The Sun.
London, England, 1869-05-28 00:00:00

2ARLIA 'EN;

HOUSE OF COMMONS —LA..sT EVENING.
The SPEAKER took the chair at four o'clock.
CRIMINAL PROSECUTIONS.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER sail he
ould not adopt the suggestion of the right hoe. gentle-
eau opposite (Mr. Hunt) fur abolishing the examination
.f items of the coats of criminal prosecutions in indictable
•ffences, and substitute for the fine a fixed payment to the
owl treasurer. The costs of such prosacutions differed
very materially, as, for instance, the coat of a prosecution
in Essex was £B, in Berkshire .EJ, in Cheshire .£l.l, and
in Lancashire £23 ; and he was quite unab'e to strike an
verage on those figures without doing injustice to some
aardeular plan. The cost of ,examination to the country
was only £3,400, and as the work was done well he did
lot think it would be advisable to alter the present ar-
ement.
PUNISHMENT OF CIIILDREN.
Mr. BOWRING gave notice that on an early day be
4hould ask what truth, there was in the statameqt that
;ad appeared of two childean, about five years of age,
being fined 2s. each for breaking down and stealing a par-
don of an oak fence.
CUSTOMS AND INLAND REVENUE.
On the motion for going into committee on this bill,
Mr. HUNT complained that there had been no dis-
mssion on the second reading of this bill, nn I there-
'ore he proposed to call the attention of the right
hon. gentleman to some of the peculiarities of the
proposition he had made with a vieer of meting
he deficiencies that ha I occurred in the revenue of the
touutry. He thought the arrangement with respect t
the payment of certain taxes most objeetionable, more
especially the income tax. The deficiency, he
believed, had been set down by the right honour-
dale gentleman at £3,400,010, and supposing the
bill now under consideration to receive the
assent of Parliament, the sum of .C. 1,910,000 would
fall into the hands of the right hon. gentleman. lie
thought it most objectionable that the pressure
should be put upon the taxpayer just at the
particular time when the greatest strain was
always made upon his resources at the beginning of every
new year. It was also said that £lOO,OOO would be saved
in the collection of the income tax under the new arrange-
ment ; such an arrangement was a good one supposing it
could be conveniently done, but he thought the incon-
venience and oppression that would be occasioned by the
payment of the whole of the assessed taxes at the com-
mencement of the year would very far outweigh any ad-
vantage to be reaped by the change. Another effect of the
arrangement of the right hon. gentleman would be that
the Exchequer balances would be seriously interfered
with, and, indeed, to such an extent that it would
prove a great inconvenience to future Chancellors of
the Exchequer. The more convenient course he thought
would have been to have made the income tax
payable in the January quarter. and the len 1,
house, and assessed taxes in the July quarter,
which would have avoided the great inconvenience
which was now the principal objection to the proposals
he had made to the house. The payment of taxes at one
particular period was in itself a good one, but the ennui-
Laing the payment of all the taxes into the same quarter
..if the year was the great inconvenience of which ha com-

plaineci
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said before
be replied to the observations of the right hon. gentleman
he might say that owing to representations that had been
made to him from various quarters it was the iuteLtien
to allow the exemption of br sod mares from duty
'Hear, hear.) lie did not see that the income-tax payer
was hardly dealt with by tae proposition ho had submitted
o th, house, and with respect to one of the hardships
ateutioned by the right hon. gentleman, viz., the ccmpelsory
payment of five quarters income tax in one year, that was
always done if 12 months were taken instead of the
financial year. There was, in fact, no great h Irdship,
as the disadvantage was fully compensated for by the
advantage given in October, when they did not ask for
any tax at all. With respect to the Exchequer balances,
he did net think there need be av misgivings, because
although it was said he should have to go to the Bank
of England for a loan, he did not think there
was any particular objection to that., without it 'was with
respect to the amount they would have to pay for the ao-
commo lation. Bat that particular objection it w
his intention shortly to meet by proposing to the
house a bill giving the Government the power of borroW-
ing from the Commissioners for the roduetion of theNa ional
Debt. (Hear.) He did not agree with certain strictures
hat had been made with respect to the duty the Chan-
.;ellor of the Exchequer owed to the Bank of
England. (Hear, hear.) He dii not see that
the Chancellor of the Exchequer was to pass
by everything for the benefit of the Bank of England.
`Hear, hear.) It was the Chancellor's first duty to take
care of the taxpayer and not Lis duty to put a large
tinouut of capital into the concern, adinimbly maTmzed as
it was, in order that the monarch which the mercha.ats kid
set up might more effectually control the market than it
di.l at present.
Mr. CRAWFORD said it was most fortunate for the
eight hon. gentleman that he had not to undergo an exami-
nati.m before the Civil Service Commissioners previous to
taking °a m, if so he would have found it difficult to
make those gentlemen under,tand that a man did
not piy more money in five quarters' income tax
than he did in four. ([sear, hoar.) According to the
calculation of the right hon. gentleman in three years, if
that arrangement was to last for that period, the tax
payer would be called upon for fifteen quartors
taxes. He thought the right hon. gentleman had
scarcely done the Bank of England jastice. It
was not the duty of the Baak of England to find funds for
the commercial community. (Hear, hear.) Its duty was
to take care of the funds of its proprietors, to put them to
the best purposes, and not to create a resource to be male
useful on cases of emergency. With respect to the Bank hoist-
ing storm signals, when it did so it was only to induce that
degree of caution being used which he regretted to say in
many cases was entirely disregarded.
Mr. BARNETT said he was another of those who was
mystified by the Chancellor of the Exchequer's calcula-
tion with respect to the payment of five quarters of
income-tax in 12 months. The proposition, he thought,
would ultimately turn out to be a mode of getting two
years' taxes in one, which he did not think would be very
highly approved of by the taxpayer.
After some further discussion, the schedule was agreed
o, and the bill was reported to the house.
CI VIL OFFICES (PENSIONS) BILL.

Mr. HUNT carried a proviso that no pension shall at-
tach to an office hereafter created except those created by
Act of Parliament.
Sir IL SELWIN-IBBETSON'S Beerbouses Bill was
considered in Committee, and on the motion of Mr. Alder-
man LUSH its operation was extended to the metropolis.
Several other bills were forwarded a stage, and the house
thou adjourned.