The Sun.
London, England, 1856-10-09 00:00:00

THE PROPERTY AND INCOME TAX.

I Last night a preliminary meeting was held at the Lon-
don Coffeehouse, Ludgate-hill, with the view to form an
association for obtaining a speedy reduction of the pro-
perty and income tax to 7d. in the pound, now that the
war has ceased, and a ritore equitable adjustment of the
charge upon income. The meeting was but thinly at-
tended, but that was probably owing to its being called
a preliminary one, and convened somewhat hastily, after
only one day's advertisement. Sir J. Duke, as the alder-
man of the ward in which it was held, had been invited
to be present, but he wrote to excuse himself, on the
ground of an imperative engagement in Manchester,
expressing, however, at the same time, his'entire concur.
rence in the object of the meeting.
Mr. A. SMITH, who was called to the chair, stated, on
assuming it, that he had not given much attention to the
subject about to be brought before thorn. The summons
to attend the meeting adverted to the property and in-
come tax, but he submitted that it would be more consis-
tent with the popular notions of taxation if they addressed
themselves to the subject of the income tax only. The
tax on property was based on something that looked very
much like justice, fer the property of the country, of
whatever denomination, ought to bear the ririncipal share
of the general taxation. (Hear.) It was different with
income, depending as that did generally on the labour
of the hands or the head, which a man might be deprived
at any moment of exerting. He cited th& statement of
the Chancellor of the Exchequer, that ho tad a surplus
of 3,000,000/. in hand, as an argument foilessening the
pressure of the income tax, and complained that the
continuation of the double tax since. the conclusion of
the peace tended to paralyse the- tlAdjs a 0.4 industiry 'of
the country.
Mr. HYAN moved a resolution, that an association be

formed, to be called the "Property and Income-tax
Association," for obtaining a speedy reduction of the
tax to 7d. in the pound, and a more equitable adjust-
ment of the charge upon income. He called attention
to the fact that a great reduction was being made in the
army, and expressed his apprehension that, in spite of
that reduction, if a popular movement was not made
for the diminution of the tax there would be great ex-
travagance in the expenditure of the public' money. He
contended that it was the spirit of the act of Parliament
imposing the double tax that such double tax should
cease on the expiration of the next financial year after
the conclusion of the war, which would be an the sth of
April next, but by the insertion of the words in the act
that it should "continue in force during 'the present
war, and until the 6th of April next after a ratification
of a definitive treaty of peace and no longer;" the result
would be that the country would be liable 4, the tax for
two years after the conclusion of war. (Hear.) This wak,
a question seriously affecting the commerce of the coon.
try, for the tax in question raised some 14,000,0001. or
15,000,0001. a-year, and a large proportion pf that sum
was drawn from persons who could very ill afford it.
He had no doubt that if the people would speak boldly
out and say the tax should be reduced to 7d. in the
pound the Chancellor of the Exchequer would concede
the reduction. tHear, hear.)

The motion was seconded by Mr. POTTER, who con-
tended that the property tax was the best we could have
if it could be properly adjusted, though At present an un-
necessarily large amount of it went for collection. He
also expressed a hope that the Government would act up
to the spirit of the act of Parliament, and assent to th e
reduction of the property and income tax at the conclu-
sion of the financial year next after the termination of
the war, instead of insisting on a liberal construction of
the words employed in it to define when the reduction
should take place.

