Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1860-02-18 00:00:00

Saturday; February 18, 1660.

THE BUDGET AND THE

T3VCITT ,_,-TD -L1 A MIT
Ati.uri. A. A. .

GREAT MEETING- YESTERDAY.
A crowded meeting of the members of the Liverpool
Chamber of Commerce was held at noon yesterday, in
the Public Sales-room, Liverpool and London Insurance
Buildings, as an adjourned meeting, for the purpose of
considering tke Budget and the French Commercial
Treaty. Amongst the gentlemen present were—Messrs.
R•. Rankin, H. Littledale, C. Bushell, R. A. Made, Wm.
Brown, C. E. Rawlins, C. Holland, B. Darbyshire,
Forwood, Lamont, C. Bowring, B. Hall, R. Roberts,
J• S. Stitt, C. Robertson, W. Hall, •R. Hutchison,
34`Corquodale, Douglas, Rae, Chilton, P. Rathbone,
Bonk, Ridley, Estill, J. R. Jeffery, Booker, S. Stitt, R.
Sheil, Holderriess, Corbally, Swinton Boult, &c., &c.
Mr. CHARLES ROBERTSON said that at the last meet-
ing, on Monday, he had the honour of presiding as
president of the Chamber of Commerce, but since then
a new Council had been elected, and they had chosen
Mr. Tomliison as president for the ensuing year. He
therefore moved that Mr. Tomlinson take the chair.
Mr. Wm. BROWN seconded the motion, and it was
Carried by acelLnation.
The CHAIRMAN said—Gentlemen, this is an adjourned
Meeting of the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce, to
consider the terms of the budget, and to consider the
French commercial treaty. That was the object of the
primary meeting held last Monday, and of which this is
an adjournment. At that meeting a proposition was
made by Mr. Danson and seconded by Mr. Brown, and
An amendment was moved upon it. The nature of the
amendment was to get time to consider the question,
and the mover and seconder have withdrawn it; and
am authorised by Mr. Danson and Mr. Brown
.to say that the original motion is also withdrawn,
so that we have now a clear field before us—we begin
novo. It should be clearly understood that we have
no proposition at present before us : and, by-the-bye, I
shall be _lad to hear some gentlemen address the meeting.
I will now read a letter which has been received this
morning from Mr. Horsfall

House of Commons, 16th Feb, 1860.

Mr DEAR Sirt,—l wrote to Mr. Robertson yesterday, not
being aware of the change of presidency in the chamber.
To-day I have had an interview with the C iancellor of the
Exchequer, and am happy to be able to inform you that the
proposed Id. per package import and export charge will not
press so heavily or so unequally as was at lirzt apprehended.
He stated how he merely made use of the Id. to express
the principle of the tar; but that he by no means meant
to abide by it— that in the great majority or cases it would
not be more that per eent., and in no lease more than
per cent. I do not myself see how it' is proposed to
work this out ; but still this is the view entertained by +he
Chancellor.. The same with regard to the charges proposed
to be levied on the removal of warehoused goods under
bond. He is quite prepared to meet any representations which
are made to him. He does not at all adhere to the scale
laid down, but is anxious to assert the principle of making
bonded goods pay their own expenses; and as far as I could
collect, has no desire to raise from this source more than will
do so.
The same principle is to be applied to the charges on opera-
tions in the warehouse, such as repacking, bottling, vatting,
&c. So that I trust there is some prospect of having these
charges put at least on a more; satisfactory fo&ting than was at
first apprehended.—Believe me, my dear sir, yours very faith-
fully, THOMAS B. HOW,FALL.
It is not improbable three will be a letter in the Times to-
morrow on these and (Alva' matters, addressed to Mr. Glyn. I
may mention here, it mr.St be some time before the question of
the charges can be gone into, the duties being taken first.

