The Sun.
London, England, 1869-02-25 00:00:00

DEPUTATION TO THE BOARD OF TRAM

Yesterday deputations from the Newcastle and
Gateshead and other Chambers of Commerce, waited upon
the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the President of the
Board of Trado in reference to the alteration of light dues
Dit shipping. _At
The deputation was introduced by Mr. HEADLAM, who
briefly explained the objects which had caused them to
leek the interview.
Mr. HALL, of Newcastle, then proceeded to read portions
sf a report which had been prepared on the subject by a
select committee of which he was the secretary. This
Jocnment stated that the committee "had had their atten-
tion directed, by almost every petition presented to the
(louse, and by every witness who has come before them,
,o the question whether the e:lpenses of maintaining the
lighthouses of the United Kingdom should not be de-
frayed out of the public treasury, in the same
manner as British consular charges in every
part of the world, viz., by an annual vote of Parlia-
ment. Many of the witnesses state that, as carriers of goods,
the shipowners should not be charged with the burden of
that which ought to be considered a national estal,lish-
roent, more than the manufacturer of cutlery, of cotton,
Dr wool, or of any other article that forms part of their
:argo. All are alike engaged in the national trade, and
all ought to be contributors alike to maintain the lights, if
contributions for that object be demanded from any branch,
and they state, what appear to be valid reasons, why
the maintenance of lights should be made a charge
sr' the public treasury, as the consular expenses
are, and not put upon the shipping alone. It is
alleged, and with great justice, that the commercial
shipping have hitherto borne the whole expense of the
erection and maintenance of the lights, whilst the Royal
Navy and revenue vessels have equally had the benefit of
the lights, but without any contribution from the public
treasury towards their support. It is true that, vhilst
the profits from shipping were good, the shipowners
thought little of the charge for lights and buoys, essential
to the safety of their ships, and they have been patient
ander the burden of light dues, and have seldom
troubled Parliament with complaints on this head ;
but, since freights have been lowered by com-
petition, the shipowners have found it. absolutely
necessary to employ every possible means of reducing the
expense of sailing their ships, and therefore have of late
looked for relief from the heavy burdens of light dues."
After using further arguments of a similar nature the com-
mittee referred to the inexpediency of compelling any one
section of the community to maintain an establishment
kept up for purposes purely national, and concluded by
recommending to the House, " That all expenses for the
erection and maintenance of lighthouses, floating-lights,
buoys, and beacons on the coast of the United Kingdom,
be henceforth defrayed out of the public revenue, and that
as the Trinity House has incurred a debt, under authority of
6 and 7 William IV., cap. 79, in purchasing the rights of
private individuals for their leases and possession of light-
houses, the Government ought to take upon it that debt.'
Upon the same day, the committee passed a resolution,
That the amount paid for light dues presses heavily on
the commercial shipping of this country, erpecially in the
coasting trade, and sound policy requires that every prac-
tical relief should be given.' Notwithstanding the forcible
recommendations of this committee, which were even sup-
ported by the weight of Lord Palmerston's influence, no
action whatever was taken to give effect to these views."
Mr. HALL referred to the great injustice which the ship-
ping interest felt was experienced by them in having to
provide at their own expense those lights which were
really for the benefit of the nation at large.
Mr. ALHEUSEN strongly urged the justice and the policy
of causing the great cost involved to be borne by the whole
trade of the community, which in reality was benefitted
by it.
Mr. CANDLISH, M.P., cited a number of statistics to
phew how very unequally the expense of maintaining the
lights pressed upon shipowners. It was really the case
that vessels which had the advantage of the lights never
contributed anything towards the expenses they involved
in their maintenance. He strongly urged that the nation
i should bear the expense.

Mr. GRAVES, M.P. for Liverpool, warmly supported the
prayer of the deputation, and pointed out how beneficial
it would be to the shipping interest if, as was the case in
France, an alteration were made in the cost of light dues.
Mr. BRIGHT : What, independent of light dues, is the
cost of a ship coming into Liverpool ?