Mr. PEACHEY reminded the meeting that he gave evi-
dence before the committee of the House of Commons
which sat on the subject of the property and income tax,
and that the tendency of his evidence was to dispel the
general delusion throughout the country that real pro-
perty was well assessed under the Property and Income-
tax Acts. The fact was that, to his knowledge, the most
oppressive of the lords of the soil—those who were lords
of manors—maintained their feudal rights so rigidly that
many of them escaped taxation altogether. (Rear.) For
instance, in the parish of Islington there were five
manors, and some of them exceedingly productive, not
one of the lords of which was assessed to the property tax
(Hear) The fact of itself would dispel the too general
delusion that at present land could not escape taxation.
He could also assert as a fact that the manors held in the
names of the peers and commoners wllo petitioned Pal.
liament against the passing of the Copyholds Enfran-
chisement Bill could not be found in the assessment to
the property tax. He drew a great distinction between
a property and an income tax. Property was a fair sub-
ject of taxation, for it might be reasonably said, espe-
cially in a time of war, that such taxation was imposed
with a view to its protection. The lords of the soil, at
such a time, called on men to enlist and fight in defence
of their property, and it would be well if they would al-
ways remember their obligations. It was wholly diffe-
rent with an income which depended on the sweat of the
brow or the exercise of the brain, and which might cease
to-morrow and leave a man's family in a state of penury.
That surely was not as fit a subject for taxation as the
land, which would descend to a man's heirs at his death
and relieve him from all anxiety as to his family.
When they taxed industry they taxed the very
sources of the wealth and prosperity of the country.
With those feelings, he was certainly not disposed to con-
cur in the proposition for reducing the tax on property.
By a return moved for by the present Chancellor of the
Exchequer, and going down to 1848, it appeared that, in
1814, the aggregate annual rental of the land under as-
sessment was 34,330,0001., and, in 1848, 42,000,0001-
Again, that of messuages and houses was, in 1814,
14,895,0001., and in 1848, 38,822,0001. He contended
that they could never bring the broad acres of the coon-
try under taxation in any other manner than by a pro-
perty tax. If they reduced the property tax they relieved
the great landed interest, the very last entitled to any
relief. The lords of the soil had for centuries held com-
plete dominion in one branch of the Legislature and a
majority in the other; and the consequence had been
that they who were, under the original grants of their
lands, bound to the general defence of their country, to
the repair of roads, bridges, and the like, and to provide
means for the Government, had during a long period of
time thrown off the burdens incident to the tenure of
their estates and created new taxes which bore on the
people. If the meeting could be the means of procuring
a committee of the House of Commons to consider the
whole subject of the taxation of the country they would
confer a greater advantage on the people generally than
by the formation of a society for the limited purpose of
effecting a reduction of the property and an equalieation
of the income tax.

Mr. ELT supported the resolution, and in doing so
stated that Sir E. Peel, when he proposed his income
tax, introduced a new principle of levying it, and that
was to collect it from the tenant instead of the owner,
which in many instances caused a great amount of in-
justice and inconvenience. He trusted in any new legis-
lation on the subject steps would be taken to do away
with that stoppage of the tax in tranvitn.
Mr. FLEMING reminded the meeting that Mr. Glad-
stone, when Chancellor of the Exchequer, with all his
desire to deal with the anomalies incident to the property
alai income tax, confessed that the subject was environed
with insuperable difficulty. Adverting to the discon-
tinuance of the double tax, he (Mr. Fleming) contended
that the distinct understanding in Parliament, when the

successive measures for increasing the tax were under
consideration, was that it should take place at the expi-
ration of one financial year after tho conclusion of the
war, which would be in April, 1357, and that it would
be a breach of that understanding, by a strict literal ju-
te' pretatiou of an exprerdon in those acts of Parliament,
to continue the double tax until the end of the financial
year in April, 1853.

The motion, which was also supported by Mr. PAYNE,
was then put and carried unanimously.
A subscription was entered into for defraying the ex-
penses connected with the formation of the association,
Mr. Buott was appointed honorary secretary, and a com-
mittee was appointed for making the necesiary arrange-
ments.

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IRONMASTERS' QUARTERLY MEETING..

