 6,000 .. 66 .. 160 .. 8,800
6,000 .. 7,000 .. 66 .. 100 .. 6,600
7,000 .. 8.000 .. 75 .. 60 .. 4,500
8,000 .. 9,000 .. 86 60 .. 4,2.50
9,000 .. 10.000 .. 95 .. 60 .. 4,7.50
10,000 .. 12,600 .. 110 .. 60 .. 6,600
12.600 .. 16.000 .. 130 .. 15 .. 1,950
15,000 .. 20,000 .. 170 .. 35 .. 6,950
20.000 .. 30,600 .. 240 20 .. 4,800
30,000 .. 40,000 .. 350 13 .. 4,550

40,000 .. 50,000 .. 460
60,000 .. 60,000 .. 660 ..
00,000. 80,000 .. 660 ..
80,000 .. lOO,OOO .. t.OO ..

i ..
4 ..
2 ..
2 ..

4.000
2,200
1,300
1,600

PRODUCE AT PROPOSED RAT&
Aversp Cossiders.
tson on which Cal. M. Amount of
cuing= Ls band. Per CeaL Stamp.
E ig. l a.

0 10

0 10

dna it A:
posed rats.

• d.
01 0
1 •
11 0
3 o
3 o
• o
o

6 ..d
21,2311 10 0
131,170 0 0
44,374 0 0
7;921 00
9;111 0 0
13,414 0 0
21,111 0 I 1

!it1,3111 10 •

Z
27,831 1
101,07$
73,177 1
111,487 1
214,0911
110,0.23
136,471
313,1163
33,973
63,733
12,893
6,732
31,006

S 0. d.
431166
24,179 13 0
211,174 10
41,016 IS 6
60,164 0 0
23337 10 0
13,233 0 0