The Sun.
London, England, 1833-05-22 00:00:00

ASSESSED TAXES.

Sir S. WHALLEY said that the petitions which had
just been presented were sufficient to refute the assertion
that the cry for the repeal of the house and window t ix
was only the cry of the metropolitan districts. Now, be
could venture to as•sure the House that the cry was uni-
versal, and that the pressure of these taxes w,is felt, not
only in every town, lint in every village throughout the
country. He was grad that he had now an opportunity
of bringing forward his motion for the repeal of these
taxes free from admixture with any other topic. He was
glad that it was not embarrassed by any connexion with
that odious tax, the malt tax, or with the consideration of
the necessity of an income or properly tax, or with the
propriety of supporting the Ministry in their intention to re-
tain hot, the a‘sess. d taxes and the malt-tax, lest they should
be induced to resign their offices. He had once had every
confidence. in Ministers, but he was sorry to be compelled

to say that of late they had shown great unwillingness to
relieve the people from the burdens which pressed moat
heavily on them. On a former occasion the House had
been called upon to admit the necessity of an income or a
property tax. Now, he was not altogether prepared for
that—indeed, nothing would induce him to support the
imposition of an income tax. He was, therefore, glad to
be relieved from the necessity of discussing that topic on
the present occasion. He wag not in the habit of tres-
passing very largely on the attention of the house; in•
i
deed, lie thought that the public business was often m •
peded by the unnecessary length at which gentlemen
delivered their sentiments.—(Hear, bear.) But on this
occasion he trusted that the House would excuse him if
he abandoned something of his usual brevity. The Noble
Lord had said on a former occasion that it was a principle
of sound justice that every man should contribute to the
taxes in proportion to the revenue he enjoyed under the
protection of the State. That was a golden legend,
which he should wish to see engraven on the lintels of
the doors of that House, and emblazoned in strik-
ing characters above the Speaker's Chair.--(A laugh.)
A Right Honourable Baronet, whom he had not the plea-
sure of seeing in his place, had said, on the same occasion,
that he supported the assessed taxes because they were a
property tax. Now, be opposed them for the very same
reason, namely, that they were a property tax, and a
property tax which did not compel individuals to pay their
quota in proportion to the revenue they derived under the
protection of the state. The house tax was also a gradu-
ated property tax, and graduated upon a scale of inverse
proportion to the revenue of each individual—it was gra-
duated not in proportion to his wealth but to his property.
For instance, a man renting a house of 1001. paid 21. 19s,
in house duty; but a man with 30,0001. a year, renting
a house of 5001. a year, paid upon that house a duty
which was scarcely a quarter per cent. on his whole pro-
perty. It was said, however, that the rich man, even if
he did not pay more in direct taxation, certainly did pay
more in indirect taxation, upon the articles which be con-
sumed in his establishment. No doubt this was true to
a certain extent. In point of fact, it was the only argu-
ment which he had heard used in favour of these taxes,
save one, and that was the certainty and readiness of their
payment. This latter argument, however, was becoming
weaker and weaker every day, for there was a disposition
now very prevalent not to pay these taxes at all. Now, if
that disposition arose out of the mere spirit of defi ince to
the resolutions of that House, he should say that the
House was bound to vindicate the authority and majesty of
the law; but if it were the mere offspring of distress—if it
arose from the agony of despair, occasioned by the disap-
pointment of the hopes which the Noble Lord had once held
out to the people of being relieved from these taxes, and
which had induced them for some time past to pay these
taxes, not out of the profits of their trade, but out of the
daily diminishing account of their capital,—if such were
the case, then it would be the bounden duty of the House
to inquire whether the feeling of the people was founded
on justice or rested on a temporary and transient delusion.
It bad been said that Adam Smith approved of the house
tax; and why? Because in his day it fell heavier on the
rich than it did on the poor. Fountain of justice! how
different was the case now !—(A laugh.) He had like-
wise deprecated the window tax ; and why ? Because
in his day it fell heavier on the poor than on the rich.—
