The Sun.
London, England, 1863-05-05 00:00:00

TAXATION OF CHARTIIES.

One of the most numerous and influential deputations
within. our recollection waited upon the Chancellor of the
Exchequer yesterday afternoon, at his official residence,
Downing-street, for the purpose of "respectfully urging the
withdrawal of the proposed measure for extending the in-
come tax to charities." Nearly 250 noblemen, members of
Parliament, and official representatives of the charities in
town and country were present, many of whom could not
gain admission to the room in which the interview took
place, and the ordinary solitude of Downing-street was ex-
changed for the bustle of Fleet street at midday.
His Royal Highness the Duke at CAMBRIDGE introduced
the deputation in the following terms :—Sir,—l am re-
quested by a very large body of gentlemen connected with
the chanties in this country to introduce this deputation to
you. I appear myself as the President of Christ's Hospital,
and we are requested to express our regret with respect to
the proposal you have made in regard to the extension
of the income tax to public charities. As there are
other gentlemen here who will speak on other charities,
I shall confine myself to Christ's Hospital. The measure
you propose will very much circumscribe our means of
doing good. Our institution will have to pay £2,000 a-year,
and that will take from us the power of providing for 40
boys. Then, again, the Hetherington Charity is another in-
stitution with which I am connected, and which will also
suffer from this tax. That charity grants annuities to the
blind, and one of two courses will only be open to us. We
must either restrict the number of the annuities, or reduce
the amount paid to the annuitants. The latter course we
could not think of taking; but if we did it would make a
charge upon the incomes of these poor people, which range
from £lO to £2O a year. In the time of Pitt these incomes
were exempt, and that exemption Sir R. Peel continued
when he imposed the income tax. To tax charities now
would be to introduce a new principle, and this being the
case, you will feel that we have ground for making a strong
remonstrance against such a course. I therefore hope yell
will reconsider this matter, with a view to continuing the
exemption at present accorded the charities.
Mr. TURNER (Treasurer of Guy's Hospital) read a me-
morial, whic4 embodied reasons against the measure.
The Archbishop of CANTERBURY said he appeared as the
representative of the Clergy Orphan Corporation and the
Sons of the Clergy Corporation, to advocate the cause of the
widow and the orphan. He need not enter into the hard-
ship of the case after what had been stated by his Royal
Highness, and more fully set forth in the memorial. The
Sons of the Clergy Corporation had three objects in view—
to grant assistance to aged and infirm clergymen in ember-

rassed circumstances, to grant aid to those who were in dis-
tressed circumstances through no fault of their own, and to
apprentice the children of clergymen in distress, There
were 1,530 recipients from this charity, and it the tax was
enforced they must either reduce the number of these reci-
pients, or diminish the amount granted to them. The first
was impossible, for they could not cut off 75 widows from
their means of support, and therefore the only alternative
would be to reduce the allowances. With regard to the
Clergy Orphan Corporation, they would be compelled to
diminish the number of orphans, and what would become of
them if they were sent back into the world without friends
or home ? They might become outcasts and lost characters.
He hoped the right hon. gentlemen would listen to the cry
of the widow and the orphan, and give up his proposed tax
on charitable institutions.

The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER, in reply, said—
Your Grace, and your Royal Highness, my Lords and Gen-
tlemen, lam not sure that I entirely understand the pur-
pose of this great meeting, rather than deputation, with tho
attendance of which to-day I have been honoured keyond
all precedent of those who have held the office which I now
unworthily fill. It is essentially a meeting of reasoning on
one side, and the very circumstances of the case would ren-
der it impossible for me to state the grounds on which my-
self and my colleagues have decided on the proposal that it
will be my duty this night to lay before the house. The
meeting will believe that they will have no expectation of
having the measure carried by influence apart from reason-
ing. So far as it is lawful and convenient to distinguish
between influence and reasoning it will be done, and I may
say that the result will not be antagonistic to the meeting
to-day. This proposal is not made in a time of public pres-
sure, but in a time when the proposers and not the adver-
saries of the measure are most likely to suffer. From the
addresses I have heard, and the memorial which has been
read to me, I am convinced this question has not been suffi-
ciently before the public mind, and is not thoroughly un-
derstood by the public at large. Yet this is not a measure
that ought to be carried by influence. It will be my duty
to explain th, reasons upon which I have made the propo-
sal in another place. We shall refer the matter to the con-
sideration of the House of Commons, and I shall state to
the House of Commons what I have stated here—that we
shall not press it but with the frtest sanction of that house.

I wish to state to you that under the name of charities are
gathered together an infinite diversity of bequests of diffe-
rent kinds, and I wish to know from your Royal Highness,
or any of the representatives of the deputation, if I am to
understand that as to everything falling within the descrip-
tion of a charity it is their desire that Parliament should
continue their exemption of taxation of all kinds, and by so
continuing, make itself a party to the maintenance of all
each institutions ?

The Duke of CA➢LEEIDGE—Under what head do you
classify the institutions ?

The-CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER—I do not here in-
tend to class them, but I want to know if it is your wiskin
stimpliciter to exempt them from taxation. (hear.)
The Duke of CAMBRIDO4—That question I am not pre-
pared to answer, but, as far as I understand, I apprehend
that we do intend it should be so. (El ear.)
The depuration then withdrew,