The Sun.
London, England, 1839-01-14 00:00:00

MONEY AND CITY NEWS.

(Moll THE HORNING PAPERS or THU; DAY.)
TIMES.—An important circular has recently made its
appearance on the subject of the new transit dues,
equal to a prohibition, so far as the products of this
country and its colonies are concerned, imposed by the
Danish Government on the traffic by the road between
Hamburgh and Lubeck, a part of which passes through the
Danish territories of Holstein and Schleswig, Lubeck being
the nearest, as it was the most economical channel of trade
and communication for the Baltic. The extent of the com-
merce of Lubeck may be understood from the fact, that the
imports during. the year 1837 amounted to upwards of
2,500,000/., without taking into account the corn, rapeseed,
&c., from the surrounding country. So far as the autho-
rities of the city were concerned, every exertion appears to
have been made to improve the accommodations and lighten
the charges on the foreign transit trade, to which end, a few
years ago, only the duties inwards, which were about i to 2
per cent., were reduced to about k, and on articles of
value to I per cent. Between Hamburgh and Lubeck
the two roads pass through the Danish possessions of
Schleswig and Holstein, the principal one through
Schonberg to the distance of about sixteen Eng-
lish miles. These roads have always been free by special
and ancient privilege and treaties from the imposition of any
tax other than a trifling toll on every waggonload of goods.
But, although till now no direct attempt has been made or has
succeeded for the imposition of a tax on this road, yet indi-
rectly every impediment has been thrown in the way of the
trade on the part of Denmark. Notwithstaading repeated
offer, made by the two cities of Hamburgh and Lubeck to
construct roads and even railroads at their own charge, which
have been invariably refused, and representations as to the state
of the Danish portion of tho road, yet it has been suffered to
continue in the same wretched plight, " through masses of
sand, or over large fragments of stones," sometimes almost
imp/losable. It has long been the subject of "the execrations
and complaints" of travellers, and yet for the use of the 16
miles of this probably worst road in Europe a tax if to be
exacted ten shillings Lubeck currency (or eight shillings Lam)
per 100 lb. Nor is this the whole of the scandalous imposi-
tion ; for 6 per cent. additional is to be charged on the amount
of duty for fees.
In order fully to appreciate the nature and extent of these
exactions, it is only necessary to cite the transit charges es-
tablished in other countries, by which it will be seen that
nowhere else perhaps in toe whole world can anything so
flagrant as the conduct of tke Danish Government be found.
According to the Prussian tariff, which has always been
considered sufficiently high, 16s. banco per cwt. are exacted
on transit of goods ; but this is the whole. charge for hun-
dreds of miles of *sport, from to Rhine to Memel, front
the frontiers of Switzerland to Holland, from the Austrian
frontiers to Hanover. Should the goods have to pass through
a short distance only of the States, members of the uriioe
under the Prussian league, the impost is reduced to 'is.
banco. Tho transit tax from Hanover to Brunswick for the
whole line is but 41s. banco. In Austria, where the distance
does pot exceed 10 German (between 40 and 50 English)
miles, xs, panco only is Charged, pa Fr#499 § free transit is