(Hear.) That this tax was most unequally and unfairly
imposed might be proved by reference to a great number
01 cases. Look to what had recently occurred at Knowle;
that splendid place had been assessed at 1001. a year. A
new assessor was of opinion that it ought at least to be
charged at the rate of 1251. per annum. The occupier
appealed against the new assessment, and the commission-
ers decided that the old assessment of lOW. was sufficient.
—(Hear.) What reason did they assign for this deci-
sion? Because the proprietor of Knowle Palk had been
at considerable expense in making alterations and itn-
provernents. But who had ever heard, in London, of
alterations and improvements having been admitted as
a reason for reducing the assessment?—(Hear.) The
Right Hon. Member for Tarnworth (Sir R. Peel) had
declared that the objectionable parts of the tax-office system
had been removed. He was sorry that the Right Hon.
Baronet was not present : if he were lie would undertake
to show him that such was not the fact. He felt an in-
surmountable and unconquerable objection to the house
and window tax, and he should, by every means in his
power, endeavour to have it removed. He did not regret
the success of the argument advanced by the Hon. Under-
Secretary (Mr. S. Rice), who bad proved the impossibility
of levying the house and window tax equally ; because, if
the tax could not be equally distributed, that was a con-
clusive reason for abolishing it altogether.—(Hear, hear.)
The country gentlemen said—" If you grant this remission
of taxes to the great towns, and you do not remove the
malt tax, you will act unfairly and partially." Now, he
contended that the removal of the malt tax would benefit
the people very little ; whereas the repeal of the house
and window tax would afford a great relief to all classes.
He felt convinced that the repeal of the malt tax would
not assist the landed interest. The =lister, the brewer,
the retail dealer, might reap advantage from the repeal,
but neither the landed interest nor the consumer would
be benefited by such an alteration. h was very
different with respect to the house and window
tax : a repeal of that tax would extend relief
to all. It was a most obnoxious tax ; and the
proposition for an inquisitorial inquiry into the pro-
perty of every man, and the tenure by which he held it
(a proposition that had been recently broached), had its
origin in this very tax. It was taxes such as that, which
were unequally distributed, that fomented and kept up
irritation between the people and the aristocracy ; and
there was nothing, he was sure, that would so soon heal
those differences, and bring hack the people to a feeling of
respect and veneration for the aristocracy, as the repeal of
such odious burdens.—(Hear, hear.) He would now say
one or two words on the relief proposed to be given by
the Chancellor of the Exchequer. The Noble Lord pro-
posed to remit half the duty on shop windows.
Lord ALTHORP—HaIf the house duty where there is
a shop.
Sir S. WHALLEY—WeII, how would that operate
generally ? What benefit would it confer on the poor
lodging-house keeper? He would relieve the shopkeeper
of one-half of this duty, while he still continued to exact
it from his poorer neighbour. He would say, looking to
the borough which he represented, that in a hundred in-
stances out of a hundred and one the shopkeeper was bet-
ter able to bear the tax than those who were living by
letting lodgings. If the Chancellor of the Exchequer cool al
not go the whole way with him, why could he not at lea st
take off one-half of the duty on houses rated under 1001. ?
That would afford considerable relief. But he could
assure the Noble Lord that discontent was not in the least
degree allayed by the small portion of relief which Mini-
sters expressed their intention of granting.—(Bear, hear.)
lie was calling for the redress of a grievance which had
become too heavy longer to be borne by the country. It
was too oppressive to be endured ; and he implored the
House to wipe out the foulest blot that ever disgraced the
fiscal code of any civilized nation. The motion which be
meant to propose was," That it is the opinion of this House
that all taxes upon houses and windows shill cease on the
sth of October, 1833." If this resolution were adopted,
the Chancellor of the Exchequer would still have one-half
of the financial year before him, during which he might
make all necessary arrangements and he hoped that the
lion. Member for Middlesex would, in the interim, im-
press on the mind of the Noble Lord the necessity of
adopting a system of the strictest and most unsparing eco-
nomy.—(Hear, hear.)
The motion having b en read,

