The Sun.
London, England, 1860-04-03 00:00:00

SARDINIA AND THE DUCHIES.

Mr. HENNESSY asked the Secretary of State for
Foreign Affairs whether the Government had advised her
Majesty to recognise the annexation of Bologna, Tuscany,
Modena, and Parma to the kingdom of Sardinia ; and if so,
whether he was prepared to state the reasons which had in-

duced the Government to tender such advice to her Majesty.
Lord J. RUSSELL—Sir, in reply to the question of the
hon. gentleman, I beg to state that the King of Sardinia
has not taken any new title, but his dominions have been
enlarged by the annexation of Lombardy ; and I have no
hesitation in saying that we have advised her Majesty tg
consider the new part of the King of Sardinia's dominions
as forming part of his kingdom. The hon. gentleman pro-
bably knows that as soon as the Austrian troops left Bo-
logna, the Papal authorities left it likewise, and the country
was left without any Government. In Tuscany, as soon as
the Grand Duke left Florence, the grand ducal authorities
also left. At Modena the same thing occurred. The Duchess
of Parma showed more courage and determination than the
others—(hear)—but still she was obliged to leave her do-
minions. These different states have re-constituted them-
selves of their own accord, and annexed themselves to the
dominions of the King of Sardinia. If the hon. gentleman
wishes to go further into the matter and in Niro into the
causes which induced the people of those states to leave

their former sovereigns, and their motives for so doing, he
will have to give notice of a motion on the subject.
Mr. B. COCHRANE asked whether the noble lord ob-
jected to lay on the table any correspondence between the
Government and the charge d'affaires at Rome.
Lord J. RUSSELL said there was no charge d'affaires
at Rome ; there was only an attache to the legation at
Florence. He had laid on the table from time to time seve-
ral letters addressed by that gentleman to the home govern-
ment, and he did not think that there were any others.
CUSTOMS ACTS.
The house went into committee on the Customs Acts.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER moved the
following amended resolution :—" That in aid of the charges
of customs establishments incident to the conduct.of trade
and to the statistical accounts thereof, there shall be charged
as follows, upon all articles, except corn, grain, or flour, and
timber and wood goods, upon the importation thereof—per
package or parcel, Id. ; animals, per head, ld. ; goods, in
bulk, for each unit of entry, ld. ; with power to the Lords
of the Treasury to frame regulations fOr adjusting the
amount of such payments in certain cases by altering the
unit of entry, or quantity, or number of goods which is to
form the unit of entry for the purpose of this charge, so
that the charge shall, as little as may be, exceed one quar-
ter per cent. on the goods of the lowest value usually im-
' ported under the denomination ; and every person entering
goods for exportation at the custom-house be required to
present to the proper officer of customs a copy of this bill of
lading in respect of such goods, with a correct endorsement
thereon of the particulars and value of the goods comprised
in such bill of lading, and that such copy of the bill of
lading so presented shall be deemed the entry outwards for
such goods, and be charged with a duty of ls. 6d." The
right hon. gentleman said that the original proposal was to
lay a charge of Id. upon all articles of import and export,
with certain adjustments, in order to keep the duty within
a certain ratio of the value.' Along with that might be
considered two other resolutions which related to charges
upon goods under bond, and upon certain operations on
bonded goods in warehouse. The total produce of these re-
solutions as originally framed was estimated at £420,000 in
all. Of this £300,000 consisted of registration dues, nearly
£60,000 of charges upon goods removed, and about £60,000
upon operations conducted in warehouse. There were
various points in these resolutions, and particularly in the
two latter, which were received with a good deal of 'doubt
and distrust, and even disapproval, by those classes
particularly of the mercantile world who were im-
mediately
affected by them. And he was bound
to say that these latter charges, as originally com-
puted, were too high, and would probably have tended
to restrict the operation of the warehousing system,
which was so beneficial to this country. There was also
some difficulty in reference to the application of the id. re-
gistration, as regarded the export trade. At one time he
proposed to get rid of this latter difficulty by imposing an
ad valorem duty of 2s. 6d. per cent., and no doubt that
charge would have had some very great recommendations.
It might have been levied in a very simple manner, and it
would have had the effect of establishing that innicii2.t!
relation between the statistical accounts of-the- t6ffOtt&l
:‘.
*
cis
and the f the goods, which wouVbilyst.mttcle it, tO
a certa. ' 1141 dutnef-thelcustootoise officers to
c h,e v de of the g6ods, and thus- have enabled us
*QC ' to ,attain what he had always looked upon as a
tsatit important public object, apart from the fiscal opera-
. -fio'n of the resolution, namely, a much greater correctness
in the statistical accounts of goods of export. It would not'
be necessary to trouble the committee with details, but if
the question, were disputed it would be quite easy to show
that these accounts of exports upon which they so much re-
lied, upon which they founded so many arguments, and
which formed such an important element in their commer-
cial policy, were in their details exceedingly inaccurate.
(Hear.) The objection to the ad valorem duty was, that it
offered to the smaller agents perpetual temptations to petty
frauds. Therefore he entertained with great willingness a
proposal 'on behalf of the mercantile community to establish
a fixed sum to be levied on bills of lading outwards, and the
Government were the more disposed to regard this favour-
ably, because it would increase the accuracy of statistics.
In the event of taxing these bills of lading as the Govern-
ment now proposed, with a ls. 6d. stamp, no greater amount
would be raised than £60,000. The ld. charge upon ex .
ports, as originally suggested, would have raised a con-
siderably larger sum, namely, £300,000. As it n3w stood,
it yielded upon imports about £170,000, making with
the former sum of £60,000, a sum of £230,000, thus in-
volving a sacrifice of £70,000. The right hon. gentleman
then adverted to the effect of other amended resolutions,
not yet before the committee, relating to operations in
warehouse, and stated that on the whole the surrender of
revenue by these proposals would amount to £lOO,OOO, as-
suming that the third resolution was passed, or replaced by
one equally productive. That surrender he thought they
might fairly venture upon. The state of the revenue was
good, and he thought the change might safely be made.
The committee would observe that they had made effectual
provision against the undue or oppressive application of the
Id. charge. There were certain cases in which the simple
application of the ld. charge would be unjust ; and in no ins
stance more so than in the case of boxes (If fruit imported
from the East, and used for the purpose of filling up vacant
and irregular spaces, called " broken stowage," and which
did not exceed the value of 2s. Re thought that to this ex-
tent a surrender of the revenue might be justified.
Mr. NEWDEGATE wished to put a question to the
sight hon. gentleman. Some time since he (Mr. Newdegate)
had brought under the consideration of the house the fact,
that the exports at the port of Liverpool were greatly over-
valued. There was now no danger of the duty on exports
being less than was anticipated, because no exporter would
undervalue his own goods. But he wished to ask whether
the right hon. gentleman meant to take any additional steps
to provide that the described value should be more accurate
than it had been. He had laboriously studied the question
for several years, and had discovered that the declared value
of the goods was very considerably above the real value.
Then with regard to the imports, he feared that the right
hon. gentleman's statistical arrangements would not tend to
greater accuracy. When there was an ad valorem duty, it
was the business of the Custom-house to ascertain what was
the value of the imports, and they thus became cognisant of
their value, and the statistical department of the Board of
Trade was furnished with information which was now lost.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said he did
not think the hon. gentleman was accurate in his impres •
sion that the import returns were systematically over-
stated. Sometimes they were not'entered at all. At other
times they were entered twice. Sometimes they were placed
too high ; sometimes too low. But he thought they were
rather understated, on the whole, than systematically over-
stated. He knew of no motive for such a course; and,
speaking in the presence of many hon. gentlemen who were
well informed on the subject, he judged by this reason, that
up to the year 1845 they had an ad valorem tax of 10s. per
cont. 'When that tax was levied upon the exports there was
a motive for understating the value; but yet, if reference
were made to the figures, it could not be found that that
10s. had any effect upon the understating of the returns.
When that tax ceased, there was no sudden start, no great
kacrease, in the returns immediately, although it occurred
some years after the removal of the tax. Re thought there-
fore it was necessary to check the impori returns upon this
ground. But the values were delivered at present by junior
clerks of mercantile establishments; and were not attested
by responsible parties. He thought it was desirable that
this attestation should be secured—(hear, hear)—but as re-
garded the imports he thought no additional security would
be necessary.

