The Sun.
London, England, 1849-02-16 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONOON, FRIDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 10 1849

on gross receipts, or nearly 9.425 on profits, showing, I
that, on the whole, the company is taxed to the extent
of about 12.350 per cent. on the sums divisible
amongst the shareholders.
In the South-Western Company the balance avail-
able for dividend is 96,9351. 16s. 2d., of which
92,6831. 7s. 6d. will be applied in payment
of a dividend after the rate of five per cent.
per annum on the paid-up capital, leaving
a balance of 4,2521. Bs. Bd. to be carried over
to the next half-year. The public charges on this
company are even more onerous than on the Great
Western. The parish rates during the half-year
amounted to no less than 10,8331. or upwards cif 11
per cent. on the balance available for dividend, from
which 21. 18s. 4d. per cent. additional is to be de-
ducted for income-tax.

We regret that we are unable to allude to the de-
tails of the Midland statement this day; we shall'
however, do so on an early occasion.

From a letter of our esteemed correspondent, Mr. "
RIGBY WAsoN, which appears in another part of our
impression, it will be seen that it is in the contempla-
tio❑ of Government to render the valuation of
lands, &c., in Ireland fixed for a period of
seven or ten years. This would indeed be a very
lame and impotent conclusion. It would hold out no
inducement whatsoever to parties to improve
their lands to the utmost degree. As Mr.
Wesori has stated, it is well known that
nothing less than a certain tenure of
nineteen years will induce tenants to embark
their capital in lands that are in a proper state of cul-
tivation at the commencement of the term. For lands
requiring reclamation, or which have been exhausted
and worn out by over cropping and bad husbandry,
too often the case in Ireland, a much longer period
would be required, and thirty years would be -the
lowest period for which a prudent man would enter.
In the letters on the reclamation of waste lands in
Ireland, which have from time to time appeared in
The Sun, Mr. WASON pointed out the advantage of
rendering the valuation of lands in Ireland permanent.
By so doing a great benefit would be conferred upon
improving landlords, who would then have every in-
ducement to increase the value of their estates,
and to bring them to the highest pitch of cultivation,
without fearing that their profits would go to relieve
their idle and negligent neighbours. The
milk-and-water measure suggested would, however,
have no such effect. It would, on the contrary, prove
that after a brief period—indeed, almost as soon as
the beneficial results of their expenditure were
coming into operation—they would be likely to
have a new valuation of property, which would place
additional charges on their shoulders. The man-
ner in which railway companies are mulcted for the
improvements they have effected affords a salutary
caution to persons of capital and enterprise. The state-
ments at the meetings of the several companies, which
will be found in another part of our impression, will
act as beacon lights to other parties to warn them
against undertaking useful works until convinced
that they will be dealt with in a fair and liberal spirit.

If the Government really desire to encourage per

manent and lasting improvements in Ireland—if they
would induce capitalists to embark their property in
the reclamation of the soil, they should render the
valuations permanent, as proposed by Mr. Wasow, or
fix it for thirty or forty years, at the very least.
Anything short of that term would net meet the real
difficulty, and would be worse than useless.