The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-02-21 00:00:00

to this ship, which confirmed his previous statement. No
pains were spared to render the ship seaworthy, and the
officers of the ship inspected her before sailing, and
expressed their satisfaction of her condition. The report
°f the military officers showed that the arrangements for
the troops were satisfactory. He repeated his former
statement that she left port in an efficient manner, but
that she met with rough weather, and was injudiciously
pushed against the sea, which strained her, and her leak.
age was an unavoidable accident from stress of weather •
He did not think the dockyard officers were to blame.

PERSIA.

Mr. Layard referred to the treaty that had been signed
between Russia and Persia, by which a portion of the
Turkish territory had been ceded to Russia. It was a
question of great importance to this country with regard
to our Indian possessions, and required an explanation
from the Government ; and if he had asked for an
explanation, or had made remonstrances to the Russian
Minister in this country. He asked if the Persian
negotiations at Paris had been broken off, and he com-
plained of the delay of the production of the papers
relating to Pers is ?
Lord Palmerston said th at he knew nothing of such a
treaty, except that stated .by the hou. member. It was
not true that the Persian negotiations at Paris had b?en
suspended or interrupted, and he had no reason to alte-
his former opinion as to the result; and under these cir •
cumstances he considered a discussion of the matter in
that house must have a very injurious effect—(hear, hear)
and he asked for a little further delay before laying th
paper on the t able. It would not have been right for her
Majesty's Government to interfere, or make any remon-
strance with the Russian Minister on such information as
that given to the house.

SHIPPING OF GOODS.

Mr. Newdegate called attention to the present plan
adopted at the custom houses relative to the return of
Imports and exports of goods at the various ports, and put
a question in reference to it..
Mr. Wilson said that the tables were produced by the
Board of Trade. So far as his knowledge went, he knew
of no order for any change in this matter. It might have
appeared that where there was a laxity of information,
the clerks of the Custom House might have called on the
merchants and desired them to be more particlar in future.

DESTITUTE SOLDIERS' WIVES.

Sir J. Tyrrell again called the attention of the Under
Secretary for War to the destitute state of the soldiers'
wives an d children outside the camp at Colchester. They
amounted to 130 families. The women were suffering the
greatest misery. One woman with seven children had on
one day but a pennyworth of potatoes and a halfpenny
worth of greens to subsist on, and had it not been for
private char ity, the consequences must have been fright-
ful. There were 30 young married females living on a
penny a day ; and the women and children had to sleep in
hovels, and wherever they could. The misery arose from
the stoppage of the soldiers' pay.
Mr. Frederick Peel said that instructions had been given
to General Gascoigne, who had the command of the camp
at Cochester ; and, until he had received his report he
could not state anything decisive. It would be a bad pre,
cedent to afford relief in this instance from the army fund
and to break through the army regulations, in reference to
to soldie ra marrying. He saw no reason for their marrying
—(laughter)—for they were very young men, and were only
enlisted for ten years.

EILLETTIN G SOLDIERS.
In reply to Mr. Cowan,
Sir G. Grey said that notice would be given of the
clauses to be introduced into the Mutiny Act.

NEW WRIT.
A new writ was moved for North Leicestershire, in the
room of Lord Granby, called to the Upper Bouse.

RETURNS.
Several unopposed returns were ordered.

W AYS AND MEANS.

On the motion for, the house going into committee on
Ways and Means,
Mr. Gladstone presented a petition against the proposed
alteration in the Tea and Sugar Duties.

