The Sun.
London, England, 1852-12-10 00:00:00

REGISTRATION •OF LANDS.

Mr. COWPER gave notice that on! Monday next he
should move for leave to bring in a bill for the Registra-
tion of Land Sales.

THE BUDGET.

On the order of the day for going into committee on
Ways and Means,
Mr. T. DUNCOMBE said the house was placed in a
most extraordinary position:- For his own part, his own
constituents were not anxious that the house should go
into committee at all on the Government statement ;
and perhaps he should be called factious for doing his
duty on this occasion. But he had been called factious
by every Government that existed for some years—(a
laugh)—and it should not deter him from doing his duty
now. (Hear, hear.) The fact was, neither he nor his
constituents wanted the budget of the Government—(a
laugh)—and therefore he should move that they do not
go into committee. (Hear, hear.) He thought that
was the best and most proper course to take,
seeing that the right honourable gentleman
the Chancellor of the Exchequer had stated that a deci.
sion upon one of his resolutions was to be considered a
decision upon the whole, and therefore any decision to
be come to ought to be arrived at before they got into
committee. (Hear.) No equivalent whatever was given
for the doubling of the house tax ; for while the tax-
payer was treated with an extra cup of tea or a pot of
beer a-week, he was to have his other burthens doubled.
(A laugh.) He would not stand this ; and in spite of
being considered as doing that which would hurt the
feelings of the Government, he must oppose the Budget
without more ado. (A laugh.) The house had been
told that the window tax was repealed from sanitary mo-
tives ; but it was no such thing. For thirty years
public were opposed to it, and it was not unt:l the Go-
vernment of the day was satisfied that it could be main-
tained no longer that it was repealed. (Hear,. hear.) It
would be a waste of time to discusss the question of the
honse tax ; and if there was to be a vote of no confidence
taken, the proper time for doing it was now, before go-
ing into committee. (Hear, hear.) He should therefore
move that the Speaker do not leave the chair. (Hear.)
The amendment having been seconded,
Mr. WALTER said he should vote for the amend-
ment, but at the same time he denied that this question
ought to be taken as a vote of want of confidence.
There was no parallel between the case of the present
Government and that of Sir Robert Peel in
1841 ; there was no deficit in the revenue, but, on the
contrary, there was a surplus, and consequently there)
was no necessity for doubling the house tax. (Cheers.
He did not object to the house tax in the abstract, but
the necessities of the country did not require its being
doubled, and the proposal of the Government ought to
be abandoned. (Hear, hear.)
Mr. ALCOCK was opposed to doubling the house tax,
but was decidedly in favour of the proposed repeal of the
malt tax and the tea duties, and he should be sorry to
see the present Government defeated. (Hear, hear.) He
was for repealing the whole of the Malt Tax ;
but rather than get nothing, he was quite willing to ac-
cept of half ; and he was disposed on that account to
continue his support to the Government. (Hear, hear.)
It was as unjust to tax malt as to tax coals ; and for the
sake of the consumer, he demanded that the malt tax
should at once be repealed. (Hear, hear.) It could be
done without doubling the house tax, by either extend.
ing the income tax or the probate and legacy duty to
real property ; and he called upon the Government to take
that course. At present the income tax was only paid upon
12,000,0001., whereas it ought to be paid upon
400,000,000/. He was quite ready to extend the income
tax.'to the poor man with 12s. a-week, at the rate of
3 per cent., provided Government was ready to abandon
all the indirect taxations that were levied upon articles
of daily consumption. Nor was he opposed to extending
the income tax to Ireland--indeed he was informed Ire-
land was anxious for it—(a laugh)—and he did not won-
der at it, when he remembered the saving her people
would have a right to claim in the shape of a remission
of indirect taxation. Why, at present they were paying
taxes at the rate of 20 or 30 per cent. instead of three,
and the sooner the house agreed to abandon this vicious
system of taxation, the better it would be for all parties.
(Hear, hear.)
Sir E. L. BULWER LYTTON said the question of
the income tax was so large in itself, that it was impos-
sible to discuss it fairly except upon an occasion ex-
pressly set apart for it. (Hear, hear.) So far, however,
as its extension was concerned, the Government were
only acting in accordance with the recommendation of
the committee over which the hon. member for Montrose
had presided. It appeared to him that the house was

.. -
agreed that incomes derived from uncertain and perishable
sources could no longer be taxed in the same degree ;
and here again the proposal of the Government

was in accordance with that understanding. (Hear,
hear, and cheers.) With regard to the ques-
tion of the house tax, he thought a good selection had
been made in granting the repeal of the malt and tea
duties as an equivalent ; though he should have pre-
ferred, in place of the repeal of the malt tax, they should
be called'to remit the duty on soap or paper. (Hear,
hear.) On the whole, however, he thought the Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer, acting as a political economist,
had made an excellent selection in proposing to repeal
the tea duties, because such a measure as that
would not only benefit the people in a domestic point
of view, but greatly increase our trade and commerce
also. (Hear, hear.) The repeal of the malt tax, too,
would have a similar effect, and since it was a bold
step in the right direction the Government were entitled
to credit for having proposed it. (Hear.) If agreed to
it would cheapen the beer, while it would extend the
operations of the farmer, and he hoped Government
would hesitate before they abandoned the scheme.
(Hear.) Indeed, he was told that this reduction in the
malt tax would reduce the price of wholesome
beer by a penny a quart—.(no, no)—and that he felt
would be a great boon conferred on the consumers.
(Hear, hear.) That great free trade authority, Mr.
M'Culluch, was in favour of such a reduction, and
in answer to those who said this was a question of
town against country, he must be allowed to say, that
he rather thought it was a question of free trade against
protection. (Hear, hear.) The house tax is stated by
Mr. Mill to be one of the fairest taxes, and Mr. M'Cul-
loch, a great authority, quite concurred in this opinion.
(Hear.) It was generally agreed that houses should be
rated by expenditure rather than by capital. (Hear.)
Property is so subdivided in this country that the
average incomes of landlords is about 1501., and such
being the case, a land tax would be most unfair. With
regard to the extension of the house tax, we have been
told that this would interfere with the electoral franchise.
Now, in his opinion, it was a dangerous thing that a class,
exercising such electoral power, should be exempt from
the tax which theycan inflict by their influence upon others.
He was tke last person to impute factious motives to
gentlemen opposite, but he could not help feeling that
their opposition to the Government was unjust. They
had specially limited the Government to a further ex-
tention of free trade, and now that measures of
this nature were proposed, that resolution was
forgotten. He attributed this result not to mis-
representations, bu to an honourable ambition
to replace the Government; but the misfortune was,
that while these party struggles were going on, the coun-
try was suffering from neglect, and for the sake of all in-
terests, both agricultural and commercial, he prayed the
house at once to put a stop to them. (Hear, hear.)
The Minister had pledged himself to study re-
trenchment and economy, as well as to prepare
measures of domestic reform of a practical nature,
and since the Government had come into office not to

legislate for a single class, but for the -general benefit
of the whole community, he demanded that they
should have a fair trial. (Hear, hear, and cheers.)
He entreated the house to continue this

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Government in their career of useful legislation, and
with that entreaty he should resume his seat, fully de-
termined to support the motion for going into commit-
tee. (Cheers.)
Mr. GLADSTONE de recated any discussion of the
general merits of the overnment, and advised ttie
house, if it wished to, e progress with the business
of the day, to abstain from aristocratical displays, or
from adverting to extraneous matters--(hear, hear),
-,--and confine its immediate attention to the immediate