The Sun.
London, England, 1860-03-07 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, MARCH 7, 1860.

OFFICERS OF RIFLE CORPS are invited
to inspect the New PATEN C GUTTA PERCIIA
KNEE CAP.—Bowleg and Co., Military and Naval Boot-
makers, Gaiter-makers, and Tailors, 51, Charing--cross, and
25, Spring-gardens.

£143,000.
TO CLERGYMEN, GENTLEMEN, TRADES-
MEN, FARMERS, and OTHES.—Mone advanced
on Mortgage of Freehold, Copyhold, orR Leaseholy d property.
Also upon personal security or bills of sale. Officers, Gra-
duates, and others can be accommodated with loans upon
reversionary interest, annuities, legacies, dc., at a very mo-
derate rate of interest, in sums to suit the convenience of the
borrower. The strictest secresy may be relied upon. Apply,
if personally between the hours of eleven and two o'clock, or
by letter, to Messrs. WALLACE, civil engineers, Cannon-SOW,
Parliament-street, London.

after tho weights were published (Feb. 16) 51bs. extra.

One mile. 22 subs.
Mr. Dixon's Amsterdam, 5 yrs, Bst 41b..... (E. Foster) 1
Capt. Christie's Codicil, 3 yrs, 6st. 01Is (in. 51b extra)
(Bray) 2
Mr. Jackson's Pescatore, 3 yrs, sst. 131 b (Buck) 3
The following also ran : —Daniel, and Gift.
Betting-5 to 4 agst Codicil, 3to 1 agst Gift, and 4to 1
agst any other (offored).
Codicil made the running to the enclosure, when Amster-
dam came with a rush, and won a good race by a neck.
There were two lengths between the second and third.
Daniel was a bad fourth

The Wynnstay Steeplechase. About three miles.
Mr. Ford's The Rover, agel, 12st (Mr. Kingston) 1
Mr. Trant's Hazard, aged, 13st Gib. (Kendall) 2
Capt. Hunt's The Slasher, aged, 12st 21b (Capt Towneley) 3
The following also ran : —Forester, Macbonnie, Skylark,
Cheshunt.

Betting-2 to 1 agst Maebonnie, 4to 1 agst The Slasher,
and 5 to 1 agst Hazard.

Forester led for about a mile and a half, when The Rover
took up the running, was never again headed, and uli-
mately won by twenty lengths. The Slasher was a very
bad third. Only the three placed passed the post. Mac-
bonnie was in the rear throughout. Woodhouse was weighed
for ; but, being found lame, vas afterwards withdrawn.
A Handicap Hurdle Race of 5 sovs. each, with 30 added.
Two miles, over six flights of hurdles.
Mr. Lapman's Jealousy, 6 yrs, 1 Ist (Mr. Edwards) 1
Captain Christie's The Dane, 4yrs, Ost 81b.. (W. White) 2
Mr. Swindell's Pactolus, .5 yrs, lOst 21b (Palmer) 3
The following also ran :—Estella, Emerald, Dr. Leete,
Sobersides.

Betting-2 to 1 agst Jealousy, 3to 1 agst Paetolus, 7to
2 agst The Dane, and 6 to 1 agst any other (offered).
Sobersides and Dr. Lecte alternately made play to the
Stand, when Emerald took her colours to the fore. At the
stable turn obersides again held colon-laud, but, on reach-
ing the mile post, Dr. Lecte and Jealousy passed him. This
pair ran side by side to the canal bridge turn, and also along
the flat to the T.Y.C. post. When fairly within the dis-
tance, The Dane and Pactolus came forward, and Captain
Christie's colt ran a severe race home with Jealcusy, the
latter winning cleverly by a neck. There were two lengths
between the second and third horse. Estella was a bad
fourth.

THE PAPER _DUTY.

The following is the report of tee Commissioners
of Inland Revenue to the Treasury on the repeal of
the duty upon paper, dated the Ist of March,
1860 :

" Inland Revenue, Somerset House, W.C.,
March 1.

