The Sun.
London, England, 1856-03-05 00:00:00

THE LOCAL DUE, 0)1 SHIPPING BILL.

(Fro;m the ExamEmr.)

In the beat of the battle raised upon this hill Mr.
Lowe has been deserted by his colleagues. Whether or
not this was treatment he was entitled to expect may in
some degree appear from what we have to say of the
measure proposed.
It was one of two introduced on the part of the Go-
vernment, both of them thoroughly just and sound in
principle, and both explained to the House by the Vice-
President of the Board of Trade with unusual spirit and
ability. The resolute opposition at once provoked by
the particular bill now abandoned was not such as should
have occasioned any surprise. So much the Ministry
had every reason to expect. On behalf not merely of
shipowners, but of the whole public, against the system
of taxing entire classes le,,d communities by single
towns, its provisions were framed. It was to take
away from certain corporations powers over other
people than themselves and their own townsmen,
leaving them simply power to rule over and rate
their own locality. In other words, it took away a
profitable privilege, and who could doubt that it
would therefore be called an act of spoliation ? It took
away a power ; and, though this was only a power over
strangers, it was mere matter of course to expect that
the old cry of rescue should be raised for " local self-
government." That every town council concerned
would set a member on his legs to speak against the
measure, and that all the machinery of resistance brought
up commonly to make a stand for any corrupt system,
would certainly be directed against the Shipping Bill, it
required no conjuror to foresee.
It consisted perfectly with those old notions of com-
mercial policy which Sir Robert Peel overthrew that
seaport towns, or towns upon great rivers, should be
allowed, quite after the manner of the middle ages, to
exact a tax or toll on passing traffic. Time was when onr
kings, for a little ready money, sold or wade grants of
their own dues in certain ports ; and in this way a few
towns obtained some privileges that were imperial
and by no means municipal. For imperial rights that
now produce to the corporation of Liverpool 125,0001.
a year the original prize was not more than 700/ ,
for which payment the Molyneux family counted at
that time upon a return of some 141. a-year from the pri-
vileges it secured to them. But the thing thus bought
was not land, neither was it capital. It was a delegated
right to impose taxes upon vessels and cargoes, paid
partly by shipowners, and falling partly on the gene-
ral consumers of the goods so taxed. It was the far-
ming of a public trust, falling with unjust and partial
incidents on particular classes, and hurtful to the
people at large. Yet this :s the public tax to which
the Corporation of Liverpool, through its advocate
Sir Frederic Thesiger and his ally S:r Francis Baring,
!aye claim, at this time of day, as its inalienable
private property, to build town halls with, to dine or
revel upon—in fact to do what it pleases with. Why, the
bare notion of a private right in such taxation is mon-
strous ; and marvellous is the power of face which would
claim it as a part of local self-government, and raise the
silly outcry of centralisation against the desire to r. peal
it. The Crown itself is in receipt of no inalieabb:e tax,
and what it has not it cannot bestow.

Corporations are not ends but means, as it was pro-
perly shown in the debate. Can it be pretended that to
even what they claimed in their old and rotten Write,
before the Municipal AO, the new corporations now
reigning in their stead can lay equal claim ? Prece-
dents of compensation are urged with much vehe-
mence, and such may undoubtedly have been just, as for
example in the case of the differential dues, iu so far as
bbey made amends for clear acts of departure from the
ordinary course of legislation. But to the present
case they in no respect apply. The purpose of the
Shipping Bill was to bring up to the level of existing
legislation fragments of usage that should have become
obsolete years ago. Now that the day of reckoning is
come, to have fattened on abuses so long uncorrected is
no ground for compensation, whatever of thankfulness
or remorse it may suggest for years of overlooked and
unmolested enjoyment.
Nor had the Government acted in any baste in this
matter. The repudiated bill was founded upon recom-
mendations contained in the report of a commission which
inquired into the subject very carefully three years ago.
Many times also, before that date, the subject had been
pressed upon the attention of the House ; and when Mr.
Lahouchere several years ago proposed the repeal of the
navigation laws, it was objected against him that he did
not bring forward concurrently a measure of the very
character of this which Lord Palmerston has now aban-
doned. Already anticipating, moreover, the certainty
of such interference from the Legislature, the Liverpool
corporation has had the shrewdness to begin to borrow
money on these dues, instead of borrowing on other
available security ; and with great force and spirit Mr.
Lowe pointed to this fact as increasing the necessity fir
immediate legislation. He warned the house that, if
they did not act at once, they would find themselves en-
tangled, when the inevitable time came, by charges
created expressly to embarrass the repeal. "We shall
find the question entangled in evert), possible way, and
its settlement must be postponed for an indefinite period.
I say the commission has done its duty in reporting
boldly and recommending what was good for the public.
I say the Government has done its duty in bringing in
this measure ;"—and we Fay that Lord Palmerston has
not done his duty in flinging such a measure aside after
a single night's experience of active opposition.
The plea is that there are complex interests to take
into consideration. But if these had not already been
considered why propose to legislate at all ? The com-
mittee is a mere pretence, a limbo to which the House is
not sorry to dismiss an inconveniently just and righteous
bill. It anything useful or h•mest were intended by
sue)) a Step, we should be quite disposed to ask. Nitil
Mr. Disraeli, what rieces,ity there can he for the House
..1 Commons to undertake the do ies of the Cabinet ?

