The Sun.
London, England, 1853-04-22 00:00:00

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L:1:. .- /It //111/:1-e'i / , My lords, having now cOnsidered all the heacb3 in detail,
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.71" .. 4riiii'''.- DIEIT ‘`).2,4.., "de-,, „"c.- ' liit oIT • ' - introduced by the Commissioners of Customs, as well those
which have been especially referred to in this minute, as those
_- -- 1 1

Which have not been named, and which have been made
either in pursuance of the recommendations of the committee,
or in anticipation thereof.

[PRICE SD.

• But before closing this minute my lords have to express a
wish as to the prepartion of bills to give effect to the modi-
fications about to be introduced into the administration of
the Customs department.

there may at one time have existed for the distinction in this
respect between the two classes of -warehouses mentioned, it
exists no longer ; but that .they should so far be placed upon
an equality.
My lords, however, are Of opinion that it will not be need-
ful to call upon the owners of existing warehouses- of " spe-.
vial security" to give any bond to the Crown in respect to this
liability in cases where such- bond has hot hitherto been re-
quired. •

It is very desirable that, even if the-general work of coal-
fication cannot be hastened, yet the enactments which are to
introduce specific changes with a view to public advan•
tage should at once be prepared and submitted to Parliament,
'after which ample time will have to be allowed, not only for
their discussion, but for their circulation through the country
for the information of the important classes directly affected
by the operation of revenue laws, and with a view to afford-
ing the fullest oppertunity for the expression of their views.
But my lords cannot conclude this minute without express-
ing ,their great satisfaction in observing the zeal and alacrity
with which Commissioners have applied themselves to.

-The warehouses, not of special security, which at present
exist, may be divided into two classes ; first, the class with
respect to which the owner gives security to the Crown, and
in respeot to which, • therefore, the importers are not called
upon to give bond for goods deposited therein ; and, second,
a class with respect to which the owner gives` no bond, but in
respect to which the importer is called upon to give bond in
double the amount of the duties for each parcel of goods
warehoused. My lords, adverting to the great trouble caused
to merchants in respect to such multiplied bonds, are pleased
to direct that these two classes of warehouses shall be placed
upon a uniform footing ; that in all cases the owners shall
give boUd, and that in all cases the merchant importer shall
be relieV,ed in this respect.
10.. PASSENGERS' LUGGAGE.

giving effect to the recommendations of the committee and to
the great discrimination they have shown both iu the modifi-
cations they have adopted, and in regard to the recommenda-
tions they have made. My lords have perceived with lively
satisfaction abundant indications of a sincere desire on the
part of the Commissioners of Customs to reconcile their pri-
mary duty, as servants of the Crown and guardians of the
public revenue, with the interests and wishes of the mer -
cantile community ; and my lords will readily lend all the
aid in their power towards giving increased effect to that
desire, by promoting every well-ascertained improvement in
the law and administration of this extensive and most impor-
tant department.

My lords advert to the recommendations -of the committee
upon this subject, and to the report of the Commissioners of
Customs ; and they are of opinion that the plan of examining
luggage on board; in all cases and without any limitation,
would npt be convenient to the public, nor safe for the reve-
nue. My lords are, however, pleased to direct that, when-
ever practicable, the facility afforded to the Cunard packets
on their arrival at Liverpool shall be afforded to all vessels
similarly circumstanced. And with regard to the smaller
steam-boats, and.to those arriving from the Continent in the
Thames; passengers having only one package may, if they de-
sire it, and if it contains no article subject to duty, have it
examined on board between Gravesend and London ; and also
that any other passenger may, if he require it, have a carpet-
bag, part of his luggage, examined in the same way, provided
also that it contains no dutiable article, and provided the
captains and owners of such steam-boats will furnish the
necessary accommodation for the same.
My lords advert to-the increased accommodation which they
have recently sanctioned, in relation to examination in Lon-
don of luggage arriving at Dover by the night man from
Paris, and they aro pleased to direct that every care shall be
taken to extend the convenience at present afforded at Dover,
Folkestone, and other ports in connection with the continent.

Transmit a copy of this minute to the Commissioners of
Customs, and request that the alterations and modifications
herein referred to shall be embodied, with all convenient
speed, in the Consolidated Act, the framework of which has
been already prepared, with a view to its introduction into
Parliament as early as possible.