Mr. Alderman WOOD rose to second it. lie was most
anxious for a repeal of this most oppressive tax ;. hut he
suggested that if the Noble Lord would agree to a remis-
sion of it in April next, it would answer every purpose,
and be more advantageous with reference to the financial
state of the country. That there was very great distress
in the country could not be dulled, and considerable relief
would be the result of the removal of this tax. Since the
last debate on this subj,ct he had, in his official capacity,
signed 500 summonses for poor-rates, due by the occu-
piers of houses rated at from 401. to 451. If the Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer would lay Is. per gallon additional
duty on spirits, it would enable him at once to remove
this tax.

Mr. S. RICE said, the Hon. Member called on them
to pledge themselves in the fullest manner to remove
taxes, without any equivalent being pinvided, to the
amount of 2,500,000/.—(Hear, hear.) This was not
to be done on the instant. No, in the hope of catching a
few more vo'es, it was to take place at 3 future, but not at
a vet), distant, day. For his own part lie thought it
would be the bust and most candid way to call for the
absolute and immediate repeal of the tax.—(Hear, hear.)
The Hun. Mover and Seconder appeared to proceed on a
prophetic principle with respect to the finances of the
country. The former thought that in October this sub-
traction might Said.Y be made from the taxes, but the
er, not so sanguine, was of opinion that it would be as
well to wait till April. But in legislating on questions of
this kind he put little faith in prophecies. The Hon.
Alderman had volunteered to do the duty of the Chancel-
lor of the Exchequer, and had advised that au additional
duty should be laid on spirits—a measure which, he
said, would be greatly app!auded by the temperance
societies, who, be it observed, were endeavouring to
prevent the consumption of spirits at all.—(A laugh.) If
the llon. Alderman had proposed a duty on water, then
be could have understood his reference to the temperance

