The Sun.
London, England, 1856-05-06 00:00:00

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LOCAL CHARGES ON SHIPPING.

This Parliamentary committee re-assembled yesterday
—Mr. Lowe in the chair. The other members present
were Lord Hotham, Mr. Hardy, Mr. Horsfall, Mr.
Watson, Mr. Duncan, Mr. Milner Gibson, Mr. Head-
lam, Sir J. Duckworth, Mr. Fenwick, Sir S. Northcote,
Mr. Bouverie, Mr. Vance, and Mr. Moffat.
Mr. Worthington was recalled to correct a portion of
his previous evidence as to the Weaver navigation, and
the extent of the port of Liverpool. He put in a Tres'.
sury minute of April, 1850, describing the limits of the
port. Witness complained of the pressure of the Liver-
pool town dues on vessels carrying • salt, timber, and
corn. Witness sent a small quantity of salt to Liver-
pool for consumption in the town, and that did not pay
town dues, as it did not go out of the port. If the
salt, or any portion of it, should be reshipped, and
sent to Ireland or the north coast of Great Britain,
or other port., then dues would be levied on it. There
was a good deal of competition in the salt trade be-
tween those k iving works at Droitwich, Nantwich, and
other places .Fermerly witness usad to send a large
quantity of s:lt t the different ports of the United
Kingdom ; to London he used to send extensively, but
now he seat none, which be attriLu ed to the high rates
on the canals and the town dues of Liverpool ; now the
salt was carried be the railways at a much cheaper sate.
The charge from Nantw'c'i t ) London was 14s. 6d. per
ton coastwise ; irons Droitwich to London the charges
used to be Ps. 101 d. per ton ; it was now 3s. 7id., being
a reduction of 200 per cent. On ships which brought
coals from t'm collieres to the salt works, there was a
charge of Bi. per ton of town dues. That coal was con-
...tuned in niol ing salt, and the salt was then taxed in
he san e vs esels going down the riser to an extent that
made the wh,, e tie on salt ls., and for coal 41d. About
12 cwt. of cea! wae, con•umed in making a ton of salt.
In reply to Mr. H srsfall, witness said there had been
an enormous increase in the export of salt from Liverpool
of late ; but there bad also been a large increase of ex-
port at ha ports of Hull and Gloucester. He should
think al out 600,000 tons of salt had been exported from
Liverpool last year. He should say the export of salt
had intressed in greater ratio at Hull and Gloucester
than at Liverpool, which he attributed to the opening of
canals and railways.
Mr. Mourissy, a merchant of St. John's, N. 8., was
next examined. He stated that his firm paid annually
about 4,000/. for town dues at Liverpool on timber and
deals which they sent from St. John's. He also exported
cotton, which paid 2d. a bale duty ; he paid 6d. a ton
on salt ; he had to pay town dues on chains and anchors
at Liverpool when he sant for them. He considered the
eues unreasonable, inasmuch as he received no benefit
for them. He believed salt was snide at Syracuse, in
the United States, but he had nearly all his salt from
Liverpool. The port charges at London and those at
Liverpool were nearly the same.
Mr. Pearn, a Liverpool met chant, and agent to the
cat witness, was next called. He mid he paid last year
town dues at Liverpool-1,2501, for lumber, and 250/,
fur salt, &c., sent outwards The American traders
generally preferred Liverpool to other ports ; there were
many attractions that drew trade to Liverpool.
Chairman—Do you consider the town dues one of the
attractions of Liverpool ? (Laughter.)
Witness was not prepared to say that.
_ _

In reply to Mr. Itors:fall as to whether he considered
the t )wri dues of Liverpool drove trade away from the
po't, witness said he would rather not answer that ques•

Mr. Blackwell, of Dailey, a gentleman engaged in
the iron trade, was next called. He said the Liverpool
town dues very much affected the price of the raw mate-
rial used in the manufacture of iron, as they imported
nearly 200,000 tons of ore a-year from Lancashire and
Cumberland, and all that paid 31. a ton town dues. The
export duty would come to about 5,0001., or GI a ton,
on the manufactured iron which he exported from Liver-
pool. He ccnsilere I the trade of South Staffordshire
did suffer, and would continue to suffer more, by the
dues having been transferred from the Crown to the Li-
veie.ool Corporation. Witness had very extensive co'.
lieries on the line of the Newport, Hereford, and Aber-
gavenny Railway. He paid a royalty of 2d. per ton on
the coal ; his colliery was about nine miles from New.
port, and from thence it was shipped to Birkenhead ; a
large quantity of the coal was subsequently shipped
from Birkenhead to Newhaven. There was a very
gnat export of coal from Newport to foreign port
The dues at Newport were very light. He consi-
dered the teen dues of Liverpool were certainly de-
trimental to trade generally. It was considered that
the Corporation of Liverpool had no claim to levy
those duce. Witness held in his hand a petition to
the House of Commons, signed by a very large num-
ber of persons engaged iu trade at Dudley and the
neighbourhood, praying the house to abolish those
dues.