JAMES WILSON.

r, APril 14, 1853.

DHE INCOME AND PROPERTY TAX.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
SlR,—And so this is the reply to all your arguments
en the income tax. Mr. Gladstone has determined to
continue it, not for the year only, but for seven years.
This is bold legislation, certainly. No one can &cause it
of timidity ; but are we tamely to submit to such daring
dictation ? Having submitted to it for ten long years—
alias seventy years—for who, after having been deceived
from year to year as to its repeal, can rely upon its
being now repealed at the expiration of another seven
years ? No one, certainly. But suppose we could rely
upon its abolition at that period (which we cannot pos-
sibly clO), are we to submit in the intermediate time to a
seven years' purgatory ? I trow not. Is there no
remedy ? Yes. Let your London representatives com-
bine, and act as they did before on the subject of
the house tax ; this will alter the resolution of the
Chancellor of the Exchequer if nothing else will,
for further argument is useless. If you, by good argu-
ment and good reasoning, could convince them of the
justice of the repeal of Schedule D of the income tax,
Mr. Gladstone would contrive to find some substitute.
Mark if it is not the amount of the tax which makes it
so hateful. Be that tax 7d. or ld. the principle is the
same, which principle is the inquisitorial nature of the
tax—its prying into the private circumstances of men and
their fAmilies, compelling them to reveal those secrets
which no other man, except a Government officer would
dare to investigate. One of the original causes fir the im-
position of this tax was its apparent justice. I say
apparent, for in reality it is most unfair and unequal.
The officers levy it by guess—at haphazard—according
to a man's appearance, his mode of living, &c. ;
and the name of Justice is thus desecrated
by calling this a just tax. It is impossible that
it can be a just tax, for no tax-gatherer can arrive at
a commercial man's precise state of circumstances.
But the real cause of the imposition of the income tax
is, that the parties who invent and who continue to levy
this tai have no knowledge or intimate acquaintance
with that class of men who are to pay this tax. The
membeirs of Parliament, as well as the Lords, know
nothin of the private circumstances of mercantile men.
They know a few of our great merchants, who have
incomes as large as most noblemen—hence they form an
opinion of the great wealth of the commercial body—
never reaming of the thousands, tens of thousands, and
perhaps millions, whose expenses have exceeded their
income ; who, therefore, have no income, and yet will
sooner' pay the income tax than reveal their losses to
any ccimmissioner of income tax. This is cruel as well
as unjfist, and yet it is true—and, perhaps, there
are still some members of the House of Com-
mons who may ratify the truth of this assertion by
reference to former days. And could legislators now
know and believe this statement, they would not vote
in favour of the continuance of the tax ; but they are
all men of property, who, at ease, know nothing of com-
mercial vicissitude, and who, sitting comfortably by their
firesides, hear the howling of the tempest on the outside
of the house, but neither know nor care who may suffer
from the storm. Something of this kind must have
happened when the commercial men connected with
America lost above five millions sterling in one year, not
many years since, by the fall in produce. These are evils
of which the law makers know nothing, and, of course,
feel nothing ; hence their ready consent to such an im-
po,t on the commercial community. Schedule D,
however, comprehends professions as well as trades, and
the relief would be as great a-, to mercantile men. The
repeal;of this Schedule would involve a serious dimi-
nution in the amount of the tax, no doubt ; but
wave the repeal of the soap duty and the difference
would,be trifling. And if we must submit to the ex-
penditure of a penny per week to our washerwoman,
we perhaps shall not be ruined by it. Really the con-
tinuance of the income tax for the purpose of saving
one penny per week, more or less, in washing, does seem
so ludicrous that one can scarcely believe Mr. Gladstone
to be serious. The property tax is of course to be con-
tinued, No one objects to that ; and perhaps the mer-
cantile and manufacturing bodies contribute as much
towarffs the payment of that tax as the landed aristo-
cracy, and you do not hear them make the least objec-
tion to the continuance of that portion of the income
tax, so that it is not the evasion of all taxation which
they seek. Much, however, will depend upon the view
which' your omnipotent fellow-editor of the Times may
take of this appeal to the London members. Should he
coincide in your views, and give his irresistible aid, Mr.
Gladstone will probably be compelled to remodel his
Budget, and instead of there inserting all the details of
schedule D, leave as a substitute a mighty chasm.