societies.-(Hear, hear.) In that case there would have
been rather mere connexion between cause and conse-
quence.-(Hear.) The Hon. Mover seemed to have
taken up this question as if it were Marylebone against all
England. Now. he would say, on the part of many indi-
viduals who did not permanently reside here, that, by
their visits, they contributed greatly to the wealth and
prosperity of the capital. It was a misapprehension, there-
fore, to imagine that England generally did not contribute
to that part of the assessed taxes which was collected in
the metropolis. The total number of bouses in Great Bri-
tain was 2,846,179 ; of these only 430,607 were charged
with the house tax. That did not prove the house
tax to be good, but the fact of only one-seventh of the
houses in the country being chargeable with it evinced
that it did operate with peculiar severity on the poorer
classes who occupied the exempted dwellings. Then
the rate of duty varied from Is. 6d. to 2s. 3d.
and 2s. 10d. in the pound, according to the value of
the house. What could be fairer than this shifting
scale of assessment? The number of houses exempt
from payment of window tax was 2,468,708. From
those figures he argued, it appeared, that although it might
be true that many of those on whom the tax fell expe-
rienced considerable pressure, yet that the pressure from
this cause did not fall on the great mass of the community.
It was not a sufficient answer to say that great multitudes
of people complained of the tax ; it could be shown that,
in some cases at least, more complained of it than suffered
by it, for he knew an instance of a petition against the
house and window duties having been signed by 2,000
individuals in a town where the number of payers of those
taxes did not exceed 120-(Hear, and laughter)-so that
the number of signatures did not correctly represent the
number of sufferers. The Hon. Gentleman's motion
involved the absolute repeal of 2,500,0001. of taxes.
A.suming that the amount could be spared (which he
denied), into whose pockets would the sum remitted fall ?
Into those of the landlords after the expiration of existing
leases.-(Hear.) Justice had not been done to the
exertions of the present Government in remitting taxes on
various commodities, and thus directly benefiting the
consumer ; he might instance the cotton duty. The
amount of relief already afforded to shopkeepers had
been underrated, and some persons went tle length of
calling the remission of half the house duty not a boon
but an insult. In order to show the extent to which
relief would be afforded by his Noble Friend's plan, he
had taken several series of 50 houses in various streets
of the metropolis, and calculated the sums which
they now paid and those which they would have
to pay after the proposed remission. In Union-
street, Borough, he found that 50 houses, all shops,
(hut in other cases he had placed private houses and shops
together, taking them in order as they occurred,) were
rated to the house duty in the sum of 1871. ss. 9t1., and
that of this sum 93/. 14s. Id, would be remitted. In
Bond street, the amount paid by fifty houses woe
1,0971. Is. 4d., which would be reduced by 548/ 10s. Bd.
In Oxford. street, fifty houses now paid 4751. Ss. 10d. ;
the amount of relief would be 237/. 14s. sd.
In Piccadilly, fifty houses, of which only thirty-three were
shops, paid 584/. 10s. 4d., of which 2191. would be
remitted. In the Strand the same number of houses paid
792/. 12s. 6d., which would be reduced by 396/. 6s. 3d.
Taking a different and more obscure part of the town, he
found in Bermondsey-street fifty houses which at present
paid 162/. Is. 10d., and would be relieved to the extent of
811. To say that such remissions as these were not a boo❑
to the trading and industrious classes was not dealing
justly by the Government which had adopted them.
However, let the people only be put in possession of the
facts, and he was not afraid of the result.-(Hear.) In
the line drawn by Ministers between the industrious and
more opulent classes, and in the relief afforded to the
former, he thought it must be admitted that a wise dis-
cretion had been exercised. He held in his hand the assess-
ment of the parish of St. James ; in it 3,521 houses were
rated as inhabited houses, and of that number 2,138
would get relief. Which were the houses that would
not get relief? The great houses of the nobility and
gentry in St. James's-square, Arlington-street, Piccadilly,
Saville-row, &c. Meanwhile the houses of tradesmen
would be relieved, it had been said that relief would not be
afforded to the 10/. householders. The number of houses
rated at from 10/. to 201. was 215,000, just half the
whole number of rated houses in the kingdom ; 73,000
houses were rated at from 101. to 12/., and it was pro-
posed that the assessment upon these should be reduced
from ls. 6d. in the pound to ls., thus making a remission
of one-third the sum now paid. With respect to houses
rated at from 10/. to 20/. generally, the duty was to be
graduated by a scale beginning at ls., and ending with
2s. 311., so that relief would be afforded to 215,000
houses (whether shops or not) out of the entire number of
430,000 subject to assessment. From this statement it
appeared that Ministers had selected as objects of relief the
trading classes who had shops, and the next lowest class,
residing in small houses, leaving the higher class of houses
altogether untouched. This single fact was the best
pledge of the disposition entertained by Government to
relieve the people to the utmost extent of their power.
He had before him a paper which had been indus-
triously circulated, and was probably intended to form
a sort of text-book or manual to confirm Members'
votes on this subject. The document was evidently
the production of a metropolitan reformer, who
took a one-sided view of the question, and declared
that as the land tax had been p irtly redeemed, it
would be inconvenient to meddle with it, and therefore it
bad better be allowed to continue. lie proposed to repeal
not only the house and window duties, but the whole of
the establishment taxes of England, including the duties
on carriages, hors. s, &c. Having got rid of taxation to
the amount of 5,100,000/., minus the land tax, the pro-
jector recommended the Government to take a vote of
credit in the House, in order to make good the engage-
ments of the country.-(Hear, and a laugh.) He would
repeal the permanent taxes, on which our credit could
alone rest in security, and supply the deficiency by a vote
of credit. It was unnecessary to spend time in replying
to and explaining the absurdity of propositions such as this.
He had merely alluded to the subject with a view to
caution Hon. Members from receiving the paper as the
result of absolute wisdom.-(A laugh.) He thought all
impartial persons must admit that, looking to what had
been already done, the people had every reasonable ground
for hope and confidence ; and further, that his Majesty's
Ministers being limited in the amount of relief that could
be afforded, had made a most judicious selection of the
taxation to be remitted.-(Hear.)
Colonel EVANS said that the Hon. Gentleman, the
Member for Cambridge, had alluded in the course of his
argument to the condition of the parish of St. James,
Westminster, and by doing eo had chosen the parish which
of all others was most favourable to his argument. He
(Colonel Evans) begged to call the attention of the House
and of the Government to the parish of St. John. With
respect to the argument of the Hon. Gentleman, that if
these taxes were repealed the landlord would increase the
rent of his tenant, he would, however, first observe, that
even if any instance of the kind should occur, it would
not justify the House in legislating upon such grounds ;
but with respect to the parishes in question, the Hon.
Gentleman bad said that there was no distress.

