The Sun.
London, England, 1849-02-08 00:00:00

INLAND REVENUE BILL.

This Bill rather promises to smooth the way to future
reforms than to effect any directly and immediately. It
proposes to abolish only one office—that of Comptroller
and Auditor of Excise. The offices of Receiver-General
of Excise and Receiver-General of Stamps and Taxes
are to be consolidated, and also those of Accountant and
Comptroller-General of Stamps and Taxes; but in both
instances the two appointments are already held by the
same person. The consolidated board is to be composed
of all the Commissioners of both boards; provision is
made that all the officers at present acting under both
are to retain their commissions; and no provision is
made for a future diminution of the numbers either of
commissioners or officers. Any importance attaching to
the measure is owing to—First, the improved classifica-
tion of all the revenues derived from direct or indirect
taxation, except the customs, the crown lands, and mis-
cellaneous, under the head of inland revenue: this will
facilitate readjustment of taxation. Second, the power
given to the Commissioners of the Treasury to transfer
the auditing/of the Excise accounts from a departmental
auditor to the Commissioners for Public Accounts: this
pares the way for an arrangement by which the gross
receipt of the Excise may be paid into the Exchequer
without deduction of the expenses of collection or other
payments. The great defect of the measure is the ad-
surdly numerous Board of Commissioners, where one
responsible manager would suffice. We subjoin an ab-
stract of the Bill:

It is declared in the preamble that the revenue from
excise and the revenue trom stamps and taxes shall
henceforth " be and remain under the care and manage-
ment of one consolidated board of commissioners to be
called The Commissioners of Inland Revenue.' "
Clause 1. Enacts that from and after the passing of
thepersons appointed and now being
several Excise and Commissioners of Stamps
Commissioners
"the
o
and Taxes respectively shall, without any further com-
mission or authority than this Act, become and be the
consolidated board; and that all the revenues and duties
hitherto administered by both " shall be denominated
and deemed to be inland revenue."

2. Empowers her 'Majesty to appoint from time to
time, as seats at the board become vacant, commissioners
of inland revenue, who are to hold their seats during
pleasure.
3. Enacts that all the powers and authorities vested
in the Commissioners of Excise and Commissioners of
Stamps and Taxes respectively are to be exercised by
the Commissioners of Inland Revenue.

4. Declares that three shall be a quorum, except in
special cases where Acts of Parliament have directed
that a less number shall suffice.
5. The chief office of inland revenue is to be held " at
such place as the Commissioners of her Majesty's
Treasury shall in that behalf and from time to time ap-
point within the limits described, designated, or referred
to as the limits of the chief office of excise by an Act
passed in the eighth year of the reign of George IV."
6. Consolidates the offices of Receiver-General of Ex-
cise and Receiver-General of Stamps and Taxes into one
office of Receiver-General of Inland Revenue.
7. Consolidates the offices of Accountant-General of
Excise and Accountant and Comptroller• General of
Stamps and Taxes into one office.
9. Empowers the Commissioners of her Majesty's
Treasury to abolish the office of Comptroller and
Auditor of Excise, and to order the accounts of the Ex-
cise revenue to be passed before the commissioners for
the auditing of public accounts.
10. Declares that all commissions and appointments of
~fficers under the Commissioners of Excise and the
Commissioners of Stamps and Taxes shall remain in
force, and the persons holding the same be officers of
inland revenue.
11. All bonds and securities to the Commissioners of
Excise and the Commissioners of Stamps and Taxes are
to remain in force and to extend to the duties under the
care of the Commissioners of inland revenue.
12. Deposits of stock or Exchequer-bills in lieu of
securities under the Acts 6 and 7 Will. IV., c. 28, and 1
and 2 Vic. c. 21, are to be made in the name of the
Chairman of Inland Revenue.
13. Empowers the Chairman of Inland Revenue to
transfer stock: deposited in the name, of the Chairmen
of Excise and Stamps respectively.
14. Lands and buildings now vested in the Secretary
of Excise in trust for the public service, to be vested in
the Secretary of Inland Revenue upon the like trusts.
15. Empowers Commissioners pf Inland Revenue to
appoint officers to be collectors and receivers of several
branches of inland revenue.

16. Prescribes the manner in which licenses are to be
granted.
17. Explains how terms in former Acts, and in writ-
ten documents relating to the revenues of Excise and
Stamps and Taxes, are to be construed atter the passing
of this Act.