Wm. John'Tomlinson, Esq.,

President of the Chamber of ConiMerce.
Those questions are now for your consideration ; but
first I should rend to you a resolution sent to us by the
Shipowners' Association :—" It was resolved unani-
mously,—That this association having duly considered
„the projected commercial treaty with France, are
strongly impressed with the glaring injustice to the
shipping of this country contained in the provisions of
Article 3 of the treaty, which perpetuates the system of
exclusion of British shipping. ftom equal advantages to
these enjoyed by the shipping of France." We will
now proceed to business, and I call upon the mover and
seconder of the amendment if they have anything to say.
Mr. DOUGLA3—As the mover of the amendment at
the meeting on Monday, I have the right to open the
proceedings to-day ; but as there are many gentlemen
ere who are anxious to address the chamber, and are so
'much more competent to do so than I am, that I shall
'Waive my right to address the meeting. (Applause.)
Mr. M'CouQuonALE—Sir, as the seconder of the
amendment, I am about to address the meeting, and I
am glad that the opportunity has been afforded me to
make a few remarks. I will not occupy the time of the
chamber by endeavouring to enlarge upon the import-
ance or absolute necessity of fostering friendly and com-
mercial relations with France. We are all too sensible
0! the periodical alarms which have in this country from
time to time frightened us, in consequence of the warlike
preparations which have been made in France. My
dutyl.: simply is, to-day, to call attention to that important
branch of British industry which will be very seriously
Jeopardised if the commercial treaty with France, as now
proposed, be carried into effect. I hold in my hand a sheet
of foreign-made paper, which I have been purchasing
11P to yesterday, but not to-day ; and the reason why I
cannot by
it to-day is, that its value has been
affected by the treaty. Up to yesterday, and for a
considerable time past, I purchased that kind of paper
at the rate of 4d. per lb., foreign made, paid in bond.
I cannot purchase English paper of the same quality
even if I pay ld. per lb. additional for it. English
Paper is ld. to 11d. per lb. dearer. I took the liberty
of mentioning the other day my own opinion, that a
large quantity of foreign made paper was imported into
this country, and that although the extra duty on that
Paper is ld. per lb. over and above our excise duty, yet
foreig,n made paper is brought into this country in very
large quantities. And I find from a document sent to
me from London, that at a meeting of the paper manu-
facturers, held on Tuesday last, the following article
was agreed to :
Notwithstanding the impost duty of Id. per pound, beyond
the excise duty which is now levied on foreign paper, large
quantities are being brought into this country,
and keep
down the price of paper, in the face of the late advance in the
price of materials.
But, sir, it is *more particularly with regard to the
export trade of the country that we feel the effect of
when foreign competition. Andspeak of foreign
competition, to that competition I
I have no objection ;
but it is to unfair competition that I object, seeing that
whilst we allow the French paper-maker to send us his
paper to compete with us, the French Government will
not allow us to receive from that country the material
from which paper is made. The circular I hold in my
hand is issued by one of the most eminent paper makers
in Scotland. He says
At one time a large business was done in exporting English
Paper to South America; and, after painful experience, those
engaged in it have been compelled to abandon the trade, and.
that vast country is now exclusively supplied from the Conti-
nent of Europe. In our own Indian empire, we are being
gradual:3,, but surely, supplanted by French papers; and it is
only
through the old connection enjoyed by some of the London
()Uses in the trade that part of it is still retained. Foolscaps
Vid printing papers are exported, in thousands of reams at a
c,nle, to India from France ,• and the bazaars in Bombay and
eutta show more French than English paper on sale.
And he then goes on to say what was the case at that
time—October, 1858—but what is now no longer the
case :

In Australia an active competition is going on, the superior
quality of the Enzlish still enabling us to compete with the
cheaper French papers; but even there the quantity of French
papers is great.
tow. sir, although we could send paper in large quanti-
ties to Australia, eighteen months ago, I am sorry to
say that in consequence of the facilities enjoyed by the
Paper makers on the continent, they are supplement-
11.1g our paper there. The paper that I bought
months ago for 4d. per lb. is raised to-day in con-
sequence of the change proposed by the French com-
mercial treaty, and I contend that papers will go
Per lb, because when our duty is repealed the map kers
of this paper will be inundated with orders ; they will
Pick and choose what they like, and they will raise the
price ; the result being that ld. per lb. will be lost to
he country ; for you must remember, that in addition to
Liae excise duty on that foreign paper it has a customs
duty which is equal to Id. per lb. over and above the
,excise. That amount, therefore, will go into the
rocaets of the manufacturers on the continent, instead
of being paid into the exchequer of this country. lam
if?.ot here to oppose the abolition of the paper duty ; far
2.,1)111 it, but I am here for the purpose, however humbly,
? endeavouring to raise my voice against a monstrous
Ilit
justice which will be done to the paper manufacturers
of the United Kinglom if we enable France, as is pro-
red to be done by this treaty, to drive away that great
ranch of our home industry to the continent of Europe.
Gentlemen, I endeavour whenever I venture to offer
any remarks, to be very careful, and I shall not in any
degree, with my own knowledge, exaggerate any one
point I have documents here that will show the cor-
rectness of all I stated the other day. The case of tho
Paper manufacturers is this :-
STATEMENT OF THE CASE OF THE PAPER MANUFACTURERS OP
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND, RELATIVE TO THE PROPOSED
''REE IMPORTATION INTO ENGLAND OF FOREIGN PAPER, AND
THE EXISTING PROHIBITED EXPORTATION OF FOREIGN RAGS.
_I:T he materials from which paper has hitherto been manu-
factured, are almost exclusively waste products, such as rags,
and the refuse from the linen and cotton manufactures, although