The Sun.
London, England, 1847-05-29 00:00:00

MALT TAX

The Duke of RUTLAND presented a petition from
persons in Lancashire, praying fur the repeal of the
malt tax.

Lord BROUGHAM assured the Noble Duke that he
was opposed to all taxes, and to the malt tax also. But
he could not consent to that tax being repealed till it
could be seen how the; could do without it.
The Duke of RICHMOND diff.red from the N,,ble
and L .arned Lord. The tax in question was felt as a
great burden, the re-moval of which was become more
necessary from certain late changes in the law. The
sugar duties, too, had been reduced, so as to bring that
article into competition with malt ; and as malt, itself
could now be got elsewhere, the duty. was become a
severe burden. He hoped his Noble Friend would ere
long bring in a measure for the repeal of this duty.
FIRE AT ST. JOHN'S, NEWFOUNDLAND.
Lord PORTMAN ruse to call attention to the papers
laid before this House relating to the fire at St. John's,
Newfoundland ; and to move an humble address to her
Majesty. He said this matter had been brought
before his attention first of all by the clere.,-
men of the West of England. They found thst
the principal part of the fund had been devoted to objects
to wh:ch it was positively prohibited from being devoted.
He would now direct their attention to the documents and
papers which had been laid upon their Lordships' table.
Letters were before the House which would show the
House the extent of the calamity to which he referred.
Considerable collections had been made for the relief of
the sufferers ; petitions had also been presented to the
Queen, praying that a collection might be made f:ir the
sufferers. The Noble Lord then proceeded to refer to
several documents, bearing upon the case, at a consider-
able length.

The bishop of LONDON said the Noble Lord com-
plained of the way in which the funds, raised unt7er a
Queen's Letter, for the damage dune at Newfoundland
by fire, had been applied. lie objected to every por-
tion of the money bring employed for the rebuilding of
the parish church. Now it ought to b considered that
the parish church of St. John's, was the only one de-
stroyed, and surely it was a work of charity to erect it,
under the circumstances. Being the only place of wor-
ship which stiff rid by the fire, it was but ri,:ht that a
portion of the amount raised, should be applied in the
manner referred to, and he could not see how it could
reasonably be denied. An application was made to the
Crown from a Committee, appointed at a meeting,
over which the Lord Mayor presided, to allow
collections to he made in the churches and cha-
pels throughout the country for the purpose of
relieving the distress occasioned by the fire in
Newfoundland, and for rebuilding the churches.
which had been destroyed. He did not, therefore, think
that the Bishops or the Goverment were to blame for
the course which was taken, but if blame did attach to
any one for what had been done, he was quite ready to
take it upon him&elf. He begged to thank the Govern-
ment in his own name, and in the name of the authorities
of Newfoundland, for their exertions in behalf of the
unfortunate persons who had suffered by the disaster.
. .

Earl GRIA. said his Noble Friend had blamed him
for not allowing a portion of the money for the rebuild-
ing► of the church. He did refuse to shot any portion of
the money for this purpose, hut he did so at the wish,
and with the approval of, the authorities of the colony.
The persons of the workin:, class who had been sufferers
by the fire had received compensation to nearly the full
amount, awl the class which suffered most ceverely
(lamely, the small shopkeepers), did not come forward
to receive relief. It appeared therefore to him, that the
application of the surplus money—which remained from
these contributions—to the restoration of the churches
destroyed. was a most leg timate application, and one
likely to be more beneficial than the continuation of
money crants to the sufferers; whereby a most improper
and morbid craving for this relief had originated. Under
the existing law there was no machinery for regulating
the distribution of charitable donations of this descrip-
tion, end, in almost all cases, such donations were ap-
plied under a system analogous to the one adopted in
this instance. He had no c.bjection to the motion as
brought forward, but it certainly was not likely to serve
any efficient purpose.
The Bishop of SALISBURY said that he entirely
concurred in the olvervations of the Noble Lord (Port-
man) that any information as to the method of disposing
of this money might be useful, but sill he was of opinion
that so far from it being misapplied, it had been very
juoieiously distributed according to the usual mode in
such casts.

After a few words in reply from Lord PORTMAN.
The Transference of Laud Bill was then read a first
time.

Several Bills were then forwarded a stage, and their
Lordships adjourned.

HOUSE OF CWIMOIVS, May 28.
The SPEAKER took the Chair at Four o'clock.
NEW MEMBER.
Captain BURKE was introduced by L3rd M. Hill and
Admiral Dundas, and took the oaths awl his seat for the
county of Galway, in the room of T. B. Martin, Esq.,
deceased.