Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-02-28 00:00:00

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THE g3a-raE [or , MONDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 1859

cheapened. Again, it is a duty that impedes com-
merce. Not only does it place us at the mercy of
any foreign country that undertakes to compete
with us in supplying paper to the rest of the world,
for no country except our own has a duty upon
paper,—but as it is an article which is most
extensively used for wrapping, it constitutes often
an important part of the cost attending the
export of various kinds of goods—there being no
drawback upon it allowed when thus appopriated.
Still more injuriously does it operate to the public
interests, by obstructing education. With great
truth is it remarked, that " the education of the
present day consists, Whether for good or evil,
almost "entirely in impressing on the mind
something that is printed." And, of course, in the
cost of printed matter, whet her solid or ephemeral,
the price of paper is an important item, and is very
much enhanced by the duty. Let one single fact
be adduced to shew how it operates as a positive
tax upon education,—" The amount of taxation
annually spent on education is now approaching a
million, and that portion of the Paper Duty which
is a tax on literature probably amounts to
about £400,000." A considerable way towards
half the amount, then, of what is granted out of
the public revenue for the education of the people,
has thus to be thrown away in the shape of a Tax
upon Paper ! Moreover it is evident that the Tax
is injurious by impeding production, hindering the
profitable investment of capital, and the employ-
ment of labour. The reduction of the duty one
half, some years since, caused an increase in the
production of paper, in England of 123 per cent.,
in Ireland of 192 per Cent., and in Scotland' of 240
per cent.,—from which one may form some faint
idea of what the increase would have been had the
whole duty been taken off.

Now surely a Tax that operates injuriously, as
the. Tax on Paper evidently does, in such a variety
of Ways, ought not on any consideration to be
continued. There is no defence of it whatever, of
course, except that it is still wanted for revenue.
But this, under the circumstances, is a worthless
reason ; and had it been given way .to on other occa-
sions, we should have been debarred of many of
those fiscal and financial improvements which have
taken place during the last twenty years, and have
done so much to promote the • substantial interests
of the people. If the maintenance of the . Tax be
impolitic, as the House of Commons has declared
it to be—a declaration in which the present Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer himself joined, be it re-
membered—then ought it of necessity to be at
once repealed ; and, if. the Amount cannot really
be spared at present, some substitute must be
found for it. Whether or not Ministers will pro-
pose such an arrangement, we shall soon know
now. But if they do not, it will be for the House
to take the matter into its own hands, and no
longer delay to give practical effect to its own
recorded Resolution.

Colony, as he shows, that there is really, and most '
deplorably, a " degraded and oppressed condition
of the lower or working classes generally, agricul-
tural and lumbering of this Province." Our cor-
respondent is one who, as an English settler'
and a gentleman of liberal English education and
extensive information on the state of his native
country, is eminently qualified to make a correct
comparison as to the conditions of the same classes,
respectively, here and there. And he declares of
the Colony of New Brunswick, where he now is,—
" In these country districts I know the state4f the
agricultural portion intimately, from being closely
connected with it ; I know, too, the state, the
endurance, and the many vicious customs and
usages—the outrages upon, and sufferings of, the
lumbering community, both from neighbourhood
and from the knowledge derived in a magisterial
capacity; arid Ido not hesitate to say, that there
is much more oppression, and at times, much more
privation among the labouring classes of this
province, than among those of a similar class in
Britain."

There is still another great delusion which our
correspondent has exposed. Colonial reform, as it
was called, has been carried out to a great extent.
in New Brunswick ; and the English working
classes are sought to'be beguiled with the idea that:
their political and moral, no less than their
physical and social condition, will be infinitely
improved by emigrating thither. But see what is
the stern reality of the case. "As to the political
position of the population," says our correspon-
dent, " it is not bettered by any of the so-called
privileges of the franehise for parliamentary or
municipal electioneering. The same acts of
bribery and corrupt voting prevail here as
elsewhere—the same corruption—and more inca-
pacity." And so sensible, it would appear, are the
people becoming of the unhappy mistake that has
been committed, that "while I write," he adds,
"petitions, in preparation for the approaching
session of our local parliament, are in progress,
actually praying for a return to those old forms
and institutions among us," which self-interested
politicians not very long since succeeded in
destroying !
There is an ancient apothegm which says,
"Truth is established by investigation and delay:
falsehood prospers by precipitancy." And the
case of New Brunswick affords a practical illustra-
tion of this. Falsehood has indeed prospered by
precipitancy there ; but it is to be a short-lived
prosperity, it is already evident. In the mean
time, however, it is most important that the
falsehood should be exposed, if only for the
protection of such of our working classes as might
be imposed upon by it, to the serious detriment
of themselves and their families.

Despatches were sent off on Saturday evening to the
Governor of Malta.

Major-General the Hon. Sir Edward Cast will succeed
Lieutenant-General Bouchier in the Colonelcy of the 3rd
Dragoon Guards.

Despatchei were ieceived at the Colonial Office this
'morning from the Governors of Labuan, Ceylon, Hong
Kong, and the Mauritius.

Major-General Charles Havelock, the brother of the
late Sir Henry, has, we (United Service Gazette) hear,
been appointed Chief of the Constabulary of Lancashire.

THE GOVERNMENT REFORM BILL.—A Cabinet Council
was held at the official residence of the Chancellor of the
Exchequer on Saturday afternoon, at which, it is believed,
it was determined that at the meeting of the House of
Commons to night, the Chancellor of the Exchequer
should move "To postpone the orders of the day till
after the notice of motion on the representation of the
p3ople,"