HEA or LO ,DoN DUBING THE

TV E K.

( From the Report of the lirgistrar-General.)
The t.r.al number deaths registered in Loadon last
week was 1,029. Of th,,,e 529 were &tabs of males,
aro: 500 ,f fdrnales. The return is swisfaqory, as tested
by experience; for it by 221 than the average
number of deaths (cnrreo a lrrr increa-e of population)
in the 10 corresponding weeks of the years 184 G-55.

Phih'sis, as is usually the cafe, pr.duced a great, r
numher of deaths than any other disease, and was fatal
in 136 oases.' Eninchitis was fatal in the next degree,
arid carried off 95 persons ; pneumonia nuroberkvd 62, of
whom two-thirds were infants not more than two years
old. Hooping cough prevailed to some extent, and 60
children died of it. This complaint is r.:turned in five
cases in the report for St. John, Pad lingtin ; and with
reference to a child who died ele second in the same
family within a f phig,ht from hoopiog cough) at 14,
Wharf South,!the medical attendant mentions "the cold
and damp atmosphere" in which it hail lived, the cot-
tage being low, arid contiguous to the Grand Junction
Canal. Of 52 deaths from typhus (irclucling continued
fever) occurred in the north division, which contains
the London Fever Ho,pital, 14 in the east, 9 in the
west, 8 in the south, and 4 in the central division.
Typhus is frequent in Bethnal-green ; the registrar of
the Church suh-district recorded three deaths from
it in two days and one (that of a man 32 years obi)
occurred at 7, Nelson-street. Hackney-road. where the
fatal disease is attributed by the medical atten.'ant
to "fetid smells arising from the house drains." Nine
deaths from typhus, and one from scarlatina, took place
in the Fever Hospital. The tetAl deaths from scarlatina
were 24, from measles 17, and from smallpox 14. One
from rheumatic fever, 10 from rheumatism, 17 fr nn can-
cer, one from intemperance, 2 from delirium tremens.

On February the 7th, at 45, Park-street, Mary lebone,
a man is returned as having died from want of food.

The greatest age recorded is that of a widow, 96
years, who died in Christ Church, Marylebone.
Last week the b;rthe of 1,002 boys and 974 girls, in
all 1.976 children, were registered in London. In the
ten corresponding weeks of the years 1846-55 the aver-
age number was 1,575.
At the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, the readings
of the barometer were high ; the highest was 30.53 in.
on the let of March. The mean of the week was 30'365
in., and the daily mean was above 30 in. throughout
the week. The mean temperature was 43.8 deg., which
is 4 deg. above the average of the same week in 08 years
(as determined by Mr. Glaisher.) The highest tempera-
ture occurred on \Vednesday, and was 57 deg. ; the
lowest on Monday, and was 33.3 deg., and the difference
between that and the mean air temperature of the water
of the Thames was 411 deg. The wind, which before
had been mostly in the' south-west, changed for the last
three days to north-east. Except a thick misty rain on
the morning of Thursday no rain fell in the week.

MORTALITY IN THE METROPOLIS.
NUMBER OF DEATHS FROM ALL CAUSES REGISTERED
IN THE WEEK ENDING SATURDAY, MARCH I.
Zymotic Diseases
Diseases of Uncertain Seat
Tubercular Diseases
Diseases •f the Brain, Nerves and Senses
Diseases of the Heart and Blood-vessels 47
Diseases of the Lungs and other Organs of

Respiration .. ... ....................... ......... 185
Diseases of the Stomath, Liver, and other Organs

of Digestion . ....
Diseases of the Kidneys, &c.
Childbirth, Diseases of the Uterus, &c.
Diseases of the Joints, Bones, and Muscles
Diseases of the Skin, &e.
Malformations 2
Premature Birth and Debility 29
Atrophy
Old Age ' ' 26
Sudden l5
Violence, Privation, Cold, and Intemperance 33
Causes not specified

DEATHS PROM ALL CAUSES 1,029
Population Deaths in corre- Deaths
lenumerate4l. aponding week in the
1851. of 18.,5. Week.
West Districts
North Districts 490,393 ..... 328
Central Districts 393,256
East Districts 485,522
South Districts

Totals

1,50

1,029

, .
Males 529
Females 5OO
BIRTHS IN THE WEEK.

Males
Females..

1002
974

Total - 1,976

of the 140,0001. brought by the Persia yesterday about
60,0001. was on French account, and the remainder has
beep ptrobued for traornivsiou to rub:.