Mr. GRAVES : About £75.
Several other members of the deputation addressed
Mr. Lowe and Mr. Bright, each of them adducing
cogent reasons (at all events from their point cf vicw)
why the charge cf light does should be a national charge.
Several of the speakers, amongst them Mr. Candlish,
found fault with the constitution of the Trinity House
which, it was remarked, was a self-elective body.
Arr. Lown first replied to the deputation, 'but

gave its members very little encouragement. He bad
listened, he said, to the arguments brought forward
by so authoritative a body of men with the utmost atten-
tion, but he thought that some of their arguments were
far from conclusive. It was said that the shipping
interest ought not to bear the expense of the lights, but ho
would remind them that, as a matter of fact, the expense
was not borne by the shipping interest. The members of
that interest certainly had to pay the amount in the first
instance, but it could not be disputed that it was returned
to them by their customers. It ought to be borne in
mind that if the expenses of the lights were charged to
the national expenditure, some class other than that
represented by the deputation would have to bear it. He
was afraid that it was impossible to hold out any promise,
that, as Chancellor of the Exchequer, he could recommend
that the cost of providing and maintaining lights should
be made a matter to be defrayed by the nation at large.
Mr. BRIGHT, in the course of his reply to the deputation,
admitted that the views he had formerly entertained
of the character and work of the Trinity House
bad been materially altered since he had been
at the Board of Trade. The Trinity House had,
be believed, got rid of many of its antiquated notions,
and was doing an important work. He was anxious that
the deputation should know, what did not appear
to be generally understood, that the Trinity House
was under the control of the Board of Trade,
and could do nothing without its authority. Agree-
ing with the Chancellor of the Exchequer that
there were many reasons why the cost of lights should not
be made a national charge, he was free to admit that the
Inequality of the charges was unfair, and prepared to
acknowledge that it was quite possible that some proper
adjustment might be arrived at. No doubt it would
be well that the advantages enjoyed by other nations
should be enjoyed by this country. He was glad to have
met the deputation, and thought that good would come
out to it. Her Majesty's Government had been made
acquainted with several facts in connection with the
question which should receive their best attention.
Although the members of the press were admitted to
the interview, it was particularly requested that nut a
single note of the proceedings should be taken, a request
sshich was implicitly obeyed.

The Church News states. ti at Mr. Wainwright
no longer the editor of the Record, bar:ng been sent to the
right about.

The bill brought in by Sir John Coleridge to ro
zastairtre:6 onVoTi,;•rsitios of 0 xruia 'an Lt Eva/a/T.IN
is set down to come on for the seconl readibg on Wednes.
day, the 10th of March.

Mr. Monk's bill to remove restrictions from certain
officers employed in the collection aed management of Ler
Majesty's revenues, and to entiale them to haw part unre-
servedly in the election of members to serve in Parliament,
Is fixed for second reading on Wednesday, the 17th March.

The Rev. C. F. Lowder, of St. Peter's. Gravel-lane,
has received from the Bishop of London a copy of the moni-
tion served upon Mr. Mackonochie, and has therefore given
notice that he will make alterations in the mode of con-
ducting big services, which hitherto have been of a very
"advanced" kind.

A young man named Carlton Chantler has been
charged before the Lord Mayor with forging and
uttering numerous cheques amounting to upwards of £4OO.
He was servant at the house of a lady, and bad obtained
possession of her check book, forging her name and cashing
the checks in the usual way.
The following curious telegram, dated Pera, Feb
22, is published in the Gaulois :—" The Bussian Ambassador
at Berlin, baying lately given a ball in honour of Prince
Montenegro, invited all the foreign Ministers. The Turkish
Minister alone not having been invited, the Porte has re-
quested the Cabinet of St. Petersburg to explain the cause
of this omission.
Lord Lytton has written a letter to the treasurer
of the fund for the widow and children of the late Ernest
Jones, and has declared his willingness to contribute .£1) to
the fund about to be raised. lie add 3 that be honours any
man who advocates the cause of his convictions in a con-
sistent manner, and that he is likewise induced to loud his
aid on account of the freemasonry which should exist among
literary men, irrespective of political differences of opinion.
The nomination for the Radnor district of
boroughs, rendered vacant by tchlitehyraedsaitga
dnt
dahite.ieosuns,
'Town-hall
tlnhl-erb. celeeNht
oaerrNsd
Green v,
BadnorP. riAcef,tetoroekaephlaccean3a-eisdtaette•
the high bailiff of the borough called for a show of hands,
which he declared to be in favour of the Marquis of u
tington. A poll was demanded on behalf arrlorar.
..
s.
Thi Doninzialuihr tc,:m931276