WOLVERHAMPTON, Wednesday Evening.—The last of
the series of the meetings of the ironmasters of this dis-
trict for the current year commenced at Walsall on
Tuesday; the second assembly was held here this after-
noon, and was very numerously attended. As may be
expected, the business was remarkably flat. Orders,
which bad begun to come in more freely since the pre-
liminary meeting, have received a sudden check, con-
sequent on the advance in its rate of discount by the
Bank of England, peculiarly affecting as that operation
does the trade of this district, which is carried on chiefly
by means of four months' bills. Consumers are indis-
posed to buy pig iron with the money market in the
state it now is, preferring instead to work up such stocks
as they have on hand, lest the course of events in the
next week or two should lead to any:further stringent
action by the Bank. This feeling being general
the sales of pig iron were nominal, and a flatter
quarter-day has rarely been witnessed. The very
little business transacted was in better qualities of
pigs, for which there is what may be-considered a mode-
rate demand; for inferior and cinder pigs there is no in-
quiry whatever, and as the make is now much in excess
of the nonsumption, it is quite certain that, unless a reac-
tion takes place (which is anythieg but probable) some of
the furnaces must be let out,-however undesirable that
proceeding may be. The very best mine pigs have been
done at 41., which may be regarded as the top price. Be-
low this we have a variety of quotations' but a good
The price of
coal is also against the pig most•ts, there being an make of pig iron has been done av3t. los.
ad-
vance of ls. per ton; but stone.islower and more plenti-
ful; flats are about 17s. to 17a d. per ton; Poor robbins
16s. to 16s. 6d. per ton. There is the usual supply of red
ore, and a small quautitifroofforthatoptonehire, which
is now but very little faviured in the district.
The orders for malleable iron at the principal works
are about sufficient to keep them in full operation, but
there are no large contracts in, and at the second-rate esta-
blishments they are very scantily supplied, and in pre•
sent circumstances it is to be feared these are not likely
to increase. From America the orders continue to be
unusually small, and with the exception of some of the
ports of the Mediterranean, the continental trade is any-
thing but brisk. At to-day's meeting there were repre-
sentatives present from some London, Liverpool, and
Bristol firms, but on. this occasion they were merely
lookers-on ; they concurred, however, in representing
the shipping trade as unusually inactive. In fact, the
principal demand for finished iron at this moment is for
the home markets : upon it must very much depend
the future state of the trade for some time at least. It
is just possible that there may be more animation at the
meeting at Birmingham on Thursday (this day) ; but
when the assembly broke up to-day, the prevailing im-
pression appeared to be that the prospects of the trade
are anything but satisfactory, especially as commercial
disasters in the district are of too recent date to render
it probable that parties are in a position to oope with
any pressing monetary difficulty.
Last Saturday experiments were made on Mr. Besse-
mer's principle at some works held under Lord Ward,
near Dudley. They had been represented as favourable,
but it was stated to-day that malleable iron was not pro-
duced.

CORONER'S INQUEST.-LAMENTABLE

CASE.

Yesterday evening an inquest was held at the Vine pub-
lic-house, in Broad-street, Ratcliff, on the body of the late
Mr. Jas. H. Hopkinson, chemist and druggist, aged 29.
The inquiry excited an unusual degree of interest among
the inhabitants of Ratcliff. The deceased had been in
business as a chemist and druggist for about six months
only, at No. 85, Broad-street, next door to the Vine.
He entered upon business with the best prospects,
and was possessed of considerable poperty. He soon com-
menced drinking to excess ; the evil habit increased upon
him, and for some time previous to his being seized with
the serious illness which caused his death, he was almost
continually intoxicated. His wife, a young, well-educated
and attractive female, to whom he had been married 12
months, was more frevently in the shop dispensing drugs
and compounding medicines than her husband. About
three weeks since she swallowed a large quantity of tine-
ture of opium, of the properties of which she was igno-
rant, and which she obtained in her husband's shop. Sho
took enough to kill 10 persons, and only for the purpose,
as she expressed, of frightening her husband. The most
strenuous exertions and skill of Mr. A. Carson, a surgeon,
of Cock-hill, Ratcliff, and Mr. Burch, the resident medi-
cal officer of the London Hospital, alone saved her. Mr.
Burch had no hopes of saving the unhappy woman when
she was first brought in, but after a fortnight's treat-
ment he pronounced her out of danger, and sent her to
the Thames police-court, where she expressed the utmost
repentance for the rash and wicked act she had com-
mitted. Mr. Yardley took occasion to admonish Mr.
Hopkinson, who was then verging on delirium tremens,
in severe terms, for allowing bin wife to dispense drugs
and poisons, while he was indulging in habits of intoxi-
cation, and said he was a most unfit man to carry on the
business of a chemist aud druggist. Mrs. Hopkinson was
allowed to depart with her husband. On the same even-
ing Mr. and Mrs. Hopkinson proceeded to the West-end
to transact business with their attorney, and receive some
money of him. They then repaired to a respectable
coffee house at Charing cross to partake of tea, and while
he was putting a cup of tea to his lips and conversing
with his wife, he ruptured a blood-vessel and vomited
forth a quantity of blood. Mrs. Hopkinson immediately
sent for a surgeon to attend upon her husband. Seine
temporary remedies were applied, and he was sent home
in a cab. On reaching Broad-street, Mr. Carson, the
deceased's neighbour and friend, was hastily summoned,
and discovered the unfortunate man supported in the
arms of his wife on a bed, partially undressed, and
bringing up an immense quantity of blood from the left
lung. Mr. Carson prepared a dose of medicine from the
bottles in the deceased's shop, and administered it to
him, and since then bad been in constant attendance
upon him day and night, with short intervals of rest,
and had also called in two of the most eminent of the
faculty to assist him. A severe attack of delirium tremens
followed, and after that the deceased became perfectly
sensible and collected, so much so, that he sent for his
lawyer to make his will, bequeathing everything he pos-
sessed to his dear Uzzy, as he called his wife. Mr. Car-
son asssted the deceased in affixing his signature to his
will. On Monday the deceased was attacked with bleed-
ing at the nose, and that was the immediate cause of
death. He expired the same night. Mr. Carson had no
doubt that Mr. Hopkinson had indulged in the vice of
intemperance to a fearful extent, and that was the pri-
mary cause of the rupture of a blood-vessel. The loss of
blood caused delirium tremens. Mr. Carson also stated
that Mrs. Hopkinson was a most excellent and affec-
tionate wife ; that she employed the best nurses, and
spared no expense during the illness of her husband. He
never saw more kindness and attention towards an in-
valid husband than was exhibited by Mrs. Hopkinson.
He also seemed greatly attached to her, and said he
would leave all to his dear wife.
Mr. Mathias, a bookseller, and other jurors said they
knew that Mrs. Hopkinson was a kind and affectionate
wife, and had been unremitting in her attentions to her
husband. They also expressed a high opinion of the
zeal and energy displayed by Mr. Carson when the wife
took a large dose of poison, and again when her husband
was brought home on the night of Monday, the 25th ult.
The Coroner remarked on the peculiar and lamentable
nature of the case. The fatal illness of the husband had
followed close on the appearance of Mrs. Hopkinson at
the Thames police-court, and it was greatly to be la-
mented that poisons could be so easily obtained. There
was no doubt the death of the unfortunate deceased was
caused by the loss of blood, and the jury would have no
hesitation in saying that he died from natural causes.
A verdict to that effect was immediately returned by
the jury.

