The Sun.
London, England, 1824-03-10 00:00:00

rlntstlon za to Britis:: would rmain open to any discus-
sinh which the lion. Gentleman tnignt wish to nriginate.
Mr. lIUME.—Did the Resolution include the reduced duty
on Lam ? lie understood that upon the rum duties a reduction
had taken place of Is. I.:1d. per gallon.
The Resolution was then read a second time and agreed to.
The 2d resolution, that " the sum of 4s. in the pound he
raised within the space of one year from the 42 sth day of March,
11324, upon pension*, offices, and personal estates in that part
of Great Britain called England, Wales. and the town of Ber-
wick-upon-Tweed," was likewise agreed to.
S I LK-T RA DE.

31r. HUSKISSON wished that the House would allow the
bringlng up the resolution in respect of the silk-duties, which
he had submitted in a Committee of the whole House on the

preceding evening.
Mr. BARING took the opportunity of stating, that it was
not-his intention to give'any further opposition to the resolu-
tihn. This declaration was net owing to any alteration in his
own opinions upon the subject; but to this circumstance—that
seeing what the general sense of the House was, he felt it to
be his duty rather to suppose that he was wrong, and that they
must be right.—(A Jaugh.)—He hoped, however, that in sub-
mitting the details which it would be necessary to bring before
the House, before the measure intended to be finally adopted
upon them should be proceeded with, the Right Honourable
Gentleman would allow sufficient time for their mature dis-
.
.cussion.
Mr. IT USKISSON was much obliged to his llon. Friend for
the candid manner in which he had just spoken. He could
have no wish to hurry on the House through the measure in
.question with any greater degree of dispatch than would be:
:necessary in order to give the parties concerned the proposed
relief at the earliest possible period. ' It was with this view that
he wished the resolution to be now brought up, in order that
the t ill might by prepared and brought in as speedily as might
be: and he thought the Hon. Gentleman himself, upon con-
sidering its provisions, would be one among those most anxious
to give them effect. lie therefore moved the order of the day
upon the lteport on the goods and wares (Customs) .Acts.
Mr. BARING was aware that if these duties were to
be taken off', it was important to proceed with their remission
as soon as possible : but he thought that much difficulty would
he found in dealing with the drawback to be allowed
upon stock on bend. A better mode might be suggested in
this respect than the Right Honourable Gentleman seemed
to propose. Perhaps the parties would be • better satisfied,
also, if Government. proceeded by degrees, so as to finally take
off the 6s. 9d. duty at a distant period, rather than to remit it
at once. Uponwhe suggested immediate remission, the Right
Hon. Gentleman must begin with the silk-holder; and then he
would .find himself called upon also by the silk-manufacturers,
who might have the large stocks (and there were many whose
stocks were worth perhaps 50,0001.) But while the Right Hon.
Gentleman would be busied in attending to their claims, what
was the small shopkeeper to do ? Whv was not the small shop-
keeper to be equally considered? His small stock of 5001.
would be of as nuich importance to him as the 50,0001. stock to
tae large manufacturer ; and the immediate remission of duty
Of course would be of proportionable moment to him. We
understood the Hon. Gentleman to add, that a period of two
years and a half at the least should be allowed for the proposed
experiment.
Mr. HUME really thought that the principles which had
keen laid down by every intelligent man connected with trade,
who had spoken to this subject, were such as left no doubt of
the sound and Consistent policy which his %lajesty's Ministers
were in this instance pursuing. He could not concur, therefore,
with his Hon. Friend in considering the measure in question a
mere experiment. It proceeded upon such sound principles,
that there could be no reasonable doubt of its success. Cer-
tainly, some difficulties were likely to arise upon the mode of
dealing with persons who :sad stocks on hand ; but, surely,
there could he no question whether the, duties ought to be re-
mitted at once or by degrees. The general opinion of expe-
rienced men was decidedly in favourof the Ministers' proposition
to take them off with the least delay possible. Every man con-
nected with the silk trade would, in that case, know what to do,
toed employ his workmen accordingly. lie hoped that the case of
the small shopkeepers would meet with due attention. Hang
parties should be in possession of goods uncut (for die difficulty
seemed to be as to the mode of allowing the drawback), he
would propose that they should return their goods on a certain
day, to a particular place; and then let the excise take toproper
account of them. The country would never grudge the proportion
of bounty which it would be necessary to return to individuals,
to save them from distress and ruin; and as no private funds
could be charged with the expence of these returns of duty,
they must of course be borne by the nation.
Mr. EDWARD ELLICE wax quite satisfied that his Ma-
jesty's Ministers had not been proceeding in error on this ques.
eon. He was only anxious that it should be ascertained from
the manufacturers, that if justice were done to them by this
return of duty, they would instantly set about employing their
meta
Sir HENRY PARNELL said a few words that were not
