The Sun.
London, England, 1851-03-27 00:00:00

THE PAPER DUTY.

o 7
these are stig some common objects of interest for
which politicians are ready to work in concert, and
not only ready, but zealous in their endeavours to
promote what th,!!), can agree in advocating. The
one of the excise duty on paper is fortunately one of
these topics, and if combination of influences be of any
avail to move the stony heart of the Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer, we should feel disposed to regard the confident
expectations entertained upon the subject as not wholly
destitute of foundation.

Five-and-twenty Members of the House of Commons,
nearly all of them representing Irish constituencies,
waited upon Sir Charles Wood, on Saturday last, for
the purpose of urging upon him the claims or the paper
manufacturer to be relieved from the oppressive tax
and still more oppressive system of fiscal espionage
under which it labours. The paper trade, as was stated
by the gentlemen composing the deputation, is one
of the few branches of skilled industry that has main-
tained its position in Ireland, affording a consider-
able amount of employment both directly and indi-
rectly to the population of several of the towns in
the eastern portion of the island. There can be no
doubt that the removal of the present system of disabi-
lities to enterprise and improvement would tend materi-
ally to the further development of this species of manu-
facture, in a country which still imports more than two-
thirds of what is required for its home comsumption.
Not a few facilities naturally present themselves for
this. In the neighbourhood of most of the towns which
are at present the seats of the manufacture in the sister
kingdom, an abundant supply of water-power exists,
useable for the simple machinery which the trade re-
quires. Aa in the case of the linen factories
in Ulster, it would be easy to adapt the
mechanism so as to render the motive power of
steam and water alternately available, thus ensuring
constancy of work and economy in expenditure. There
are few of the bleaching mills in the north of Ireland
that do not possess a water-wheel as well as a steam-
engine; and as the price of coal is usually cheapest
when :the supply of water from the mountain is most
liable to fail, the skill of the machinist pro-
tects the manufacturer from being interrupted in his la-
bours or amerced in wasteful outlay for an indispensable
element in his undertaking. In some of the paper mills
now working in Ireland, the same alternative system has
been brought into successful operation. Bat all expan-
sion of the trade is stopped by the vexatious surveillance
o: the excise and the intolerable imposition of an exces-
sive tax.
Another feature in the case not without interest and
importance is the sort of natural connexion between the
growth and manufacture of flax on the one hand and
the paper trade on the other. Not merely is
this true as regards the finer descriptions of fa-
brics, but even in the coarsest kinds the same ob•
servation applies. For the making of the more deli-
cate descriptions of paper, linen rags, as is generally
known, are most useful, and it is a curious circumstance
connected with this part of the subject, that, owing to
the limited consumption of fine linens in the country
where they are made, it is found necessary to import
largely into Ireland this peculiar species of rags. But
this is not all. It has been found by modern experi-
ments that i❑ the improved method of dressing and pre-
paring flax, the vast amount of refuse which formerly
was thrown away is capable of being turned to direct
account as the raw material of the coarser kinds of
wrapping-paper; and as this, from its great weight and
bulk in proportio❑ to its value when ready for sale is
precisely the species of goods into the cost of which the
price of the raw material most largely enters, whatever
contributes to stimulate either the cultivation of the
crop or the development of the manufacture, must needs
produce reciprocal benefits. The tow and woody fibre
which the improved process of flax-steeping collects and
heaps together in one spot, is, under ordinary circum-
-lances, of but little, and often of no marketable value
whatever. In the neighbourhood of a paper mill it
would readily bring from 151. to 20/. a ton.
Here, then, is a case for consideration by every reflect-
ing man placed in a position of political judgment, but
pre-eminently ono for a Chancellor of the Exchequer
to ponder and revolve. Here are the means of produc-
tion ready to hand—the disposition to employ them—
practical fsmiliarity with their use—and an almost una•
nimbus expression of desire on the part of those who
however closely or remotely sympathise in the matter—
that shackles should be removed that hinder the
growth of so unalloyed a good. The Scotch and
English manufacturers are thoroughly at one with
each other and with their Irish fellow-workers in
paper-making. Tho voice of industry in the three
kingdoms is in this affair the same. There is
no jealousy, no discord, no local or petty
interests warring with the general aim. A more popular
measure of fiscal reform Government could not devise
than the relinquishment of the excise on paper. The
amount which it yields is unquestionably considerable ;
but, be it remembered, that its remission would not
merely add, as in other cases, to increased expenditure
on tax paying luxuries and necessaries, but to the im-
mediate and extensive augmentation of the general stock
of wealth, by the additional creation out of valueless
materials of saleable goods.—Daily News.

LAW INTELLIGENCE.
SECONDARIES' COURT, March 26.
(Before Mr. Secondary Parr Ea.)
RAPLEY P. SALTWELL, EXECUTRIX.