Mr. S. RICE had never denied the existence of distress;
but that if it existed, it was inconsistent to say that any re-
lief given to the shopkeepers was not a relief to the distress.
Colonel EVANS did not mean to say that the Hon.
Gentleman had denied the existence of distress, but that he
had stated that distress not to be great. Now, he (Col. E.)
believed that distress prevailed to a serious extent, and,
indeed, more than was assumed by the Hon. Gentleman.
He had been informed upon very good authority that
within tire last two months no le-s than sixteen shops in
Leicester-square and Cranborne-alley, held under the
Marquis of Salisbury, bad been thrown up, and the tenants
had gone away in a state of bankruptcy. It could not be
denied that the situation to which he had alluded was a
favourable one for business, yet such were the results of
the distress now prevailing. That distress had, he believed
(and he spoke now also upon authority) been, during the
last seven years, progressive in the metropolis. He held
in his hand a document containing information worthy of
full consideration. From that it appeared that an exten-
sive hardware shop, in the Strand, established upwards of
fifty yeas, had iu former years been in the weekly receipt
of 30/., 401., and 501., and the receipts of that same shop
bad been, during the last eight months, 41. 25., 2/. 165.,
3/, 10s., Si. 1 I s., 21. 11s., 1/. 18s., 21. 95., and 21. lie.
per week. These were facts which Were both ca-
pable of proof, and could be established. It had already
been communicated to the Noble Lord the Chancellor of
the Exchequer, that one half of Regent. treet was in a
state of insolvency, and he (Colonel Evans) could add,
that one half of the Strand was in the same condition.
Almost all the house; in those streets were let to lodgers,
with the exception of the shop and one or two rooms, by
the shopkeeper, from absolute necessity —( Hear.) The
Hon. Member for Cambridge had also dwelt upon the
omission on the part of the Hon. Merober for Marylehone,
in not suggesting a supply fur the deficiency that must arise
from the repeal of these taxes, which now produced to the
revenue 2,500,0001. Now, be (Colonel Evans) calcu-
la ed that the reduction of these taxes would increase the
consumption of excisable commodities, and that increase to
the revenue, together with the reduction of the expenses of
levying imposts, would amount to about 500,0001.
The Noble
Nothhese leLord the Chancellor of the Exchequer hail
calculated upon a similar surplus on the next year's
revenue, which raised the amount to meet the deficieucy

