The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1806-03-29 00:00:00

former in the peciportion mentioned by the T.earned
Gee:tern:in. The tax Neer arpraisenient, he said.
would b ra's d by a stand' duty ; and, he admitted,
that the state of the audion duty was worthy of
Brat conideration. circumstance of first set-
ting up Oliva to isle, then buying them in, and
afterwards disposing of them by private contra t,
he was sensible of being a great source of frauds
upon the revenue.
Mr PERCIVAL suggested, as one remedy for
this, to deprive the principal of all right to become
himself a bidder. He then, once more, reverted
to the impropriety of voting Ways and Means be-
yond the Supply, which, he said, WAS repugnant to
the constitutional principle of not laying unneces-
sary burdens upon the people. He also suggested,
that, as the Exchequer Bills were, at present, very
little ptodudive to the revenue, the tar upon them
should be dedufted, at the Bank, in the lime manner
ns the tax on stocks ; which, he th eight, was the
only way of making every individuel pay his just
proportion.
Lord H. PETTY, in reply to the constitutional
olijeaion of the Learned Grip lern4o, said he under-
s.eod tee true restraint to be, that the Ways and
Means should not he applied by Government before
the supplies were voted.
Mr ROSE contended that they should not even
be proposed to the House, till the Supplies were
known.
Mr. FOX said, he understood the constitutional
, p •nciple to be, that none of the Ways and Means,
-r
beyond the supply, should he is the hinds of Go-
Imam, at. What was now proposed. was some-
thine iii the nem- of the subsidies granted last
year ; the i louse agreed to vote, though the
Minieer tne day said, that they only might et
applicelee trceties, in which, he confessed, that at
thet lime, iiele p ogress was made. He admitted
the: i, wa,, gene. eily speaking, an inconvenience,but
h- dot ne7 conceive it to be againse any fixed princi-
p e or rule Of Parliament. As to the charge of
censure upon the late Minister, he did not under-
stand his Noble Friend to have said a word to that
effeet ; on the contrary, he heard him give well-
teethed praise for his plan of the Sinking rued.—
Neither did he conceive it any eulogium on him-
all or his Noble Friend, to express a determi-
nation to put an end to frauds. It was said that
the late Administration had made attempts to
check them ; but it seemed the first attempt was
made as far back as ten years ago, and be did
net know why. during so long an interval, no
progress had bean made in it. With resped to the
exemptions to the Property !'ax, he confessed he
saw great difficulty in first taking, and then restor-
ing them : but then he thought it better than the
present mode, which admitted of frauds, but af-
lorded no remedy when the party was oppressed. .
—As to the Iron and Silk Trades, he should
-othing of them now, as they wouid be subject:
.utur. consideration He said he fully conetee
in taking at MCI the full proanrtion of tea eel cent.
upon the Property TAY. His Hon. Fiend (Ms.
Francis) said. that after all there was no security
against its being carried further. It was true, that
there was no parliamentary security .geinst it,
should the necessities of the c..arery again re-
quire it ; but neither wee: a :here be any such
security, if it weritaignierted in a gradual manner.
The *tale of We per cent. at once was a pledge
that teen Was net aestie as enemata& of carrying it
any father; but eies that isitootien would not
have been st.i:e.l, if it crevirtned wee enmeshed in
a gradual ir inner. 1 he praise wl•ic:: his Noble
Friend bestuwed upon hies elf, was that of a love
fe economy, a determination to entenite i..to, and
cerrcel reties of every kind ; and also, among other
tbient, to follow up that inquiry into military
20)11,e5, Ix Inch had been institute.: by his Right. Hon.
preJ' ce This was the pledge which he gave
to etre 11.euse and the puolic, and was a pledge
wilieh be was cre.f. 'era lie never would recede from.
Mr. ROSE and Mr. FOX severally explained.
Su V GIBBS spoke in corroboration of what
was stated by Mr. Percival, relative to there not
being legal evidence to bring the deli auders of the
revenue, in the West Indies. to punishment.
Sir W. Y'WNG said. he never objefted to a
Colonial Tax, but he now maintained that the prices
of sugar were not such as to admit of withholding
the drawback. Hr stated, that since the year 1794,
the planters in the West Indies never received with.
in one-third of what they did before, and unless the
drawback was continued. the sugars would not be
exported, bait fall in this country to a much lowa
price than ever they were at before.
Mr. HUSKISSON, after Adverting to some of
the topics which had been discussed before, said,
that he was glad to find the Noble Lord following
up the salutary plan of his late much-lamented
Friend, to raise a considerable portion of the sup-
plies within :he year. But his principal °hie& was
to chew, that the estimates of the last year were not
deficient 5.800,0001. es stated by the Noble Lord
and he entered into a variety of arguments. calcula-
tions, and obset rations. to chew that the deficiency
was no more than 1,100,0001. He said. a great
entharrassment arose, and pleat confusion also, from
taking the estimates sometimes from the most pro-
deelive, and at other times from the most unpro-
ductive quarters of the year. To remedy which,
he recommended that all the estimates should be
merle up to one determinate quarter, and that to be
the basis on which the Budget should, in future, be
founded.
Mr. VANSITTART took occasion, from what
bad been said of the Property Tax, to advert to the
conduit of a Noble Friend of bis (Lord Sidmouth)
who had first given vigour and creel to the Tee,
during the present war, and who bad thereby male
a saving to the public, of 85 millions, and of
4,000,0001. of annual charge.
Mr. S. BOURNE repeated the arguments used
by Mr. Percival and Sir V. Gibbs, resPtelMß the
frauds, &c. is the West Indies. which he allowed
to have bees enormous. He would not have
tinselled the Committee; but that he thought him-
self bound in duty to say so much, in vindication of
the late Board of Treasury, and of himself. as a
Member of it.
Lord 'TEMPLE said, whatever steps had been
taken to correct abuses. and to psiaisn them, In point
°I lat, none had been taken to prevent a recurrence
el them; nor to prevent the issue of Premiums on
Bert<. err of false Vouchers.
Nir. HUSKISSOei said, steps bed been taco

