The Sun.
London, England, 1856-07-07 00:00:00

DEN-MAIL:- AND THE TRANSIT DUTIES.

We entirely concur with our intelligent corre-
spondent from Lubeck, that the time has now
come when Dehmarkl must abolish the Transit
Duties she has imposed on the transit of goods
through the
,Duchies, as well as the Sound Dues,
which she has so long extorted from ships passing
through the mouths of the Baltic. He is quite
correct in his statement that the imposition of the
Transit Dues is a ()Toss violation of those ancient
rights which the Hanse Towns won from the Ger-
man Empire ; he might have added, they are also
at variance with all those sound principles which
sway modern commerce. Except in Austria and
Denmark, there is not one European State in which
transit dues now
.exist ; and in Austria they are
imposed to eke out an insolvent revenue, while in
Denmark they have been resorted to in order to
protect and defend the Sound Dues. As, however,
the Committee of th," House of Commons on the
Sound Dues has turned its attention to the Danish
Transit Dues, thei!e iss we trust, some chance that
English diplomacy will -again make a serious effort
to induce late Danish. Cabinet to abrogate a tax
which inflicts a maximum injury on trade, and
yields a minimum revenue to the State.
The road which connects Hamburg on the Elbe
with Lubeck on the Baltic, is one of the most an-
cient in Europe ; it is the shortest and most secure
route from the West to the North ; it saves the
passage through the Cattegat and the Belt, with its
dangers, its ice, its high freights and high rates of
insurance ; it is the natural mode of transit for all
lighter and more valuable articles. Already British
goods to the extent of 1,500,0001. a year use it ;
and, if placed on the same footing as roads in all
other civilised countries, its traffic would within
three years be certainly trebled. But, unfortu-
' nately for Lubeck and Hamburg in particular, and
for trade in general, the road for about half its dis-
tance passes through the German Duchies, which
diplomacy, to the manifest advantage of Russia,
has insisted shall remain Danish. That gives Den-
mark complete power over this great arterial line
of European interanimunication ; and most per-
versely has Denmark used its power.
For many years previously to 1839 the Danish
Government, of malice prepense, rendered this road
impassable for all heavy goods, and would not allow
public conveyances to use it. At last, however, the
two free towns insisted on its improvement, and
improved it at their own cost. Then; for the first
time in history, Denmark imposed ransit Dues,
so heavy in amount that all the countries concerned
protested against the. infliction. Denmark yielded
a little to the general indignation ; she conciliated
Russia by exempting from any dues those articles
in the impost of which Russia enjoys nearly a mo-
nopoly, but which from their bulk would never
cross the road ; and she pacified Lord Palmerston
for a while by equal rates on goods liable to the
duties, and by some modification of the tariff. The
Hanse Towns appealed to the German Diet against
any dues on transit. through Holstein and Lauen-
burg as an infraction of their imperial privileges
and of treaties ; but. the Diet, ready enough on
all occasions to assist arbitrary princes, had no
sympathy with the free towns, and they were
obliged to submit.
They did not, however, acquiesce patiently.
They fancied they saw a remedy for their grievance
in railway enterprise ;. and the capitalists of Lubeck
and Hamburg constructed railroads, some 70 miles
long, across the Duchies to connect the two towns,
Denmark not contributing one stiver to the work.
But the railroads finished, the Transit Dues were
imposed on t ham t s well as on the ordinary roads, and.
such is their pecuniary weight that they actually ex-
ceed the cost of the transport of goods. So that Den-
mark prevents the line being used to the extent it
otherwise would, and receives from the tolls it le-
vies some 8,0001. a year, without rendering a single
service in return, and inflicting grievous injury on
commerce and prejudicing in the most serious man-
ner the interests of the shareholders by whose
money this most useful work was executed. This
conduct is so monstrous that it would appear in-
credible were there not a very intelligible reason
for it.
The real and almost avowed object of Denmark
in introducing these Transit Duties was and is to
secure the revenues it derives from the Sound
Dues, by interposing pecuniary obstacles to the
transmission of goods overland, by which a long
voyage round the Sound and the payment of the
Sound Dues would be avoided. That this is the
reasou,the favour which she has shown Russia from