Mr. Pearson, a Liverpool merchant, was the next wit-
ness. He described the practice of the Liverpool mer-
chants as to exporting articles to foreign ports. He
wai not a freeman, and had to pay town dues on all
articles ho imported and exported. He paid local rates,
about 51. 108., exclusive of poor rates, and town dues
from 301. to 401. That was on his own account, but he
paid a further amount on account of his correspondents,
t,,r whom ho acted as forwarding agent. He considered
there was no equivalent given by the Corporation of
Liverpool for those dues. With regard to the dock
dues, he thought if the paedes who paid them had a
v,,ice in electing the dock committee there would be
much greater facilities afforded to the shipping. The
chairman of the dock comtnittee was selected by the
whole of the members of the committee, one-half
of whom were members of the Corporation of
Liverpool. Ti:ere was a tariff of town dues pub-

Jisheds in "Gore's Directory," but there was. no
regular tariff for the dock dues. The officers of
Oer Majesty's Customs did assist in collecting the town
dues, for they would not pass a ship's entry till the dues
were paid. Southport was situated near the niouth of
the river Ribble, but it was considered to be within the
port of Liverpool. There were no town dues levied at
Southport chiefly for the reason that there was no trade
—it was m.rely awatering-place,

Mr. Lupton, Vice-President of the Chamber of Com-
merce of Leeds, was next examined. He said the mer-
chants of Leeds considered it excessively unjust that
they should pay town dues at Liverpool, for which they
received no value whatever. They paid twopence a packet
on all goods which they sent to Liverpool for exporta-
tion, which amounted in the year to as much as 3,0001.
or 4,0001. They now sent a considerable portion of their
goods to be shipped at Fleetwood for Ireland. At Fleet.
wood there were no charges ; the voyage was shorter to
Belfast from Fleetwood than from Liverpool. He did
not know of any Leeds goods *teeing shipped at Fleet-
wood for Dublin or Cork, as that would be a longer sea
voyage ; but Belfast and Fleetwood were opposite to
each other. He should not object to the town dues if
they were expended in improving the river Mersey.
Mr. Charles Henry Jones, of Huddersfield, was the
next witness. He bad been requested by the Board of
Commissioners at Huddersfield, to come before this
committee to complain of the town dues of Liverpool, as
being an increase nn the cost of their manufactures. The
merchants of Huddersfield would not object to the town
dues if they were expended on the improvement of the
Mersey. The trade of Huddersfield was increasing not.
withstanding these dues ; but the greater their trade,
the more unjust they felt the imposition of the Liverpool

town duty..
By the Chairman—lt was not owing to the town due'
of Liverpool, but to the ingenuity and industry of the
people of Huldersfield, that their trade was increasing.
The committee then adjourned until Thursday.

NATIONAL DEBT.—The following is the amount of tl
National Debt which did not nay income tax for the
year ending April, 1855. 28,714,8391. ; number of ac-
counts on which exemption was claimed, 78,795.
NAVAL AND MILITARY BIBLE SOCIETY.-- This society
held its 76th annual meeting yesterday afternoon, at
Willis's Rooms, under the presidency of Admiral Ver-
non Harcourt, who filled the chair in the absence of the
Marquis of Cholmondeley. In opening the proceedings
the chairman alluded to the increasing interest mani-
fested by the public in behalf of seamen, as displayed in
tLe multiplication of sailors' homes and other similar
institutions. The Naval and Military Bible Society, he
said, had been the instrument of distributing Bibles a Id
Testaments to all the regiments and ships during the la fi
war, and evidence was not wanting that the blessirg of
God had rested on its exertions. Peace had its trials and
temptations as well as war, and the efforts of Oblatians
to provide spiritual instruction for soldiers and sailors
should not be relaxed now that warfare had ceased. The
gallant admiral then stated that he went to the late re•
view at Spithead in one of the Peninsular and Oriental
Company's steamships to distribute tracts among sailors,
who received them with the utmost willingness, and he
incidentally contrasted the excellence of the Peninsular
company's arrangements with those of the Admiralty.
The report, which was read by the secretary, stated,
that during the past year 27 of her Majesty's ships and
100 gun-boats had been supplied with Bibles and Testa-
ments, 5,524 copies having been distributed among the
crews. The British army had been supplied with 4,612
Bibles and Testaments ; in addition to which 10,490
pocket Testaments, granted by the British and Foreign
Bible Society, had been given to soldiers proceeding to
the seat of war, and to those at the camp at Aldershett.
Upwards of 3,000 Bibles and Testaments hai also been
furnished to the Militia. A considerable number had
been sold at reduced prices to merchant seamen in Lon-
don, Liverpool, and other ports, to the inmates of naval
and military hospitals at home and abroad, of barrack-
rooms, &c. The total circulation for the year was
42,657. The receipts amounted to 2,5631., and the ex-
penditure to 2,5591. Admiral Harcourt having resigred
the chair to Captain F. Maude, various speakers suc-
cessively addressed the meeting and advocated the ob-
jects of the society.
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