. • ,
an 3 a suit was new pcn Cog to recover the amount
of Premiums nn Nils, and a regulation made, that.
is future, no Bills should be drawn, but by the
Quarter-Master-General.
Mr. ROSE said, if the Noble Lord would look
into his own office, he would find, that a measure
had been adopted to put an end to the prodUce.
He would find minutes to that effeet in h; own
office, which were introduced by himself, da a to
had ever been kept before he came to it. Ne Ap-
proved, he said, of all the Taxer, and wau!d be
anxious to do every thing to modify them, so as to
make them as efftaual as possibh..
Mr. PERCIVAL repeated, that every thing had
been done, that was possible, to prevent both the
abuses and their recurrence.
Mr. Secretary FUX said. the public were then in
a miserable wry, if, after 5 years of continual exer-
tion, nothing could he done effetual. His No!ae
Friend had stated, that the present Ministers would
do all in their ii:nver to put a stop to those abuses,
and -tneiy Le might say so without meaning to
throw blame on the last Administration. Else
Right Hon. Gentleman had said, that he had been
the first who had introduced Minutes into the Pay-
Office ; and in having done so, he believed he did
not mean to east any cenbure on h's predecessors
The more difficulty there was in pleventil g those
abuses, the mire necessary it was to bet abiuut it
with a determined st ;rit and
After a few words from . il .rod Mr.
Huskisson, the reeiclutions were Av,rally leAti, and
agreed to ; and the Report orderer! to be received
to-morrow.

The Committee of Supply was postponed to
Monday ; and the House adj•surr,e.l to t i-morrow.

•• • For the Fere,lol I,,telliience see the last Page.