The Sun.
London, England, 1869-05-27 00:00:00

IMPERI .PARLI A b. EN

110 USE OF COMMONS—Tins EVENING.
The SPEAKER look the chair at four o'clock.
CRIMINAL PROSECUTIONS.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUEIt sai i he
could not adopt th stiggestion of the right lion. gentl,-
man opposite (lir. Hiatt) for abolishing the examinatimi
of ite;n.; •f thee'-t; f criminal pro3ecutions indicta')ln
offences, an 1 subs ituta fir:the fine a fixed p ,yin.tut, to thr)
local treasurer. The costs of such prosecutions diff .2%,1
very materially, tv, for instance, the cost of a prosecut:eu
in E3s'x was £3. in BerksYre Lt, in Cli,:hire £ll,
iu Llnc-ishire".£23; and he was quit , unabe to strike a
average on those tig-ures withlut doing injustice t) se:ne
per . tular p'an. The cost of emarninatioa to the eountry
was obly £3,400, awl as the work was cloud well ha did.
not think it would be advisable to alter the present ar-
rangement.
PUNISHMENT OF CITILDII7.N.
Mr. BOWRING gave notice that on au early day he
should ask what truth thffe was in the statement that
had appeared of two children, about five gars of ago,
being fined 2s. enc!l fur breaking down and stooling a po-
tion of an o
_ CUSTOMS AND INLAND R7,..'VOUE.

nu the_mosion for going into c.r.:irait ea on tlll-; 1):11

Mr. 11 trNT comp! atue,l reat !hero had bee ne die-
cu sem 01 the s:coed reading of this 1.,:11, an I there-
fore he proposed to call the attention 01 the right
hoe. gentleman to some of th 3 peculiarities of the
proposition ha had male with a view of meeting
the deficiencies that had occurred in the revenue of the
country. lie thought the arrangement with respect t
the• payment of certain taxes most objectionable, more
especially the hie umet tax. The deficieney, ae
believed, hal been set down by the right honeur-
able gentleman at £3,403,0 0, and suppesiug the
bill now metier consideration to receive thl
assent of Parliament, thel sum of £2,940,000 would
fall into the hands of the right hon. gentleman. Ho
thought it most objectionable that the pressure
should be put upon . the taxpayer just at the
particular time when the greatest strain wa3
always made upon his resources at the beginuing 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 au 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 qeertee and the lani,
horse, an 1 assessed taxes in the July qua rtes,
which would have avoided the great inconvenienee
which was now the principal objection to the proposals
he bed made to the house. The payment of taxes at one
perticutar period wag in itself a good one, but the cumu-
biting tLe payment of all the taxes into the same gear eta
of the year was the great inconvenience of which he com-
plained.
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 front various quarters it was the iutentien
to allow the exemption of brood mares from duty.
(Hear, hear.) He did not see that the income-tax payer
was hardly dealt with by the proposition he had submitted
to the house, and with respect to one of the hardships
mentioned by the right hon. gentleman, viz., the ccmpalsory
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 hardship,
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 Excleept I alances,
he did not think there need be any misgivings, because
although it was said be should have to go to the Batik
of England for a loan, he di 1 not think there
was any particular objection to that, without it was with
respect to the amoant they would have t pty foe an. ac-
commodation. But tat t paricalae (Yuji) eion it was
his inteetium tier ly to meet by propoing to the
house a bill giving the Governm tut the power of net new-
ing f rom theCommissionersfor the red uct is of rlieNa ioeal
Debt. (Hear, It ar.) He did Pal.ol with c rr an str:etnres
that had been made wnli re poet to the ditty the (limn -
4.aeler of the Exeleqeer owed to the
England. (Hear, hear.) Ile di,l lea sea th t
the Chancellor of the Exchequer a to
by everylh'og for the benefit of the
(Hear, hoer.) It ryas the Chanc,llor's thit; t a t-,ka
care of the taxi aver and not his ditty to flit a .a,go
amotn.t of capital int the core 4rn, adm:r. h!" n.a.-:ve I,s
it was, in o' der tha• the moment' which the mercha•o• La I
set up might more effectually control the market tha a it
did at present.
Mr. CRA WFORD said it was most ferninate fu r the
richt hon. gentlemen that he had not t nedergo an eNnmi-
natien before the Civil Service Commiseioners prev'ous to
taking office, if so he would have found it, difficult to
make • those gentlemen underetand that a men 'li I
not pay more money in five quarter.; income tax
than be did in four. (Hear, hoar.) According -to the
calculation of the right hon. gentleman in three years, if
that arrangement was to last for that period, tne tax
payer would ire called upon for tilteea quarters
taxes. He thought the right hon. gentleman had
scarcely done till Bank of England jastic,e It
was not the duty of the Bank of England to find funds for
the commercial community. (Hear, hear.) Its duty WAS
to take care of the funds of its proprietors, t put teem t
the best purposes, and not to create a resource to he made
useful on cases of emergenev. Wit h respect to the Bank hoist-
, ing storm signals, when it did so it was only tea induce that
degree of caution being used which he regretted to say in
many cases was entirely disregarded.
Mr. BAHNEVP said he was another of those who was
mystified by the Chancellor of the Exchequ nes calcula-
tion with respect to the payment a f five quarters of
income-tax ha 12 months. The propo:ition he t't
would ultimately turn ont to h, a mode of gettieg two
years' taxes in one, which he tiht not thick wield be very
highly approved of by the tax pay r.
RIFT SPEAKING.