to 1,000,0001. Again, the present force, taking into
consideration the military and police, was now much
larger than it had been during the Administration of the
Duke of Wellington (indeed to the exteat of upwards of
10,000 men), and by a reduction of that force another
half million might be saved to the country. Similar
savings might be made in the excrescences, as he
would call them, of the military department, in the
colonies, and in that which had been brought before
the House by the Hon. Member for Colchester that
evening, namely, in sinecures and pensions—(Hear)—
so that he saw no difficulty in meeting the defici-
ency to arise from the repeal of these taxes. These
facts were already before the Noble Lord (the Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer), and he was therefore the
more surprised and astonished that the gorgon of national
faith being invaded should have been produced on the pre-
sent occasion. He must beg to deny the existence, as bad
been suggested, of a want of respect in the House to the
rights of property, and for himself he would say, that if
he thought any infringement of those rights were designed
on this occasion, he would not give his support to the
motion before the House. He at the same time thought
that if any danger to the peace and tranquillity of the
country now existed, it was to be attributed to these and
other taxes, and the tardiness of the Government in re-
ducing the expenditure of the country. The House had
almost refused to listen the other evening to the important
debate upon the corn laws, and though many Members of
the present Government had formerly been favourable to a
reduction in that and other imposts, yet he (Colonel
Evans) did not expect to see any material reduction in the
expenditure of the country unless some commotion, which
God avert, should press upon the Ministers the necessity
of complying with the wants and wishes of the people.
He supported the motion with the most perfect sincerity.

The ATTORNEY. GENERAL said that it was with
the deepest reluctance, considering the time at which the
proposition had been brought forward by his Hon.
Colleague, that he felt bound to oppose it. That propo-
sition was neither more nor less than that the House should
say, that from the sth of October next the house and
window tax should cease. For this great reduction of the
revenue, amounting to no less than 2,500,0001., no sub-
stitute had been proposed. This impost could not be
given up without a substitute; and if that substitute was
to be a property and income tax, in his judgment an injury
would be inflicted upon a lar.;e portion of the community,
and a much greater evil would be generally effected. The
borough of Marylebone was deeply affected by this impost;
for, indeed, there were not above 200 houses that were of
a less annual value than from 101. to 12/. ; and, there.
fore, if ever the time should come when the revenue of the
country could afford it, these taxes should, for the sake of
justice and humanity, be taken off. The reduction would
he well worth any sacrifice that the Government could
make, but the present was not the period.—(Question.)
Mr. BROTHERTON should support the motion, and
was induced to do so in consequence of the labour of the
country being taken to pay the fundholder a most unjust
ratio. In 1796 the country had borrowed 582,000,0001.,
at an average of 601. per cent., which sum was in reality
only 355,000.000/. for which n per cent. interest bad
been paid up to the present time, and no less than
2:27,000,000/. had now been paid more than the country
had ever borrowed. This was most unjust, and the time
bad now arrived when the country ought to look to the
management of its own affairs.—(Question, question.)
Mr. Sergeant SPANKIE felt bound to give his opposi-
tio❑ to the present proposition, which in effect amounted
to a breach of the public faith. He trusted, however,
that the Government would look with attention to the
relief of the public from these duties, which pressed with
great severity.