lIOBRIBLE ATROCITY—A CHILD DEVOURER
fir A lta.

AVESBURY, WILTS, Wednesday.—Considerable excite.
meet prevails in this place and the surrounding neigh-
le atrocity—noPresel'ttie' owing to the discovery of
a no
less than a mother throw-
leg
_borninfant into a pig-stye to be devoured
b uui r
b!
sietoro hndoerawrtii
b the
y
Mr. Pope, of this
,oift was suspected that
by 'pigs, in order to conceal her shame.
pecoeeken to on the subject.
From what has transpired, it appears that for some
time past a-young girl,. named
.Wise, from Compton BAB -
place.
'sSeil She strenuously whaass
enceinte,bLately,een
flri
living
from
nngdhi elendrs hatt ehhp that such vasaseruravOsnih was the case, but her
statement was not believed,. although she was not fur-
ther questioned at the time.. On Sunday last she ap-
peared to be suffering
.fr.om illness, and was again inter-
rogated as to her condition, and advised to tell the truth,
in order that arrangements for her confinement might be
made ; but she still denied the accusation. Some hours
afterwards, however, she was found lying on the floor,
apparentlyin a fainting state, and she was then openly
accused of having given birth to a child, but she persisted
in her denial. Mr. Fitzgerald, the nearest surgeon, was
summoned as soon as possible, and upon his arrivalhe
at once stated that she had given birth to a child, but
she once more denied the fact. Mr. Fitzgerald, how-
-1 ever, being satisfied, directed that search should be
made for the infant. As far as the house was concerned
being rapidly devoured by a fatting pig
the search was unsuccessful ; but at about 20 yards from
the house, in a pig-stye, a hue healthy male child was dis-
covered
difficulty torn off by the hungryfficulty the mangled remains
animal,
-
and it
d , large
pieces
friesh
was
wihtahvi
could be recovered front the stye. The mother bad previ-
ously been removed, and placed under proper attention,
she being in a most shocking state. She was not informed
of the discovery of the body until yesterday, when
she appeared in a most dreadful state of mind. She ad-
mitted that the child was here, and stated that the father
was employed at the Swindon railway station. The
particulars of the horrible atrocity rapidly spread, and
many people have visited the spot where the body was
found, in order to gratify their morbid curiosity. AS
soon as Wise is sufficiently recovered to be removed the
whole affair will undergo investigation,