FUL COLLIERY EXPLOSION

NEAII PON7TPOOL.

SEVEN MEN KILLED.

About a quarter to 9 o'clock on Tuesday night a shock-
ing explosion of fire damp took place iu the Sinking Pit
at Cwmnantddu, about two miles from Pontypool, Mon-
mouthshire. The pit belongs to the Ebbw Vale Company.
At the tima named about ten men were down in the pit
makiJg roads in what is called " the deep," some 700 or
800 yards from the bottom of the shaft. Seven of these
wen were together when the explosion took place, and in
an instant all seven of them were swept into eternity,
frightfully burned.

LAW INTELLIGENCE.—(7/us Day)

LORD MAYOR'S COURT.
THE GREAT HIGGS' FRAUDS.

This was a case raising a point of considerable impor-
tance, in which the plaintiff, who is a builder, sought to at-
tach moneys allege I to be in the hands of the defendant, an
auctioneer, arising out of the sale of the furniture of Ben-
jamin Higgs, whose notorious frauds and forgeries upon
the Great Central Gas Consumers' Company caused such
great excitement some time since.
Mr. Poole said he sold the furniture at Teddington upon
the instru,tion of the Guarantee Society. lie had no
money in hand.
Mr. Gibson stated that he had done certain work. He
knew Higgs' house at Tide-end, Teddington, and had
seen the furniture in it. He believed the furniture be-
onged to Higgs.
Verdict for the garnishee.

Bank of England Returns.

An Account, pursuant to t'
cap. 32, for the week ending

he Act ith and Bth Victoria
Wednesday, May 26, 1869.

ISSUE DEPARTMENT.
Notes issued .....£31,175,900 Govornmt. Debt £11,015,1C0
Other Securities 3,981,90.1
Gold Coin and
Bullion
Silver

f. 31,175,900

£31,175,900
BANKING DZPARTMENT.
Governmt. Secu-
rities(including
Dead Weight
Annuity) .... 1;14,070,798
Other Securities , 17,965,9 W
Notes 8,126,720

Proprietors Capi--
tai £14,553,000
Rest
Public Deposits
(including Ex-
chequer, Sav-
ings' Banks,
Commissiouera
of National
Debt, and Div.
Accounts 5,674,148
Other Deposits 17,593,820
Seven Days and
other Bills 40,901

*Gold and Silver
Coin ... 1,205,331

£41,371,809
GEOD.

£41,371,809
rs FORBES, Chief Cashier.

COURSE OF EXCHANGE.

Amsterdam Short ... 12 2} ... 12 3
3Ms ... 12 41 ... 12 5
Rotteo ...
rdam — l2 4} ... 12 5
Antwerp — ... 25 471 ... 23 53
Brussels — ... 25 471 ... 25 55
Hatuburgn — ... 13 121 ~. 13 13
Paris Short ... 25 25 •... 25 35
Ditto
.
Marseilles
--- •••
Frankfort-on-the-Main . 1211- ... 122
Vienna — ..... 12 75 ... 12 80
Trieste — ... 12 75 ... 12 80
Petersburg -
...
Cope n hag,..n ..
Berlin
Madrid.. ...............
Cadiz
Leghorn
Milan
Genoa ..
Naples .......... . ......
Palermo
Messina .................. .. 26 74 ... 26 7..)
... • 51i ._. ; 2
511 ... 52

Listron
Oporto
RioJancirc
New York

rcreign Mail Packet List.

MAILS DUE.

'.Atisiralia and New Zealand, via Bouthsnopton.....June 9
Ditto, via :. "Irseille. -•uno i 4
Brs:11, Buenos Ayres, and Monte Video June 4.
Ditto, by French packet,
espz \rads, by Brazil pa:Act ...... Jane 4