18. Enacts (as usual) that the. Act may be amended
or repealed by any Act passed in the present session of
Parliament.

Lord Rosse, accompanied by Sir James South,
yesterday visited the establishment of Messrs. De La Rue
and Co., for the purpose of inspecting the models of Mr.
Warren De La Rue's equatoriafly mounted telescopes.
SOCIETY or ARTS, JAN. 31.—W. Took, Esq., in
the chair. Mr. Hunt read a paper, by Mr. Claudet,
giving a description of a new instrument, invented by
himself, for measuring the intensity of light in the da-
guerreotype operation, which he calls a photograpko-
meter. Mr. Claudet shows that the light we see is not
the light which operates in photography, and that
hitherto the photographer has been always working at
random, owing to the want of an instrument to measure
that power of the light at the moment he is to make use
of it. It is well known that when the light is tinted
with yellow by vapours in the atmosphere, the opera-
tion is longer and more liable to failures than when
the light is pure and white. Mr. Claudet, by this in
genious and useful discovery, has rendered the photogra-
phic operation more certain, having now the means of as-
certaining, before taking a portrait, the time required for
the sitting. This is certainly one of the most important
improvements introduced in photography, and for this,
as well as for his former discoveries in the scientific and
artistic branches of the art, Mr. Claudet fully deserves
the praises and encouragement of the public. Among
the experiments made by Mr. Claudet for illustrating his
paper was one which considerably interested and amused
the audience.—He exhibited a frame containing a por-
trait of her Majesty. The reflection of the image of
this frame, by a daguerreotype apparatus upon a silver
plate, had produced a portrait, not of the Queen of
England, as might have been expected, but of Prince
Albert. This would have appeared to be a conjuror's
trick but for the scientific explanation given by Mr.
Claudet of the curious metamorphosis. The frame
had, on the left, the portrait of Queen Vic-
toria, covered by a light yellow glass, through which it
was seen clearly, and on the right, the portrait of Prince
Albert, covered by a deep blue glass, by which it was
completely hidden from ordinary view. The yellow
glass, having the property of absorbing all the photo
genic rays, had prevented the representation of the por-
trait of the Queen,and the blue glass, having the pro-
perty of allowing hese photogenic rays to pass freely,
the portrait of the Prince was represented on the da-
guerreotype in the most forcible manner; besides the
curiosity of this result, the portrait was a beautiful ape-
: cimen of the art. The announcement of this paper at-
' tracted a great number of members and visitors, and the
room was crowded to excess. After Mr. Claudet's paper,
Mr. Jordan exhibited his beautiful and ingenious ma-
chine for curved and bevilled sawing. We are glad to
see that the Society of Arts is in full prosperity, and
that we have a liberal institution which affords so
freely to inventors the means of bringing before the
public the productions of their labour and ingenuity, and
which remunerates those who deserve it.
REPEAL OP THE MALT•TAX.—A very influential
meeting of farmers and landholders• took place yester-
day afternoon, at the York Hotel. New Bridge-street,
Blackfriars, for the purpose of taking into consideration
the necessity of petitioning Parliament for the total re-
peal of the malt-tax. The farmers, generally, spoke
strongly of their determination to effect the repeal of
a burden which pressed so very oppressively upon them
at the present time ; and plainly told the landlords
that if the Protectionist Members would not assist them
in their endeavours, they would to a man use the most
strenuous exertions to prevent their re-election at the
next vacancy in the representation; for so destructive
to their interests had been the mischievous results of
the free-trade mania, that nothing but the total anni-
hilation of the malt-tax could possibly save the British
farmer from the irretrievable ruin now impending
over him. The petition to the Legislature was unani-
mously adopted.
MONUMENT TO GENERAL SIX GEORGE MURRAY.--
A simple but graceful monument in Carrara marble has
just been completed by Mr. Gaflin, of the Quadrant—
consisting of a tablet, upon which is engraved the fol-
lowing inscription to the memory of the late gallant and
lamented General Sir George Murray

To the Memory of

G.C.8.,
GENERAL THE RIGINT HON. SIR GIDORG2 MURRAY,
Colonel of the Ist (Royal) Regiment of Infantry,
Second Son of Sir William Murray, Bart., of Ochtertyre
Perthshire, and the Lady Augusta, his wife,
G.C.H., D.C.L., F.R.S.,
born 6th February, 1772 ;

who, after many varied and important services in Holland,
Egypt, Syria, the West Indies, Denmark,
Sweden, Spain, and Portugal
(where he was present at the most celebrated actions as
Quartermaster- General of the Army);
in Canada, as Commander-in-Chief;
in France, as Chief of the Staff of the Grand Army of

Occupation ;
at home, as Commander of the Forces in Ireland ;
Secretary of State for the Colonies ;
twice Master-General of the Ordnance;
and Representative of his native county in several Parliaments,
closed his distinguished career,
after much and protracted suffering,
borne in meek submission to the will of his Maker,
on the 28th of July, 1846, in the 75th year of his age.

Also of the Lady Louisa Murray, his Wife
Third Daughter of .Henry, first Earl of Uxbridge,
born March 26,1777,

. ,
who departed this life January 23d, 1842, in perfect peace,
relying upon the Scripture testimony,
" The blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanseth us from all sin."

This Monument is erected,
in grateful and sorrowing remembrance
of beloved and most affectionate Parents,
by their only Child,
Louisa, Widow of Henry George Boyce.