The Sun.
London, England, 1852-04-23 00:00:00

I that the duty on paper ought not to be considered as
part part of our permanent system of taxation . The Exerts
regulations coanected with the manul'acture of paper
wept most oppressive end vexatious; yet they were nut
sufficient to protect the honest against the fraudulent
mauutacturer. Notwithstanding the precautions of the
Excise, it was a notorious fact that large quantities 0f
paper were sold which bad never paid duty, stud they came
in competition with the, goods ot the fair and honest
o
trailer who was subject to taxation. The county of
Buckinghamshire, welch was re presented be
ate RIO
Hon. Gentleman the Chancellor of the Exchequer, woe'
admirably- adapted- -for--the enotedifemiure -of - - paper,
but most of the repel-swills in it were note
slant up in con, tqw new of the idurieus
tendency of the Exc os duties, which created
a kited of C011a,,,5ii,41 of et IA A, and threw the business
almost snorely into the hands of great capitalists. fle
would read en extract trom a 1. tter utdchesi•ed to the
Ch :ecellor of the Exchequer, and written by
a gentles
men well , ntitled to speak on such a subject...enamel/
Mr. Ingram, the proprietor of the Illustrated
, NeWs:-.7,, _
" 1 yesterday aid myself the son' to forward Mr
your accepts, ce a copy of the Illustrated London :Veers,
of which I am the proprietor, that I might bring 011 d es
your 'amine a copy of your portrait engraved for tbda.
j ,urnal —(Laughter.) I now take the liberty of Bft
dressing you upon a subject of national importance, °_.
te?.ting not only the trade aced the literature of the conn_
try inW%
general, but the welfare of the agricultural O
lotion in many districts, and especially in Buckinghneteas
snire and Hertfordshire. The *inject I allude to is tuof
of the Excise duty upon paper, with the whole effect 0,
which I am particularly acquainted, not, only as a new ae
paper proprietor, but as an extensive manufacturer a.
consumer of paper. Your Long and honourable 00r1;
nexien with literature, and the high position which Y to° e
now occupy in the councils c•f her Majesty, justiff.
in believing that sou will do me the honour to lieteo
to the facts which I proceed to lay before you, in, es„Pl;
nation of the practical injuries it flicted by this 'WY,— a
injuries which were, I am certain, never contentlm"eee
as possible when the tax was first levied. .! °;
scarcely scarcely explain to you that, when paper is made' 1t
the paper-manufacturer naturally dries the
wet; that, as the Excise duty is levied upon the tvetrt it
may be as light as possible when ho is favoured lv,"lt
the visits of the Excise•efficer; and that after it Ta
been so dried, and paid the duty, it must be Wlrtheis
again before it can be used in the printiugsoffiee- 'or
double process of drying and wetting, besides being tu,
tended by a very considerable expense for labour, Dee,:
rally damages the quality of the otoreo";
paper; and,
involves au additional cast in subjecting it to Preljsure:
that the article may recover the glossy and smooth °eta
face it has lost. Now, I have found by experiwerit sad
trial, that paper can be manufactured in a fit statehicb
the printer, with a beautifully smooth surface, ew dot
paper th"..h
would not be impaired by printing and drying, and
printing upon such paper could be carried to "'and
higher perfection as an art, both for letter-press e eto
engravings, than can be attained by paper dried anunets
wetted according to the present practice. The deloPuce,
of such paper would be scarcely tee ceptible to the Wood
but would require for such paper as the Plus° or
London News 14 printed upon a weight of seed 1131t1
water amounting to no less than 131 b. per resin' ve to
were to use such paper in my business I should 1
eed,
pay an Excise tax upon water of no less than 18': lb,
per ream, in addition to a tax of the same rate Per
on the paper itself. Now, I consume twenty tons of
ar,.
per week, or 1,040 tons and upwards per nellece
a fact which I state that you may see at a g Bei
what an enormous sum I should have to pay as a Per) fa.
for using the improved paper, which I could Manusa a
Lure by the aid of a little water. lam quite willing way
prepared to inform all printers and pepermakers 0 toe
experiment, and its results, which could be insinedietVo
adopted with much benefit to all concerned, provide% 4
could obtain a removal of the Exifise dal. sag
other inmumerable objections to the impost, which P. to
an es
remind you that it involv. a considerable trouble a Ato
practical man I could point out, I may be permitted
dt
16
pe ose in the collection, both to the manufacturer 50° a
the ou,l.uu.hout,e, and prevents books from being priory
where they ought to be printed, namely, at the PaPite
mill ittele, Were it not tor the operation of the Pet,e,
duty I could print at my paper-mill educational bootiop
‘,lr
bl,e,i,s,k.