THE INCOME TAX•

Mr. Disraeli- rose to move the following resolution :
" That, in the opinion of this house it would be expedient,
before sanctioning the financial arrangements for the ensuing
year, to adjust the estimated income and expenditure in the
manner which shall appear best calculated to secure the
country against the risk o f a deficiency in the years 1858.9
and 1859-60, and to provide for such a balance of revenue
and charge respectively, in the year 1360, as may place it in
the Dower of parliament at that period, without embarrass
merit to the finances, altogether to remit the income tax."
In introducing the motion, he said that ha should not
introduce into its consideration any topics to induce the
house to depart from a consideration o° the financial details
before them. It often happened, and it was natural that a
difference of opinion should exist in that house oa subjects
that came before them, but he thought that on a question
of finance that difference of opinion ought not to exist. He
approved of the course taken by her Majesty's government
in reference to the war income tax. He looked upon
that as a political and not a financial question, and
he regretted the government should have allowed the
country to have been agitated relative to its continu-
ance this year. It might be said that Parliament
was not sitting, and they could not, therefore, do so. But
there were other means of allaying such excitement, either
by a speech or a letter, and the noblo lord might have
taken an opportunity of allaying the feelings of the people
on an occasion similar to that when he visited Manchester.
Failing that, he regretted its abrogation had not been
announced in the speech from the throne. It was therefore
from a desire to relieve the mind of the country that he
made an attempt* on the first night of the session to
induce the Government to give the required information.
He had brought forward his resolution in the belief that,
from the statement of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the
Government policy would render impossible the removal of
the income tax in 1860. In 1857-8 the revenue was
estimated at £66,365,000, and the expenditure at
£65,474,000. leaving a surplus revenue of £BO,OOO or
£90,000. He was willing to believe, in considering the
expenditure for the years 1858 and 1859, and 1859 and
1860, that there would be no war with Persia or China;
but, it appeared that there would be, in the year 1858 and
1859 an income of only £60.404,000 to meet an expendi-
ture, showing a deficit of about £5,000,000. If that was
the case in the year 1858 9, the deficit would be increased
in 1859-60, when another reduction would take place
in the duties on tea and sugar. The general effect of
the plan would be that, at the end of three years,
there would be found sin accumulated deficiency of
.e 10,000,000 when they arrived at the period for the
removal of the Income Tax of 7d in the pound. The policy
of the Chancellor of the Exchequer would lead to a per-
petuation rather than au extinction of the Income Tax, and
the object of his resolution was to provide against that
result. Since he placed his resolution on the paper,
however, there had been a change in the scheme of the
Government, which was inconsistent with their original
proposition. He had COME forward with a resolution to
meet a deficiency, and the Chancellqr of the Exchequer
had met it with a statement of his intention to retnrn to the
expenditure of 1853-54. If there was to be such a vast
reduction in the years 1858 and 1859, why not commence
in the year 1857.8. In 1853-4 the gross expenditure was
£58,840,000, and the revenue fgr 1857.8 was £63,455,000,
showing a surplus revenue over expenditure of £4,000,000.
With this state of the finances, there would be a prospect of
the removal of the income tax. The Chancellor of the
Exchequer proposed the most odious of direct and indirect
t,,xatien, for if there was any one arrangement more than
another that ought not to be interfered with, it was that
respecting the tea duties, and by his second scheme they
would not be required. He repudiated party motives in
bringing forward his motion, and defended the course
takan by him, or called for under existing circumstances.
There had been two efforts to remove the income tax, at
different times, by the country gentlemen in that house,
and in both cases they had been successful. fa the year
1816, Mr. Baring said, that if the house granted
tip tax to meet the expenses of the late war they would
never have done with it, and that was the year after the
battle of Waterloo was fought. The country 'gentlemen
took the advice of Mr. Baring, and removed £16,000,000
of taxation, and yet the Government did extremely well.
Again, in 1848 there was a deficiency, and the 'Premier
came down and asked the House to raise the income tax
from 7d to is in the pound ; but the House refused, and
the Premier had no difficulty in raising the amount required
—about three Millions and a helf----by ether means. He had
no
en wishi te tont embarrassintention
to
fallk upon the pn cir had
back
a o the Gove rnmee
xn t
ei It
teuyd a bona
f 104 4
b" would even give them what assistanpe he mid enee-
matl. But if the policy was to coutinue the saerificee
whir:
the country had been making for the war, to arrive
at a 'a•-e deficit in the year when the income tax was to
be remo ,d,
. .
he would do his best to prevent it. In the