" May it please your Lordships,—We have ob-
served in the course of the recent debates on the
budget several references to observations made by
us in our annaal reports on the subject of the paper
duties.

"It has been inferred from the passages alluded
to that our experience of the effeot of the piper duty
does not bear out the statement of the Chancellor"
of the Excheqer in his statement on the 10th of
February, namely, that the Board of Inland Re-
venue are completely agreed that there ought to
be a repeal of the duty.'
" This inference, however, is not correct. We
beg leave to state that it is our deliberate opinion
that the paper duty (to use the words of the Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer) is rapidly becoming un-
tenable,' and we hope to satisfy your lordships that
this opinion is not inconsistent with those which we
have previously expressed on the subject.
" It is no doubt true4,that in our first and second
reports we noticed, as a circumstance which distin-
guishes the paper duty from other duties of Excise,
that the regulations under which the revenue from
this source is collected are such as to impose very
slight restrictions during the process of manufac-
ture.

" Your lordships are aware that the intervention
of the Excite officer takes place at a paper-mill, for
the first time, when the paper is ready to be sent
out. It is then his business to weigh it, to charge
the duty aciording to the weight, and to place
round the reams labels and wrappers denoting that
the charge has been made, and distinguishing them
from such as have not been brought under his in-
spection.
"These simple regulations leave the paper-maker
comparatively free to adopt the best and most eco-
nomical modes of working, and he can scarcely

assert, as the malsters and distillers do, that the

cost of production is increased, or the quality of the
manufactured article impaired, by the fetters im-

posed upon upon him for fiscal purposes.
" We considered it was right to point out this
distinguishing characteristic of the paper duty, as
an important consideration in any discussion re-
specting the maintenance of it as a source of reve-
nue, and as being a matter of which few persons
besides those practically conversant with the ope-
ration of the revenue laws could be expected to have

any knowledge. But our observations were limited
to this one point, namely, the freedom of theprocess
of manufacture from Excise regulations, and wore
not intended to convey any opinion upon the wider
question whether the general effects of the duty
were or were not as pernicious as has been rept e-
sented by the advocates for its repeal.
" In our third report (that of last year), we were
compelled to draw your lordships' attention to the
great and increasing embarrassments in which we
were involved in collecting this tax. We pointed
out that this state of things was attiilmtable in a
great measure to the condemnation of the duty by
resolution of the House of Commons ; and we
might, perhaps,have added, that the evils of which
we complained had been accumulating for many
years previously, under the prevalence of a general
impression that the duty on paper would be given
up on the very first available opportunity. We
endeavoured to show how impossible it was under
these circumstances to apply to Parliament for
power to subject new branches of the trade to Ex-
cise regulations, and at the same time how unjust
it was to allow to one an exemption from that duty
and survey which alone prevented a rival branch
'uegbir:ejaiel:cuotoffititleni
ieteronistt,
from successful competition in the matt:Et.
fouil
d broughtin to your
pages 1
3L Lordships' h 1 i4p so'f nooutii.
"As an example, we selected the case of the card
makers and the pasteboard-makers ; we might have
po
a:
kt Without)cspecified,rsi
t arsee
maysubject
notice.
Annual Re-
o distinctionci
rit deal
.yri ae tbkoebetbi.
esi.
are exempt from Excise survey, while pasteboard-
tween the articles produced by the two traders is
merely nominal, and that it is scarcely an exag-
geration to say that we are levying a duty on A,
while we allow B to send out goods, precisely simi-
lar in nature, without any interference from the
revenue officer. thetwot
hbds
aeit etat hat
state
that
ea(