the first imposition of these dues would be evidence
enough ; for originally they were applicable to all
goods, only those coming from the west had to pay
double rates, while those from the east had merely
a single rate to contend against. On the sugges-1
tion of a retaliatory measure from Lord Palmer-
ston, Denmark, however, abandoned these differ-
ential rates. But she exempted pitch, hemp, flax,
hempaeed, linseed, lamp oil, tallow,- tar, Asc., all
Russian staples, from the payment of any dues.
By this concession. Russia's support of the Transit
Dues system was purchased.
But there is better evidence that by the Transit
Dues Denmark seeks to protect the Sound Duos
than even the exemption of Russian exports. If
the reader will look at a railway map, he will see
that from a point midway between Hamburg and
Lubeck, the railway starts away at Buschen for
Berlin, and so direct on to Breslau and Cracow,
with some half dozen links connecting it with
other great railway systems on either side. Were
Denmark' only reeking revenue by means of
these Transit Dues, they would be dis-
tinguished by uniformity of amount, regard-
less of the destination of the goods on which
they were levied. The very reverse, however, is
the case ; for not only are Russian staples wholly
exempted; but while the transit duty to and from
Hamburg and Lubeck is five skillings Holstein
currency, and 6 per cent. thereon in the shape of
fees, or 4J,d. a cwt, ; to or from Prussia it is only
one shilling a cwt. on the rail, and for goods on
the roads in that direction nothing at all. Mark
the scandalous injustice of this. The free towns of
Lubeck and Hamburg are taxed by Danmark on a
railway which they themselves made, to an extent
equivalent to the freight, whilst Russia is allowed
by Denmark to pass over untaxed, and Prussia,
when not brought into competition with the Sound
navigation, is passed for one-fifth the amount ex-
torted_ from the free towns. The thing is so mon-
strous that to state it, one would really suppose,
would he to overthrow it.
The Danish Government knows very well that
the imposition is untenable, and it purchased the
acquiescence of the free towns for a while by an
article in the Treaty of July, 1840, whereby it un-
dertook to reduce the duty "whenever a change
in the conditions of the traffic should occur." Now
no greater change could occur than that which
Denmark has itself proposed, the abolition of the
Sound Dues on compensation. If the passage of
the Sound became free, and the existing or any
dues remained on the transit across Holstein and
Lauenburg, the conveyance of goods by that route
would become practically impossible, for oppressed
by transit-duty while the Sound was untaxed, ths
road between Lubeck and Hamburg would neces-
sarily have to be abandoned. If, therefore, in
coming to an arrangement as to the abolition of
the Sound Dues with Denmark, Lord Clarendon do
not provide also for the abolition of these Transit
Dues, he will secure for a bad route, for light
goods, a preference over a good route, and se-
riously prejudice freedom of trade.
The Danish Government, long experience shows,-
does not care two straws for the remonstrances of
the Iraanse Towns ou this or on any other subject.
Stronger influences must, therefore, be brought to
bear on the Cabinet of Copenhagen than any that
Lubeck or .Hambur g can exert. No country has
a deeper interest in the question of the free transit
across the Duchies than England. Already Ham-
burg sends yearly to. Lubeck British manufactures
and British colonial produce of the value of
1,500,000/. ' • from Lubeck they are dispersed in
steamers allover the Baltic ; and it only requires
the abolition of these Transit Duties very largely to
increase this trade, and to give to Lubeck all its
natural and acquired advantages. Russian goods
coming from the north across the Duchies are
almost all free.; Prussian goods pay farefi ;
but English goods • ooing to Lubeck , charged
with a pecuniary bburthen equal to the railway
freight. Lord Clarendon has, therefore, an irre-
sistible case for interference. The subject has been
fully brought under the consideration of the Sound
Dues Committee of the House of Commons ; and it
will not, we trust, be denied due prominence in the,
report of a committee over which so eminent aFree-
trader as Mr. Charles Villiers presides. At. all
events, it is quite. impossible that the Sound Dues
can be settled without- a concurrent settlement of
the Lubeck and Hamburg, and also the Tonning-
sen and Flensburg, Transit Duties ; and it will be
our business to me that popular attention is kept
alive to the subject, should there be any indications
of official apathy—Morning paper.
a

chair.

