The Sun.
London, England, 1847-01-01 00:00:00

PROPOSAL FOR AN INCOME-TAX.

A committee of landlords of the county of Cork has
been sitting in deliberation for the last week ; and, on
Monday last, the following resolution was, after some
discussion, unanimously agreed to. The opponents of
the preposition here put forward will, no doubt, urge the
absence of all machinery, such as exists in England, as a
leading objection to the feasibility of an income-tax for
Ireland ; nevertheless, among the countless projects
which the present crisis has suggested, there have been
some less rational than the remedy proposed by the Cork
pi . .

" That the experience we have had of the effects of
the Labour-rate Act on all classes of the community
indtices tts to. express our conviction that it is totally in-
adequate to provide for the necessities of the labouring
population of Ireland ; that, while giving a limited em-
ployment in one direction, it withdraws labour from
another ; and that while the process of public-works
under it leads to the most useless ends and objects, it
r<moves from the natural market of the country---7-the
cultivation of its soil—that labour upon which cur future
supply of food depends.
" That we approve of a compulsory taxation for the
support of the labouring poor ; but we deny the justice
of charging it exclusively on the land, and we implore
the county deputies, who shall meet in Dublin or London,
to take into their calm and deliberate consideration the
meatuses which may best conduce to combine the largest
amount of relief with a necessary but moderate taxation.
That this taxation shall apply as well to income—indus-
trial, professional, and arising from invested capital, as
from land'alone—that its distribution shall be released
from all the expensive machinery now employed in its
disbursement, and that a system of relief, under divi-
sional or district management and control, be substituted
for the wasteful practice now prevailing under the boards
of work and boards of guardians. In short, that the
deputies so assembled shall devise the legislative means
whereby the largest possible proportion of the taxes to
be raised upon- the occupancy, property, and income of
Ireland may be applied to the useful employment ut
healthful labour, and the support of the aged and infirm
destitute of the country.
" That, if a principal of taxation such as we herein
have sketched be adopted, we seek no special application
of its expenditure; but if it shall be continued as a
charge on the land of the country, we consider the
.sinzuvmial characterwoof
otheneellevinto_eifiggggts landowners
and we respectfully submit to the intended meeting that
this principle be borne in mind, and contended for in tin-
preparation of any legislative enactment for the relief
of Ireland in the ensuing session of Parliament."
The Cork Constitation thus comments upon the reso-
lutions:—

" It seems to us so fair in all its parts that we know
not what objection can reasonably be urged against it.
We are aware that in many quarters the taxing of in-
come is disapproved of, but we have never been able to
recognise the soundness of the plea on which the disap-
proval rests, and so we repeatedly stated during the
discussions on Sir Robert Peel's proposition. The ar-
gument derived from its fluctuating nature applies
equally to any species of property whose returns are not
definite and fixed. There is no more hardship in re-
quiring the fundholder or the physician, the shopkeeper
or the lawyer, to contribute to the support of the poor
p eithernse s ofi
n non-productiveextraordinary'
measures
of the community by which he lives, or to bear a
for
employing pro-
portion
of
' labour directed to the benefit of the general public, than
labour, o
rn
the
eem ex
in requiring the landlord or the farmer. If the income
of the one is uncertain, so is the income of the other."
Some idea of the state of the county of Cork may be
learned from the fact that, in one barony (East Mus-
kerry), there are 8,900 persons returned as destitute by
the relief committees, and of another (the barony of
Bere) the Constitution thus reports :
" For every one man employed there are five left rov-
ing in destitution abow- the country, and those who are
on the lists of the overF.3!ers have, in many instances, to
walk five miles to the road, and, if not there at the ap-
-wisseed4wartirisittar4r,oe- kalf-day.4..avages-is attepPe4
So that persons leaving their huts at four o'clock hi the
morning cannot regain them before seven or eight o'clock
at night, then to lie down on damp ground, their only
covering being the wet garments in which they shivered
while they toiled all day. But those who suffered on
the works were content and were grateful, while those
who were not employed crowded round the hou'ses of the
few resident gentlemen in the neighbourhood, crying
from hunger, and imploring to have their lives saved by
getting a little food or employment to enable them to
purchase it. Thus matters uroceeded until Monday,
when a large body of the Dursey Islanders and the
labourers of the three parishes surrounding Castletown,
walked into the town, and declared their determi-
nation to move into Macroom and make a
prisoner of Captain Gordon, whom they declared
they would take back into the mountains, and
there subject him to the same privations which
they were enduring until he alleviated their dis-
tress. So determined did they appear in their purpose
that the Rev. Thomas O'Grady, the rector, and Mr.
O'Sullivan, two gentlemen of great influence in the
county, could only prevail on them to postpone their
march for a few days, by stating that they themselves
would that night set off and endeavour to procure em-
ployment for them, as remonstrance by letter was disre-
garded. These gentlemen accordingly did so, but the
result of their mission is not yet disclosed."
DEATHS BY STARVATION IN MAYO,

The Mayo Constitution publishes another fearful ca-
talogue of deaths by famine within the last ten days.
Here is the supplementary " black list":—
•` On Monday, the 21st instant, Mr. Atkinson, coroner,
held an inquest on the body of Pat M‘Donnell, at
Springhill. The deceased was found dead in a field.
Some witnesses, and Dr. Neilson, were examined, and
the following verdict was returned—' Died from starva-
tion.'

"On the same day the same coroner held an in-
quest on the body of Owen Cane, who died at Glane-
dagh. Verdict-6 Death from starvatioil:
" On the same day the same coroner held an inquest
on the body of Bridget Joyce, a widow with four chil-
dren, who di"d in a small sheep-house, in a field at
Glanedagh. It appeared in evidence that the deceased
and her family were in the utmost state of destitution,
and one of the children had nothing to wet the lips of
its dying parent but a drop of water or a little snow.
The body lay for eight days before a few boards could
be procured to make a coffin, in such a state of
oan inquest vititati
on
th
destitution was the locality. Verdict-6 Death from
starvation.'
" On the 22d, the same coroner held an inquest on the
sDierd held from the on of
body of James M'Andrew, at Cloonman, whose death
was very sudden.
God.'
On r
th
body of Edmond M'Hale, a boy, at Caracirable, in At-
tymass, one of a numerous family. The evidence of the
mother as to their destitution was truly melancholy.
e ern:i ec ;ne
23d, the V a
The last words of the dying child to his famishing
parent were, Mother, give me three grains of corn.' A
woman, who was present at the melancholy scene,
searched the pocket of his jacket, and found three grains
of corn. Verdict—• Died from starvation.'
" On the 24th, the same coroner held an inquest on
the body of William Barrett, at Acres, Killala. Verdict
—'Died from starvation. _ . .

_ _...... ____ ____ • ______
" On the same day, the same coroner held an inquest
on the body of Bridget Walsh, at Rathtrom. Verdict—
' Died from starvation.' "