bT.e.sttatmh,enctos,st&,c.t., athud,,iintkideetidd,deedveLymdpie;ietroiPtt:l3,ost,
'plof rittl,„ent,plaptehr;nka Itttatilvd YOll
you rioted grant me the honour of an interview. , lee
must, Sir, in your youth, have wandered obeli" ilO
hsio,hi,,faecituhriloythperrosve equallyooui if
beautiful streams of Beckiegeamshire, and listeneus
the easy sound of the water wheel, tearing to pieces:l;p
other wise useless article, to manutacture it into atiefietti•O
paper; and it must have given you pleasure to re em
..
that this
plottment to great numbers of the rural poPoteve to
gave hralthtul, pleasant, and remuneratioigatio, ,
Most of the Bockinghaeashire mills here, 1 grieesiton
rentittel you, been swept away under the °Pe' bet
of the Excise duty, and transferred to barrtelLeces
populous coal districts, leaving the population of
_P“len,
inghaecabire unemployed, and to a great extent
med. Ihi %ve no hesitation in saying that, if the rfid be
duty upon paper were abolished, these mills wt°_ceopie.
again prosy; ~=rotis and employ large numbers War:cup
Nor is this iene only evil result of the tax upon
,g,dilueal
rural districts . One article, straw, which 15 PI iiieg,
by the farmer„ is no sooner employed in paper ince-cote
for which it is well adapted, than it is taxers 300 P etitteo
I need not dwell' at further length upon such a In's
injury to agticulture as that is. ' the
He believed it could be proved that threetfifthvaifLes,
value of paper consisted iu the labour of man,!.....1 di,
and chtldreo; and considering that the agricultin foie
tricts were precisely the localities beat ad513_7,,,',, fa
their water
.power and the purity of their sirec7l•oo3o
the paper manufacture, he contended that be on"_„ows
claim to suot nit ibis motion to the consideration
tlemen oo site, even as an agricultural qt" '2' dotibt
(Hear.) Wit b regard to Ireland, he bad oeuid wet
whatever that the repeal of the Excise duty
,Tfeum'eet of
a most bete-Acne( effsct in producing the emisloY
er opt'
labour. The Excise duty necessitated a much lairFeyeaettees
went of a paper manufactory; and ther,7erraties i!S.
tat than would otherwise be required for tneepriu 0
country which was so . pressed down by °i
coital 11
Ireland, mid where there was a &tieing of .
einottatt
carry on various branches of industry, it was itnen_pnials
that a nift.,Juigteture so valuable in respect to the
ou_
,v, oo
meat of labour as the paper manufacture
.914..!;be0
longer be si'vackled by this Excise (ucy trtaiosPen ItY
coif the d°ol
it was borne in mind that the Irishtreet portion
the duty was -,
raised wets eery small; for the
it was desired to der' •
prohibit to a great c,f,9
extract from
Bebad a very short
tter
tent the
much
martol), Idoutcuer
erei;eo
revenue.—(l3ear.) • Ireland
tlenien inupon this q
letter writteta by a gen
11C1
lion, and he said —e I ive constant e I went a e
timuewhaich
"As a manufactiere! g
all
of
this mp 0
030 st 0
d by 121) se
. ll"—(this entle n wrote fro
be
the friendship of both), that
ear (.. m to
ftuhlelmw
jangsetarutocteS_oo ind tv,w,lruka)ls....,
e ndgl alimicaalitlbyini
Dripsev-mills. n .
of the pariteh, both Protestant it
and Itrelle,
clergymen .
1 and attention to my business,WiE .
ti(T,..rcio,e thatat her cut of the wo • b the
devote enjoy the
r tn tkliouee• .0
Goo
only of one day in the week, the best P Of
exception . 0
. 1 to In
of which is gis e. yduties as poor-law gusto
this union."