"It may be said that the remedy is either to
place the card-makers under survey ar to exempt
the pasteboard-makers ; but, besides the reasons
above referred to, which prevent us from adopting
the former alternative in a case of paper duty, we
must frankly own that we believe it to be impos-
sible at the present day to subject to the supervi-
sion of the exciseman any class of traders who have
hitherto been free from it; and, on the other hand,
if the pasteboard makers were to be declared
exempt, we should have to encounter the loud and
well-found( d complaints of their rivals, those paper
makers, namely, who make pasteboard at their
mills, and who are necessarily under Excise survey,
so long as a duty on paper exists.
" The pasteboard-makers, again, come before us
in the character of injured parties, when they com-
pare the treatment which they receive with that
of the scaleboard-maker. Pasteboard it seems is
the natural rival of scaleboard. Left free from
extraneous influences, these two articles might per-
haps maintain the struggle for supremacy without
any decided advantage on either side; but the weight
of Excise duty and survey, which is brought to
bear upon pasteboard alone, gives to scaleboard an
easy triumph in the very same field in which paste-
board formerly obtained the preference. Boxes,
for instance, of various kinds, and especially hat-
boxes, were originally made of pasteboard, a more
suitable material for the purpose than scaleboard.
Since the duty has been levied on the former, and
not on the latter, a trade which entirely supported
a large manufactory near Oxford has ceased to
exist; and it is asked, not without reason, whether
it is just to select arbitrarily for taxation one of
two articles so similar in their nature and in the
purposes to which they are applicable.
" The grievances of the pasteboard-makers do not
end here. They appear again with the mire im-
portant complaint that the duty on pasteboard is
seriously detrimental to the exporters of certain
light manufactures which arc packed in ornamented
boxes for the foreign market, and that it actually
has the effect of compelling the British merchant
to import for this purpose boxes made in Germany,
instead of those made at home.
" Your lordships are aware that no drawback can
be given in such a case, because, in the first place,
the amouut of duty originally paid on the paper
composing the pasteboard cannot be ascertained,
and, in the second place, supposing that an approxi-
mate rate could be fixed upon so as to obviate this
difficulty, it would still be impracticable to obtain
the tare of such boxes when filled with goods ready
for shipment. That a close examination would be
necessary is proved by the remarkable fact that an
applicant on this subject recently forwarded to us
a box as a specimen of those which he used, and
which turned out to be made of scaleboard, an article
on which, as before observed, no duty is levied.
The duty, therefore, on pasteboard boxes, and on
slips of pasteboard on which certain goods are
wound, or to which they are attached, is a burden
from which our manufacturers cannot be relieved
so long as the paper duty is maintained, and is
no doubt, as alleged by them, an impediment in the
close competition which they encounter in the
foreign and colonial markets. Their endeavour to
escape from this difficulty by importing foreign
boxes (subject at the Custom-house to an ad ralorent
duty, as histh is not an equivalent to that of the
Excise), while it affords but an imperfect remedy
to the exporters, is an additional cause of complaint
against the unequal operation of the revenue laws
from the makers of paper and pasteboard in our
own country.
" The above instances are some of those which
have been most recently pressed upon our notice, as
illustrating the unequal incidence of the paper
duty, and w e have found it impossible either to deny
the existence of the evils complained of or to sug-
gest any remedy short of the entire repeal of the
duty.
" Numerous other examples might be adiuced of
the same unhappy effect from this tax ; but the ex-
planations necessary to make them intelligible
would lead us into too much detail for our present
purpose- We content ourselves with reminding
your lordships of the incessant demands of the sta-
tioners to have the, same drawback on the waste
cuttings of writing-paper as is allowed on the cut-
tings of envelopes, of the impossibility of granting
this without opening the door to the payment of
drawback upon every small piece of paper produced
for that purpose, and of the absurdity to which the
concession would thus reduce us. Your lordships
may remember that all our difficulties in this re-
spect have arisen from an attempt to restore the
balance between the envelopes made at a paper-mill
and those made by stationers, disturbed as it was
(se
of the latter by their waste
to the disadvanta,
cuttings being subject to the duty, while those