ADVEBTNEMENT.I—HoIIoway's Ointment and Pills
surpass all other Remedies for the Cure of Bad Legs,—
Mr. James lles'op, weaver, of GalasWeis, suffered se-
verely from a sore leg, and notwithstanding he tried
everything that medical skill could devise, yet a,l was
to no purpose ; no cure was effected until he made use
of Holloway's Ointment and Pills. Ti ese invaluable
medicines soon had the desired effect, for in a few weeks
his leg was completely healed, and he wishes to give
publicity to .the fact, that others might derive the same
benefit.—Sold by all medicine vendors throughout the
world ; at Professor Holloway's Establishments, 244,
Strand, London, and 80, Maiden-lane, New York ; by
A. Stamps, Constantinople ; A. Guidicy, Smyrna ; and
E Muir, Malta.

This 2 mportant railway, which will give the Cleat
Western,. London and North-Western, and Great
Northert t lines a City terminus at the Post office, has
receivecl..an accession of strength which ensures its im-
mediate, .cotcuiencement and an early completion. Not-
withst7Ating the estimates of local traffic between Pad-
dington and its City terminus show a very large net re-
ceipt, independent of the through passengers, &c., that
must come upon it from the great lines with which it
will be connected, the condition of the money market
has been such as to induce the promoters to refrain
from commencing works which imperatively required
what they did not clearly see their way to—namely,
a rapid completion of them. It is known that the
Great Western Company have subscribed 175,0001. to-
wards the line, and the Great Northern Company are
now seeking powers in the House of Lords to subscribe
a like sum. These amounts, with the subscriptions taken
1 by the public, make up one moiety of the capital ; the
1 other half being held by the promoters, who, satisfied
with the undertaking, have kept their shares throughout
the late monetary crisis. The company have now se-
,lured the co operation of Mr. Ricardo, M.P., who has,
after a careful examination of the position and prospects
of the company', proposed to become the lessee, on the
following terms, of the shares so held by the promo-

tern, viz.:—
" 41. per share (making, with the deposit, Si. per
share paid up) to be paid in advance of calla within
three months, and the remaining 51. per share within six
months from a day to be.named.
" Upon these sums the company will allow 51. per
cent. from the times of payment until the time con-
tracted for the opening of the line.
" That dividends from the opening of the line on these
shares to be a guaranteed minimum of 6 per cent, with
one tooiety of all the profits thereon beyond such per-
centage. The other moiety of the surplus profits to be-
long to Mr. Ricardo, as lessee.
" The security for the minimum dividend to be the
material guarantee of 100,0001. on the 50,000 shares, or
20 per cent. on the guaranteed capital, to be deposited
by Mr. Ricardo in the names of the directors of the
London and Westminster Bank as trustees.
" When a permanent dividend of 6 per cent, per an-
num at the least has been established by the payment of
such dividend for three consecutive years, Mr. Ricardo
to be at liberty to withdraw his deposit fend, on aban-
doning all claim to future surplus profits."
The directors state they will rec tgnise the trust,
" and issue certificates of shares on which the terms of
the guarantee will be printed, and they will apply to
Parliament for an act to carry it out directly by the
company itself, if preferred by the shareholders." They
further state that, "On this arrangement being carried
out, the works will be forthwith commenced, and the
engineer is satisfied that the line will be completed
within the stipulated period of two years. The holders
of the guaranteed shares will thus receive 51, per cent.
on their capital, and 6/. per cent. and half-profits after-
wards, secured by the actual deposit of 100,000/., or
201. per cent. on the guaranteed capital, invested in the
names of their trustees."