_. .
h be
Thus showing the importmice of the repeal of t t be ito
as an industrial question, and there could _wet
n9dea:Vtrboet:tibi :ay MIN
duty
reason why this country should not manufacture YO,
petters of paper its we eve re of colt -n goOdet i'„OS t°
hear.) We mightibeby 00
itooroltisbiea (wfuhtu:w7odrildd.n--ot(ll,seetalt;;lly cause the .0301-
nd re,
come into this country to buy up cotton waste flora
paper aud sending it to ?upply
fuse of rope for the tepees purpose of IDEllaliee lbo
was a system that did not supply revenue, but itn ;Old
this country of a valuable meeutaciure, and prof I'AP
revenue, moral
touched
uponut
the employ i.or own colonie'rieutised
them. of lab,ur, and the improverri'lli/0 btr
important view ef this-
at those physicalotshe,, ppocrihefiastersanittieit :oh
,roebeftretstrhdhe teolpeople'
1 nationebtbe ei
o1;at )
go:tit
to if, and diet not apply to any other question 4?i'teratere
or taxation, was t hetffect of this duty on th! Jo, gull;
of the couutry. must ask the favour 01, ._.„ 00
Gentlemen opp. question that peculiatlY , soits
isles., if tbey condeaceeded to g?..lera,swf te
qusstion, and also those who sat on his own
.1!3 'beetl!
house, tot to make use of that argument that hen
_OOO
osition to a POI', 00
as it were, a stop argument in OPPI
was said the du,Veas
price of book's, th
for the repeal of the paper duty-
eltent into the re's"o-al
paper entered to so aunrchaser of hooka tall'
that this
not feel the Mr. Fox Maule haet""elf.
cellorof the Exchequ,,erirda
v, ~
effect of the repeal, and the late Chart
t n quoted the example 0. 00
used that ergo.
- In,umtsold for 505., and the Orlon t°
aerceet,ebrs co'nPnt eats'l Dictionary. That book, idatir
said, weighed sle :r
lb., amouuted upon that I.°;, tllO
berg only liety,l'et would be the reduction of 6°. sal
6d. only
shot statement that it had no referene'ilio
onnorli'l that sold for 50s. ? He had only te to
be took upon the question.—( ce •) 00
the position t or
the effect of the piper duty, and no cheeti
position was
in i caeli
et
es- 0 works that sold for Boa., but upon, the re
expansive works
that sold at - • sea ' 00r
speces of literature he was
.rbr-rO, 1
popular literature that
derived
_eiati _
i which. was from an extensive circi. tees
turn o
was er
the
s
ee tone be
That
upon ; hut, even if he were to aliude to the et 4bettes
should like to know if a reduction in the price ( Whe
ks ? 00
was to be of no value to the purchaser of boo- duty ,o
was the nsearrirg of their having repealed tbe hated `ti
Bibles and Prater-books, but because they w'es, se 0
increase the circuladon of those secred volltu'eogO?
they knew that the Excise duty on paper
•be" e thee) s
extent the effect ot [novena:llg the circulation °iv; tvel.
That view of the question which be was Vrg yi.'o%
not at all met by the argument about 1 wood
loch's Dictionary, and he asked as a person!'
outttte '
that upon this occasion, at least. it should be I meta.ergo,Pill
though he kieew it bad been used as an e—e 'been Ns'
went when th e repeal of the paper duty lil`„ be tea
ii-
posed. He w ould point out what appeareo snap plotbe
the injurious -effect of the paper duty up cb.t could a-
ttire. It was, not that it raised its price, but le la qti. _
demons raver,: mathematically that it deteriorat
roov'iug ton;
lity—(Hear),--that it stood in the way of imp eill°ill
quality of th at literature that might be circulated_one
t,
the people, a rid which that House had a Gee! re der
terest in taking every step in their power ietwapetlsa,,
moral and is 'proving as possible. They hadeut, ,011Fdi
they wanted goodness. They had their pe"":7.9rooontja
Lions; what , wood iii the way of reeking theausit'it; toy te
they could be made?—thee paper dulyttase !e a pewee;
pxWain how shut operated. Take the
Mr.e ,au:sell,
lanot
publication, and be would quote from klop tete° the
was extensive ly engaged in the publicationbodi °!. stli
works, calculi tted to 'improve the gres,
~ aue je ,
le One, of those 'sok
e • g was elnltleU .ii
tlf-V.— •A to
peop • That goo . slit
entitled—the Popular Educator.
week. p
~i
, ,-, seethed islig lie i 0 Short of 1001. per . bet peove,
perm( G
f r circulating
the Gov.,rnint it etc hard cash, o
_ix
tt
ee evil
Th, dal 0, the nso t r used 1
~,lu _
~,,
19
pUk)all.d., •
if it Were reVO,OO 6
cis ions toe-k eei say that: 1001. per wet-k. . _
_rice
co,
the publioatice t 6 would still be itsued— psi
trilej'ge
not be rtgclucqci 4—tt was low enough 0 secure