The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-01-10 00:00:00

MERSEY CONSERVANCY.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE NORTHERN TIIIES.
Sir,—ln your remarks upon the Manchester bill
for preserving the better conservancy of the river,
you express considerable indignation against our
neighbours for presuming to interfere in this
important question ; but you omit to point out
how, otherwise, that desirable object is to be
scoured. I presume that you will admit that the
constitution and executive of the existing board of
conservancy is open to amendment; and probably,
as you are not favourable to centralisation in
general, you will prefer a local board to one.com-
posed exclusively of members of the Government.
So far, then, you and the promoters of the bill are
at one ; but there is this important distinc.:
tion between you : Manchester men finding
that their conservancy of the river is
not as it ought to be, exert themselves
to secure its amendment. You, and the Liverpool
folks generally, including the Town Council, the
Dock Committee, the Chamber of Commerce, and
other associations supposed to be interested in the
preservation of, life, ships, and other property,
' supinely sit still and do nothing, although it is
clearly shown by the surveys of the marine sur
veyors, and the report of the British Association,
that the navigation of the river is rapidly Metes iorat
ing. Does not this look as if the relative geographiee 1
positions of Liverpool and Manchester wet e reversed
from that they are usually supposed to occupy ?
At any rate, the Manchester men show that they
take an interest in the subject, and so far have a
right to participate in its management; on the
other hand, the Liverpool gentlemen have a soul
above such low peddling matters, and therefore
should be excluded from all direct influence. Is
not this reasoning justified by the conduct of the
respective communities.—Yours, &c ,
QUERY.

Lea FORTHCOMING HiLally TERM.—On Wednesday the
list of enters for the ensuing Hilary Term was exhibited.
It is a singular circumstance that the last term commenced
on a Sunday, and the next term will also begin on a
Sunday. The courts will re-open on Monday next. The
aggregate cumber of rules in the three courts is 147. In
the Queen's Bench there are in the new trial paper three
rules for judgment and twenty-five for argument, whilst In
the special paper there are three for lodgment and eleven
for argument. There are likewise twelve enlarged rules.
In the Common Pleas there are six cases in the demurrer.
p iper, eight enlarged rules in the remanet list, thirteen new
trial rules, and three matters for judgment. In the
Exchequer there are three errors and aeplioations from the
Exchequer Chamber for judgment, and three for argument.
In the peremptory paper five rules, in the special paper
three for judgment, and nineteen for argument. In addi-
tion there are three new trial rules for judgment and
thirteen for argument.
THE INCOME TAx.—When, in 1853, the renewal of the
Income tax was proposed and agreed to, it wit*, by the act
of that session, continued to 1860 at decreasing rates,
viz :—ln 1853 and 1854 at the rate of 7d in the pound, in
1855 and 1856 at the rate of 61 in the pound, and for the
three years from 1857 to 1860 at the rate of 5d in
the pound. By the terms of the act referred to, on April
5, 1860, the income tax will. unless again renewed, expire.
Now, the year 1853 was a financial year of some import-
ance, for it was not only a year of peace and of enlargel
military estimates in a time of peace, but it was a year
of very considerable financial changes, made very
much with the view of terminating altogether the income
tax on the date last mentioned. Mr. Gladstone pointed
out to the House of Commons all the difficulties which any
attempt at the reconstruction of the tax with a view to its
permanence would involve, and argued that the real tendency
of any such attempt would be " the breaking up and de-
struction of the tax." It was, he contended, an engine of
gigantic power for great national purposes ; but there were,
he thought, circumstances attending its operation which made
it difficult, perhaps impossible, at any rate not desirable, to
maintain it as a portiun of the permanent and ordinary
finances of the country. He therefore proposed a substantial
plan of finance by which, in April, 1860, parliament should
be in a position to part with the income tax. his plan was
simple. First of all he estimated the average produce of the
income tax at £6,140,000. Then he provided £2,549,000
b. 3, means of additions to the permanent sources of
income ; £640,000 came to his aid by the reduction of
charge for the interest of the Three and a Quarter per
Cents., which in 1860 would come fully into operation.—
And lastly, he anticipated the assistance which the expiration
of £2,146,00{1 of Terminable Annuities would than give.
Against the average receipt of £6!149,000 of income tax,
Mr. Gladstone's plan, therefore,provided a sum of £5,335,000
to meet in 1860 a surrender of that tax. On this plan the
large and comprehensive scheme of finance which parlia-
ment adopted in 1853 was based. The war, however, came,
and not only interrupted the descending rates of income tax,
but augmented the original rate.—London Paper.