Sir W. INGILBY, though he carne to the House as a
country squire, was ready to lend his support towards
relieving the townspeople from their burdens. It had
been contended that the town and country parties were
pitted against each other. That he denied, nor could he
discern the slightest reason why both parties should
not be equally relieved from the preesute of taxa-
tion.—(The Honourable Baronet then proceeded to
arraign the conduct of Government with regard to
their resistance of reduction. What he asked, had
they done towards satisfying the expectations which had
been excited through the country? He would answer—
they resisted the very first proposition for the reduction of
taxation ; he alluded to the proposition he had brought
forward for the repeal of half the malt tax. Their con-
duct on that occasion had created a deep sensation in the
country; and he would tell them that he did not mean to
let them rest in quiet enjoyment of their victory, but on
the very first opportunity which should present itself he
assured them he would again introduce the question to the
House. He would introduce it again on the principle on
which he had before propounded it—that of relieving,
not the landlords alone, but also the labouring classes of
the community.—(Question, question.) There were
many resources, he contended, yet untouched which would
conduce to this relief ; and though he considered a pro-
perty tax by no means a pleasant tax—(A laugh)—yet he
was prepared to support the imposition of such a tax in
lieu of the taxes which pressed with so much severity on
the labouring part of the population. To this, he believed,
they would be at last obliged to resort, and perhaps the
sooner they did so the better.—(Question.) It had been
contended that the House had been taken by surprise on
the division on the malt tax ; such was not the fact, and
he really conceived that the deliberate vote to which the
House came on that occasion ought to be carried into
execution —( Hear, hear.)
Mr. ROEBUCK rose, but the cries of "Question" were
so deafening as to induce
Lord ALTHORP to rise to order, and say, that if the
debate were not allowed to go on at that period of the
evening (between IO and 1 1 o'clock), he saw no prospect
of bringing it to a satisfactory conclusion, not only to
Members themselves, but to the country.
Mr. ROEBUCK deprecated in strong terms the Go-
vernment plan of reduction, as applied to the assessed
taxes. It might, he observed, benefit the large shop-
keepers in Cheapside, but it would afford little benefit to
the tradesmen at large. The assessed taxes, he contended,
pressed with the greatest severity on the small shop-
keepers, and this he well knew was particularly the case
in the town he had tie honour to represent. He objected
to those taxes, not because they were direct taxes, but
because they were unequal in their operation. A great
demur hid been made to the mention of a graduated tax
upon property, but was it forgotten that the house duty
was a tax of this description,only graduated the wrong way?
Mr. TOOKE was prepared to go the full length of the
resolution. He thought retrenchment absolutely necessary
for the maintenance of the public credit, and the peace of
the country. The people were now determined to bear
their burdens no longer, and unless some strong measure
of reduction was proposed by Ministers, he could assure
them that they would occasion the bitterest disappointmeht
to the country. He trusted the opinions expressed by tl e
Learned Sergeant (Spankie) would not be taken by the
House for the opinions of his constituency.
Mr. WARD would oppose the resolution, not because
he was hostile to retrenchinent,—not because he was in-
sensible to the wants and wishes of the people, but because
he did not think the taxes in question the most proper
which could be selected for abolition. The only safe
and efficacious plan for the relief of the country, he be-
lieved, would be found in a patriotic revision of the whole
sy stem of taxation.
Mr. HUME was sorry and surprised to hear that the
Learned Sergeant (Spankie) would vote in favour of
these taxes, for he had considered that Hon. and Learned
Member's speech as conclusive against them. The Hon.
Member then proceeded to complain of the manner in
which Ministers had persisted from the first in insulting
the people on this point—first doling out this contemptible
item, and then that ; yet persisted in keeping up a great
part of it, with all its expensive machinery, though the
distress of the people was undeniable. The expense of
t
collection was enormous, and no inconsiderable portion of
atshsiessteedexipnentshees
surcharging work.
these expenses was gAilvinenostto se
eWho whole
of
might be done away with ; and, indeed, he would say
that the taxes, if reduced to a proper standard, might be
all collected for 39,0001., and that this reformation would
ultimately produce the high-at satisfaction to all parties.
According to the statement of the Right Hon. Gentle-
man, the whole amount of relief would only be 1,100,0001.,
and was it to be supposed that such a sum could not be
easily made up by reductions? Mr. Hume, in order to
show that the suns to be obtained by reductions, ac. ording
to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, was only 1,100,00(11.,
gave the following particulars

The amount of duty on windows and inhabited houses,
about ..,, .£2.,500,000
Deduction proposed in the Budget lOO,OOO

2,400,000
Surplus balance in the Treasury

Leaving
From which deduct the amount which it is proposed
to give to 215,000 houses, from 101. t 3 201. rent, if the
six examples of one-half of the rates is to be taken 600,0f0

Leaving the sum ................... ......... 7 ...................... 1,300,000
If the amount of the charges of collection of the office
of taxes of the whole of the 2,500,0001, was taken off 000,000

Leaving to be provided for by reduction £i,loo,ooo
He would undertake to say that a diligent ievision of the
pensions would enable the Noble Loid to reduce them 10
per cent. The Noble Lord might easily economize on
million pounds. The question, therefor:, was, should the
country be relieved or not from taxation ? If the 1-Luse