The Sun.
London, England, 1853-02-16 00:00:00

INCOME TAX.

Mr. HUME said some difference of opinion had
arisen in the public mind as to the construction which
was to be placed upon what fell the other night from the
noble lord at the head of the Foreign Department,
upon the subject of the income tax, and he wished
the noble lord now to state to the house
what were the real intentions of the Govern-
ment upon that point. He wished to know whether
they meant to postpone the income tax altogether, or to
continue it as it now is without alteration, or, if with
alteration, to what extent was it to be continued ? (Hear,
bear.)

Lord JOHN RUSSELL was very glad to have the
opportunity of stating what he really did say. It had
been erroneously supposed that be stated that it was the
intention of the Government to propose the renewal of
the income tax without alterations. What he did say was
this, if the Government should introduce a re-
form bill in the course of the present session,
it would be necessary to propose the continuance
of the income tax without any alteration for a
short period. But, not taking that course, I stated
that the Chancellor of the Exchequer would be enabled,
immediately after Easter, or at the expiration of the
financial year, to state the intentions of the Govern-
ment with respect to the income] tax, and with
respect to the budget of the year. He had only to add that
until the Chancellor of the Exchequer made that state-
ment itwas not the intention of the Government to give
any further explanation upon the subject. (Hear, and
a laugh.)
Mr. HUME gave notice that on Friday he should ask
the noble lord whether the Government would have
any objection to renew the income tax committee, for the
purpose of completing the information upon the subject,
which some people thought was imperfect.
_ _ TRANSFER OF REAL PROPERTY.

- -
H. DRUMMOND then rose, pursuant to notice,
To move for leave to bring in a bill to facilitate
the sale and purchase of land. At present, he said the
mode of transferring real property was not only absurd
but. cumbersome and expensive. In dealing with this
question the house should look back to the origin of the
tenure
iof land. (Rear.) Formerly the possession of
jand involved the rendering of military service
to the Crown, and no one could alienate his
land. except with the consent of the Crown,
or to some personwho was able to render the
same
military service as the original possessor. As
time progressed, however, the p?ssessors of land began
to borrow, money upon the security of the land, but as
it very often happened that the lender, not being in the
i
position which the Crown required, very often went in fear
of losing his money, as he could not take a transfer of the
land. But the lawyers stepped nto overcome this difficulty,
and they decided that though the lender could take the
land from the borrower, yet by law he could prevent his
having one blade of grass, or grain, or corn, and then
arose the custom of what was called taking the issue
erops. This system continued for a time, until the mode
of transferring property in executing mortgages sank
into its present defective state, and a few years ago, the
subject having attracted the attention of Parliament, in
accordance with a resolution of the House of Commons,
the Crown appointed a Commission to investigate
the whole matter. That Commission, as well as
the House of Lords, repeated that the best
mode of remedying the evils of the existing Us'
tern, was to adopt a plan for the registration of
title deeds, and what he asked the house to allow him
to do was, to let him introduce a bill to form a registra-
tion of titles in accordance with the resolution of the House
of Lords. He believed no body but the lawyers were opposed
to the establishment of such a registry, and as it was
only a revival of the system which prevailed in many
countries centuries ago—while it had been all but ap-
proved of by both branches of the Legislature, he could
hardly suppose that there would be any real oppo-
sition to the bringing in of this bill. (Hear, hear.)
In consequence of Lord Campbell's Registration Bill
Providing for the regifstriiii9ll of all kind, of deeds and