This was an action to recover the sum of 441. i e,t. 13.
The plaintiff is a corn-dealer, &c., at Clapham, and de-
fendant is executrix of An❑ Saltwell, formerly an omni-
bus proprietress. The action was brought to recover
the value of hay, corn, &c., supplied to deceased during
her lifetime.
Defendant pleaded that deceased had been indebted
to her, and that she had no assets in hand belonging to
the estate.
The plaintiff's ATTORNEY said that as they were
not in a position to prove that the defendant was in pos-
session of assets, therefore they would take a ver-
dict merely to ascertain the amount due, so that it might
be recovered hereafter when any funds were m hand.
Evidence was adduced to show a general delivery, and
the fairness of the charges.
The jury thereupon gave a verdict for the amount
claimed.

COURT OF INLAND REVENUE, March 26.
(Before H. F. STEPHENSON, E-q., C. J. lIERRIES, Esq.,
and CHARLES PRESSLY, Esq.)

FRAUD UPON THE POOR.-ADITLTERATION OP PEPPER.
Samuel Lindsay, of Lambeth-walk, grocer, was
charged on an information containing two counts, with
adulterating pepper with certain vegetable substances,
and with having such adulterated pepper in his posses-
sion. The defendant pleaded not guilty to the charge.
Mr. Bateman conducted the prosecution.
Mr. David Doig stated that he was an officer of ex-
cise, and know the premises of the defendant in Lam-
beth-walk. He was an entered dealer in pepper, and
was a grocer. On the 21st of November witness went
to the shop and purchased two ounces of ground white
pepper, which he kept in his possession until he took it
to be examined. Part of the quantity he purchased he
handed over to his supervisor, and the rest to the analy-
tical chemist to the board (Mr. George Phillips). It
was in the same state as he received it from the defen-
dant's shop, and no alteration had been made in it.
Witness looked at it when he got home, hut was not
then aware whether or not it was adulterated. Ho had
since, by the aid of the microscope, seen that a large
proportion of rice was mixed with it. The rice was quite
perceptible amongst it, C. 3 there was a great difference in
the granules of rice from those of pepper.
Cross-examined by the defendant—He had purchased
samples of pepper at other shops on the day in question,
but be took care that a proper distinction should be pre-
cerved. He took them the following day to the office to
have them tested.

Mr. George Phillips deposed that he was a surveying-
examiner-general of excise, and analytical chemist to the
board. He bad examined samples of pepper brought to
him by Mr. Dcig, the officer. They consisted of white
pepper and rice, in the proportion of one-half of each.
By the assistance of a moderate power of the microscope
the admixture was very perceptible. Another parcel
sent to him by the supervisor gave precisely the same
results.

Mr. George Digby ,supervisor of excise, said the shop
of the defendant was in his district. The officer gate him
a sample of pepper, purchased by him at the defendant's,
which he handed to the chemist in the same state as he
received it.

The defendant, in reply to the charge, said the young
man was in court whom he had employed to manage
the business of his shop, and he could state whether he
(defendant) had ever given him orders to do anything
wrong.
Mr. Commissioner STEPHENSON—The question be-
fore the Court is not whether or not it was done by
your orders, but whether you have sold popper or rice ?
Defendant—My young man bad no order from me to
do anything wrong, and if it is so it has been done
without my knowledge.
Mr. Commissioner STEPREmsoN That makes no
difference. You are liable for the acts of your servant.
Do you attempt to prove that it is not adulterated ?
Defendant—l cannot do that, but I can say that I had
no knowledge of its being so.
Mr. Commissioner STEPHENSON—Then the Court
gives judgment against you in the penalty of 251.,1 and
you may rely upon it that the amount will not be dimi-
nished.

The Court is determined in every future case to in-
flict a much more severe penalty until a complete check
is put to this dishonest trade.

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE-
ROME ClRCUlT.—Maidstone, March 25.
CROWN COURT.--(Before Mr. Baron PARKE.)
The Learned Judge was engaged during the whole of
Monday in disposing of a number of indictments for
burglary and receiving stolen property at Chatham.
The parties accused were James Clarke, 34, James
Thomas, 31, and George Turner, 30, who were charged
as principals in several burglaries; and Thomas Wilson,
55, Harriet Wilson, 50, and Hannah Summers, 34, were
charged in all the indictments with having feloniously
received the property, knowing it to have been stolen.
Mr. G. Denman conducted the prosecution; Mr. Horne
defended the two Wilsons.
The charges were clearly brought home to the parties,
with the exception of Summers, by the evidence of Tur-
ner, who was admitted to give evidence for the Crown,
and by other independent testimony, and from the state-
ment made by him it appeared that be, Clarke, and
'Thomas, and some other men, had committed a great
many burglaries in the neighbourhood of Chatham, and
it would seem that the other prisoners Thomas and Har-
riet Wilson, who kept a low public-house at Chatham,
palled the Cannon, were the ready receivers of the stolen'
property. The prisoner Summers was a servant in the
house, and it appeared that she had purcha.cd a portion
of the articles that had bcdoubtful
whether stolen, but it was
whether she had done this of her own accord cr under
the authority of her master and mistress.