Mr. LINDSAY said that at present there was a large
class of goods imported in small packages, known amongst
shippers as "broken stowage," and which were taken for
half freight by shipowners, because they could be conveni-
ently used for filling up small spaces. The result of this tax
on packages would be that a number of small ones would be
put into one large one, and thus the consignor would have to
pay double the freight which he now paid. The great bulk
of our imports were now free of duty, but a charge would be
created on all by this penny tax. At the Custom-house
journal and ledger entries would be required for every penny
or sixpence that was charged. The additional ls. 6d. on the
4th bill of lading he understood was merely for the purpose
of securing correct statistical returns to the Custom. house,
not for raising an additional revenue. But its operation
would be extremely unjust. If a bill of lading represented
goods not worth more than 58., it would be taxed ls. 6d. ;
while one representing £lO,OOO would only pay the same.
To carry out the system would entail an immense amount
of labour, much more than the Chancellor of the Exchequer
supposed. Ho hoped that this resolution also would be de-
ferred until after Easter.

Mr. T. BARING said that though the amended resolu-
tions were preferable to the original ones, the grave objec-
tion remained that they introduced fresh complications into
the operations of trade—subjected those engaged in trade
to petty and vexatious payments—and introduced a system
which it had been the object of past legislation to put an end
to by simplifying as much as possible the process of buying
and selling. They had removed duties the removal of which
would benefit neither the producer nor consumer ; but the
right hon. gentleman might have found a better substitute
than this penny tax, especially when he was obliged to
leave a regulating power to the Lords of the Treasury. He
thought the penny system was an erroneous one. It had
succeeded remarkably well in the Post-office ; but there the
rate had been reduced to a penny from a much higher
amount ; here a penny was imposed where nothing had been
paid before. It would make the operations of trade and
shipping a constant series of taxes from beginning to end.
By such a system they might seriously damage this coun-
try as the emporium of foreign trade. At present statistical
theand
thCustom-houseerewasno ncleeerdkstowlietvhy-
or
anyeutturn
direct taxation which really affected hardly anybody, and
a new penny tax for that purpose. They were taking off in
s were
additional

putting direct taxes on traders and merchants. The tax on
dock warrants affected London peculiarly. The tax on bills

of lading had been suggested by the mercantile body to th 2
Chancellor of the Exchequer as a substitute for all those
obnoxious pence ; but having got the suggestion he adopted

it, and retained all the other taxes.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCIIEQUER—N°) no,
As the resolution stood originally it was a penny upon im-

ports and exports as well. Now it is a penny upon imports;
and instead of putting it on exports, we tax the bill of lading
Mr. BARING said that the exporter ought to pay as well