The National Register.
London, England, 1816-05-13 00:00:00

LEATHER TAX.

Lord A ILTHOR PE, in rising to make the present motion, felt
Itnecessary to state, that he should not have stood forward on
this occasion, had it not been that his constitusints were greatly
sod particularly interested in it ; hut se strong was his opinion
of the ticcasity of the repeal of this tax upon one of out
greatest staple
.ennittiodlties, that let witoey-cr would hose
lirmight it forward, the motion would ha% e had his slur port.
formerly we had ale ass beim able to meet our opponents, and
to undersell them in at foreign market; but now, owing to the
additional duties laid upon the trade, it was •a the greatest
state of depression. If, however, the ditty ware taken off, the
price of the article would fall, and the expert would, in his
opining, increase in proportion equal to the late consumption
et the army; trade would increase, and employment would
again be found for our distressed journeymen. Thus notch
the repeal of the tax would do towards the relief of the trade ;
bat still
_more would he done for the tanners by a relief from
the vexation attending the collection (tithe ditties. The Noble
Lord then entered at length into a detail of the nooks of col-
lecting the dirties on It artier. In 1814, the ditty was only
633.0001. and in the present year there must unaviyidabis toe o
still ;treater falling otl. The Noble Lord conelitiled by moving
for leave to bring in a Hill to repeal the tax upon leather.
Mr. W. SMITH would feel ita very serious measure, in the
present situation of the country, to take off a tax producing
600.0001. a year, mile..s there was a prospect of reimbursing the
rAchrirer Airiest to the full amount. He thought, however,
this might be done, and many inconveniences avoided, by
doing us% ay the stensting of hide, and obliting the tanner to
enter in a tr,ok all hirleasent into his yard, anti aliment out; and
upon these hides he should pry,* ditty of two shillings.
The t'tt.y xcau.on Of the ELI:4I44II'FM ssiJ, if the Noble I .ord
and the Honourable Gentleman had contented themselves with
moving for a Committee, to winch the ingitious on the table
sagalit have been referred, to enquire into the biert, he should
Just )rase opposed the motiou.—He thought the plan by Mr.
4intialt worthy of consideration ; w rash regard to thedep•ciation
under which the Leath. r Trade had laboured, the Noble,Lord
het] ansagrial himself, by saying, that every other trade was.
also derds -I.el The Leather Trade most hair lidt an extracts,:
Binary ileptiev:iim in conyequerce of the peace. Within
two last year., :etc r the opening of the rivers in the South to
A werica. the importation of hides had greatly increased. in
swoop nee of the cheupue:s and goad quality of those bides,

THE NATIONAL

in preference to thwe of the Confine:it. The Noble Lord
. had said nOthing of the•atieet of the tax upon the eins-:111111r.
Eat it would be itsatislaetion to the !loose In know that the erne'
fat prices of Leather tt cry lower than before the itn;,osition of the
lay. 'the price was 0119119d:11. now it had decreased to Illy 1.
If tanners obtained their raw niat-iial, cheaper, it teas but
reasonable to suppose that the consumer would reap the benefit
•f the dim:Minion. Bark, in 1511, was under 531. in 1513, it
was :41/1. in the present year it had deer eased in 'nice to between
rd. and 211. thus cannot; one third in -price. or IS per coot.
anon Leather, and mom the article of Rink 30 per cent. Raw
hides were from 3d. toad. per lb. on the ;overage. This year
they had fallen front to 3.1. making a difference of 21 per
cent. With respect to the tax, the House must be aware of
the necessity of maintaiiiinc the revemic entire. if it could be
done without real injury to the emtitt..y, nod at the same time
afford an adequate protection to trade. It was his dills' theta
fore to abautlou the tax, for the reason he had stated. *A
Com-
mittee had sat in 1513. aid au inference was to be drawn from
the enquiry before them, namely, that half measures would not
do, for the Noble Lord desired the repeal of the entire 'fax-- a
repeal of half of it would not have mem ered the object of the
petitioner,. Wishing, how ei er, to eke every satc.r;tetion, he
should move for an *mollify to see what moult be done,
and object to the motion of the Noble• Lord fir the repeal.- -
He tltca 'ell an anieu.bnent—•' For to Cnmm'ttct• to consider
the state of the laws relating to the 1114111114etUry 6t; and duties
on, Leather."
Lord Costmrow was in favour of the otiTionl motion. The
fall in the price of leather arose front the depression in trade.
The objections which lie hail to the to were, that it was 41100.
tXrettSice in its collection, fell heavily and equally on the poor
as the rich, and operated to the injury of agriculture.
Sir J. YORKE thought relief oor•ht to be elven to the'
consumer; for if the tax was to be taki I; off, he dad not think
there would lw any disposition to totter the price of shirrs..
An empty Exchequer, and- the people walking in high•prired
shoes, was not a sirs agreeable prospect for the country.--Se..
veral other Memhers spoke on the cia,..tion.
Lord AI:114()!A Pc then replied, and the House divided —.for
the Committee, 12I—for the repeal, HU —Majority 33. A Seleet
Committee was then appointed, and the petitions were rcferreff
to the said Committee.

Colonel Wool) gave notice that he should move fora Com-
mittee to enquire into the propriety of legalizing the sale of game
—Adjourned.

Frtinnv, MAY 10.

Mr. ILYTTIXTON 110 rive. that he <lonthl, on the Inth of
May, aubmit a 'nation to the lipase on the evil tendency of
Lotteries, and propose seine mode to correct the evil.

IRISH GRINTS.

Mr. Fcrgcan sty moved for the House to go into a Com-
mittee of Supply.
41,0001. was granted for the .expence of the Charter School
—3'4.0001. fur the Foundling Hospital-42,0001. Mr thelluuse.-
of Indle-try-28,2801. for the Lunatic Asylnm —8,9321. for the
Hibernian Society-9,MM. tor the OrphauDouse-9.0101. for
Westmorland Hospltal--1,4UU1. for the Lying-in Hospital—
I,Soul. for Stephen's Hospital--50001. for the Fever Hospital-
-9,6731. far the Roman Catholic Semioary-00001. for the Edu-
cation of the Poor-24,71V. for the Secretary's Office, in re-
spect to statiopery-12,9001. for Proclamations, sle.-2i,9001.
for Criminal Prosecutions-2,3001. fur the apprehension of
public offenders-90001. for the Non-conformist Mlui.ters---
Z,9001. for the Seceding Ministers—lXlol. for the Public Offices
—31,1701. fur the Board of Works-21,6001. for the Trading
Manufactures-19,0001. for the 'Commissioners of Streets in
Dublin-10,11001. for the Dublin Society-4,9151. fur the Farm-
ing Society-2,5001. for the Cork Institution.
The Report was brought up, and ordered to be received on
Monday.
The House went into a Committee on the Malt Duty Bill, in
which some amendments were made.
The Report was ordered to be received on Monday.
Mr. BANKE% gave notice for Friday next,.of a motion re-
specting the Elgin Marbles.