audible in the gallery.
Mr. Alderman WOOD gave credit to his Majesty's Minis-
ters for a desire to meet all the difficulties of this subject ; but he
feared many would be encountered in dealing with stock on hand.
The Report upon the Silk Duties was then brought up ; and
the Resolution read a second time and agreed to.
TITHE COMPOSITION ACT.
Mr. GOULBURN said, it now became his duty to move for
leave to bring in a Bill to amend the Tithe Composition Act,
which had been passed in thelast session of Parham en t.II e thought
no one who had attended to the discussions on the subject, and
now watched the operation of the Act; would deny that it was
not so perfect as not to require some alteration. No one, there-
fore, would be surprised that he should take this opportunity
of submitting to the House the various matters upon which it
seemed necessary to introduce sonic alterations, in order to
give to the measure ultimately (he trusted) complete effi-
cacy. At the same time he did hope that he should be
permitted, from time to time, to bring forward such fur.
ther einendatione as might appear to be necessary. Last
Session, the Bill he had proposed was met by a variety of
objections; some Honourable Members dissenting from its
provisions in part, others opposing the measure altogether_
To these latter gentlemen it hardly scented necessary that he
should address any arguments on the present occasion, in fa-
vour of a measure, the necessity of which had been recognised
by Parliament. Whatever doubts and difficulties they, who
objected to parts of the Bill only, might have expressed, would,
however, deserve to be most seriously and carefully considered.
Ile should now propose a variety of alterations upon the exist-
ing Act; many of them apparently minute, but in reality
of essential import, and calculated to nieet some of the objec-
tions that had at different periods been started to particular pro-
visions of the Act. He could not better preface this part of his
speech than by just stating to the House what had been the mode
of proceeding as to the Act of last Session. It was circulated over
every Dart of Ireland, in order that all whom it concerned might
perfectly know its enactments. The transmission of the copies
of the act was accompanied with such printed expositions of its
nature and effect as seemed necessary, in order to inform all
persons upon those topics, without subjecting them to the ne-
cessity of going through that mass of legislation which the in-
tricacy of its provisions had inevitably induced. Since the act
was passed, last session, there had been 1,033 vestries assembled
in. Ireland for the purpose of applying the provisions in pleS-
-6911 to tithe cesee. In 570 instances they had been acted
upon ; in 339, the further consideration of the act had been
adjanrned. There was, therefore, every reason to suppose from
the number of cases in which the act had been applied to,
that both parties to the contract which it was to regulate were
satisfied with its enactments. Of. 1,033 applications for com-
position under the Act, advertised in the Dublin Gazette, 507
were made by the clergy, and 521 by other classes—the land-
owners, proprietors, lay impropriators, and others. The Right
lion. Gentleman then entered into a vindication of the Irish
Protestant Clergy from the imputation of a desire to grasp
enormous profits, and-to wring from the pockets of those corn;
mated to their charge the utmost possible amount: of tithes:.
lie contended, as he had often contended, that if the value of
the interest of all
.the Protestant clergy of the empire could be
ascertained, it would appear that the tithes of the Irish clerey,
as compared with their interest, were lower than those of any
other part of the clerical hody. The Right Hon. Gentleman
proceeded to ree:tra series of calculations as to the average tithe
per acre of fete parishes in the diocess of Cashel, from which it
appeared td vary between 2s. Bd. and 2s. hi. per acre ; while in
the diocess of Clonfert, it fluctuated between ls. and 7d. per
acre, the general average being about 11d. Irish.
Sir JOHN NEWPORT reminded the Right Hon. Gentle

man, that though Cashel was certainly a diocess containing as
wealthy parishes-as there were in any part of Ireland, perhaps,
it also contained many that were very poor.
Mr. GOULBURN said, his calculations were made on the
return of 51 parishes, taken without any selection, except that
they were those which first acted upon the statute. It was true
that many vestries had adjourned the consideration of their
arrangements under this bill, but not because they were hos-
tile to it ; the adjournments were to wait for further explana-
tions, and many of the parishes that were at first hostile became
subsequently in favour of the measure, and acted upon its pro-
visions. There were two operating causes its Ireland which
retarded the practical operation of the Bill—the one was
the oppostion on the part of the proprietors of grazing land,
who were unwilling to subject themselves to the measure;
and the:other was the opposition of those who acted on behalf
of absentees, and held grass land, and who were disposed to
snake the most of private interests, and who could not well
he affected, until the expiration of their leases, when the pro-
prietors of the land would, under the new arramement, be
liable to the tithe composition. Some objection had also been
taken to the mode of computing the average on which the com-
position was to be formed. lie was quite aware of the difficulty