The Sun.
London, England, 1860-01-14 00:00:00

TIIE FINANCE COMMITTEE.

Mr. LESLIE renewed his motion—" That the
finance committee of the Metropolitan Board of
Works be a committee of the whole board. whereby
every representative of the ratepayers will have a
printed business paper of the financial subjects to
be discussed."

Mr. D'IFFANGER seconded the motion, and said
several other committees which were open to the
whole of the members of the board worked most
satisfactorily.
Mr. BIDGOOD moved the " previous question,"
which was immediately put and carried by a ma-
jority of 19 to 5.
Mr. LESLIE gave notice that he would next week
renew his motion.

THE COAL TAX LEVIED BY TIIE CITY OF LONDON.

The chairman has addressed a later to the different
metropolitan members of Parliament and vestries
of the metropolis in reference to the coal tax, in
which he states that the estimated cost of the works
ordered by the board, and now in progress, for the
formation of new thoroughfares and other objects,
in addition to the main drainag3, for which the
board are empowered to raise £3,000,000, exceeds
£500,000. Besides this, the board have either paid
or agreed to contribute various sums, amounting in
the whole to upwards of £lO,OOO, towards the cost
of widening existing thoroughfares in various dis-
tricts of the metropolis, and they are constantly
called upon to make contributions to other improve-
ments of a similar character, on the application of
the local authorities. The estimated cost for forming
a park at Finsbury, for which an act of Parliament
has been obtained, but which cannot be carried
into effect until fresh sources of revenue become
available to the board, is £216,820. The total esti-
mated cost of improvements is £16,346,245, and
the net cost £12,205,675. To this must be added
the sum of £439,752 for the repair of main sewers,

the covering of open sewers, end the construction
of subsidiary works, and the mortgage debts left by
the former sewer commissioners for works executed,
amounting to £309,902 125., and a further sum bor-
rowed of £lOB,OOO, and applied by the board in
execution of the Metropolis Local Management Act.
The board was also charged with the duty of pay-
ing to former officers of the Sewers Commission and
Metropolitan Buildings Office, by way of compen-
sation for loss of office, or retiring allowance, an
annual sum of £2,301 15s. Id. The position of the
board, therefore, was this-2--they have vast obliga-
tions cast upon them by recent changes_ in the law,
and they possess no corporate funds, and it remained
for them to urge their claim to those amongst ex-
isting imposts which might be made available for
the objects which have been described, with the
least detriment to the ratepayers and the public in
general.' The duties which appear to the board to
represent this characteristic are those on hackney
carriages, and the whole or a part of those levied on
coals in the metropolitan district. As regards the
former it is obvious that the great cost of maintain-
ing the roadways in the metropolis isstargely due to
the wear and tear occasioned by this portion of the
street traffic, and the consequent duties of the parishes
are greatly in excess of those which would devolve
upon them under their common law obligation to
maintain their roads, and are such as to fairly en-
title them to additional sources of revenue; and the
fact that the hackney carriage duty is practically
confined to the metropolis seems to point to this as
its proper application. That this duty is peculiar
to the metropolis is proved by a return of the House
of Commons, dated 14th Feb., 1859, which shows
that the amount of duty for the year ending April,
1858, charged in the metropolitan districts on hack-
ney carriages was £80,308 Cs., whilst under the
same head nothing was charged on the rest of Eng-
land and Wales. It is not necessary that the board
should express any opinion on the policy of this
tax, but they simply contend that so long as it
continues to be levied according to the present
mode it should ,in justice be appliad to municipal
and not to impelial purposes. As regards the coal
dues, the whole course of legislation for a consider-
able time past, with respect to the larger proportion
of them, has marked them as an especial fund, whe-
ther in the hands of the civic authorities or those of
the executive Government, out of which the cost of
public improvements should be defrayed. The duties
which are levied on seaborne and inland coals within
a radius of 20 miles from the Post office amount to
13d. a ton—comprising three duties of Bd., 4d., and
ld. In furtherance of the objects set forth, the
board propose at an early period respectfully to
press their claims on the attention of her Majesty's
Government, with a view to prompt and efficacious
legislative measures upon the subject; and they
trust to secure the benefit of your co-operation in
this step, as well as in such consequent proceeding:
as may result from it. They believe this to be the
fitting time for dealing with these questions, and
that to be dealt with effectually they must be dealt
with separately, and not in connection with and as
a part of other and larger geestions which will come
before the Legislature in due course at the appointed
time ; and further, they consider that to defer legi-
slation on the subject until some anticipated gene-
ral revision of the entire system of taxation shall
have taken place, will be not only to perpetuate
the injustice which this board as well as vestries and
district boards are now suffering, hut to oppose a
formidable, if not an insurmountable, obstacle to the
entire course of public improvement in the metro-
polis. The evils of delay are but imperfectly. appre.:
dated by the public, and cannot be over-estiina te d
The chief difficulties against which the booatrd the
ehfaase-et
to struggle are in a great measure duo future e
t
that they have not only to provide
re-
quirements, but they have to remedyc the mischief
consequent upon past shortcomings. On entering
upon their functions they had to deal with a vast
accumulation of arrears in every department of
public works—chiefly arising from former delays.
This result was no doubt partly owing to the ab-
sence of any central authority constituted for carry-
ing out works commensurate with the growing
wants of the capital, and to the desultory and local
character of those improvements which were actu-
ally effected ; and, further, to the fact that it Las
only been at a comparatively recent period that the
public attention has been effectually directed to the
absolute necessity of making more adequate provi-
sion for the convenience and health of a population
which has nearly doubled within the last 45 years.
One thing is undoubted, and that is, that the longer
the task is delayed the greater will be the difficul-
ties attending its execution ; and those incur a

NET," S PAPER

r'7llZ‘ t- Aib,
A e.44#1 4,t,
~/l4
heavy responsibility who, in ' '1414... ' • s
which surround them, defer proMtlyitrapliing
with the mischief, and thus offer serious impedi-
ments to the adoption of effectual remedial mea-
sures adapted to the exigencies of the case.
The parish of St. George, Hanover-square, yester-
day, returned, in answer to this letter, the following
resolution :—"'That this vestry, having taken into
consideration the letter of the Chairman of the Me-
tropolitan Board of Works, is of opinion that when
the coal duties expire they ought not to be renewed."
This communication was ordered to be inserted on
the minutes. It is believed that a large miljoi ily of
the parishes of the metropolis will be in favour of a
continuance of the penny a ton duty on eon), to be
applied generally to metropolitan improvements,
and not solely spent on those of the City of London.