ANGLICUS.
It May not be amiss to suggest that, should schedule
D be tepealed, the families who receive some relief by
the ncin-payment of the tax would probably spend that
saving in some taxable commodities, so that Government
might lose very little by the repeal.

TO THE EDITOR OP THE SUN.
SIR Allow me to offer you a few remarks upon Mr.
Glad4one's Budget.

No doubt he has displayed, in many parts, great
knowledge and ability. I shall confine my remarks
viewedc h i efl tosu
ptehr
fie c
ii
anlcl
yo m,
me
aaynadp
pperaorp ebrat ys e
dt a xo—n
a just tax
i c e , that,bt i t
when tested by its application has always appeared -to
me thh very reverse, nor do I believe it possible by any
ingennity to make it otherwise than unequal (therefore
unjust) and inquisitorial. Tam old enough to remember
the income tax when it was 10 per cent., and I fearlessly
assert, that no tax was considered by the public, includ-
ing the most zealous Tories, so onerous and irritating.
What surprises me is, that a man who can point out its
inequalities, and the insuperable difficulties to its being
otherwise, can, in the lame speech, have spoken of it. in
such laudatory terms. I refer you to the part-where he
eulogises Mr. Pitt, gives a quotation from a French
author, and then proceeds to make the astounding and,
I hesitate not to say, incorrect assertion, that if the in-
come tax had been submitted to sooner, there would have
been no occasion for the existence of the National Debt, or
he might mean its increase after 1793. He says that for
six years previous to its imposition our expenses ex-
ceeded our income by 15,400,0001. Now, - Sir, I have
no statistics by me, but I think my memory will not
prove treacherous, when I aver that at the end of the
war, when the income tax was 10 per cent., and that
was taken on a National Debt of more than 800,000,0001.
(instead of 300,000,000/. in 1793), besides the land and
trade' its total annual amount never exceeded 12,000000/.
But, Sir, I argue from the very facts Mr. Gladstone has
stated, that it may have been owing to the imposition of
that tax that our debt did increase to its present enormous
amount, inasmuch as it encouraged us to spend ; for
Mr. Gladstone says that afterwards, although our
WTI: t
mightllalf. have It a therefore,
apps
our debt
of that 13,000,0001. increase was derived from the irneevreenaus
increased
ii, increasedooo,oolo3i,
.00011, oeood /0.
does
enro at nn
tellumy,
you
uuhr
oewxpemzsi
in-
comemonstrous
by submitting sooner to the income tax. No,
de-
pend on it we should have spent Sir,
more. have not our
expenses increased greatly since its • "
. tolsaeyxtPlentett
And for why ? We are still at peace. I
re-imposition I
not follow that because we have know it does
should spend it, but I appeal to a good revenue we
tify my belief that it does past experience to jus-
tify
would be firm,encourage extravagance. If
subject real, as well as abandon the income tax, and
and legacy duty, the personal, property to probate
country might do well enough, and
Ministers be obliged to reduce expenditure.
After all, no doubt the war was
the cause of our
debt. The income tax assisted us i
think both were evils thatl nhearrybing it on. I
mig it avebeen avoided,
but the countr • ) was to blame for permitting, aye, en-
couraging it, and if what we call glory tickles our na-
tional vanity, we ought to pay for it, and not leave the
burthen ou our posterity.
No doubt, as a nation, we are rather pugnacious than
pusillanimous, but it is well to remember that

" They who in quarrels interpose,
Must often wipe a bloody nose."

Not that I admire courage less, but that I love justice
more, than some may do.

I remain, Sir, yours obediently,

J. H. G. H

Tunbridge, 21st April, 1853.

A. deputation from the Rotherhithe Commissioners of
Pavements, consisting of the Rev. Edward Rick, Mr.
Hackwood, Mr. Ravenhill, and Mr. R. S. Hawks
(clerk), had an interview with Sir William Moles-
worth yesterday, at the office of Works and Public
Buildings in Whitehall-place.

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