METROPOLITAN BOARD OF WORKS.

The weekly meeting of the Metropolitan Board o
Works was held on Friday, in the Chamberlain's-office

Guildhall ; Mr. J. ThwadeS, the president, occupied the

THE OUTFALL OF THE MAIN SOUTHERN DRAINAGE AT
RUTH.
A deputation from the inhabitants of Erith waited
upon the board to state their objections to the proposed
outfall of the southern main sewage of the metropolis at
Erith. The deputation comprised Archdeacon Smith,
the vicar of Erith ; Capt. Wheatley, lord of the manor ;
Mr. Renshaw and Mr. Beadle, churchwardens; Dr.
Oates, Capt. Murrell, and Messrs. M'Neile, Everett,
Ayres, Wells, Smith, Shaw, and Williams.
Mr. Davis, the represent dive for the Woolwich district
and neighbourhood, introduced the deputation to the
board.
The Archdeacon, in introducing the subject, observed
that the inhabitants of Erith would be subjected to very
serious evils should the outfall, as at present proposed,
Of the s .uthern main intercepting sewage be made at
Plumstead Marshes, the points of which were fully set

out in the memorial.
The memorial was then read, and set forth that the
memorialists understood that the board had sanctioned a
scheme for draining the whole of the metropolis by means
of a large and deep sewer on each side of the river, having
outfalls into the Thames on the north side at B.srking
Creek, and on the south side of the river at Plumstead
and Erith Marshes. They considered such outfalls would
be most injurious to the health and comfort of the inha-
bitants of Erith and its vicinity, and would greatly depre-
ciate the value of the adjacent property. They considered
that the accumulated filth and soil of London and its
increasing suburbs poured into the Thames at a point
near Erith would form a mass of pestilential matter,
slowly but incessantly ebbing and flowing with the tide,
and that the deposition of excremental and decomposed
vegetable and animal matter on the slopes and projecting
points of the riverbanks, could not fail to be injurious
to health, and would most probably engender fever,
cholera, and other diseases, not only among the popula-
tion of Erith, but also of the neighbouring towns near
the river. The memorialists also believed that under
the 135th section of the Metropolis Management Act
theeproposed outfall waa illegal. They suggested that
the point of outfall should he below Gravesend, where
the• accumulated sewage matters would pass into Sea
Reach, from which_place it would be borne out to sea
and become absorbed in the ocean with such rapidity a.
to prevent any appreciable mischief from the tidal reflux
towards the populous parts of the stream. They consi-
dered that although this extension might cost two mil-
lions, yet, involving as it did the comfort and conve-
nience of the immense population of the metropolis, the
cost ought not to be permitted to stand in the way of
efficiently and permanently relieving this great national
estuary from being the common sewer of a population
the numbers of which must be estimated by millions.
Mr. RENSHAW, churchwarden, addressed the board in
support of the memorial.
The PRESIDENT remarked that while the Metropolitan
Board were most anxious to make the plan agreeable to
alt parties, there were engineefing difficulties in the way
of carrying the metropolitan sewage to a point lower
down the Thames than that indioa'ed, and it would be
attended with a very considerable addition to tae expense.
The board, however, would give the fullest consideration
to the memorial.
The deputation then retired.
AN IMPORTANT PRINCIPLE.

Mr. Marrable, the superintending architect, presented a
report, on the application of Mr. Munday, asking for the
approval of the board to the raising of an engine chimney
in Cox square, Spitaluields. The recommendation was,
that the chimney be not raised on the plan proposed, and
the superintending architect suggested that the work
should be done on a plan that he proposed.
An important principle was involved in this question,
and a long discussion ensued. It was contended on the
one hand that the superintending architect, as the Facer
of that board, was no.; called upon to suggest plans to
be substituted for those submitted to him, as by so doing
the board would take upon themseliesCa great amount
of responsibility; and especially so„ Abe work which
was done under. the recommendation of the architect
should fall down.
.In that case abundant evidence ini;ht
be brought forward to show that those who performed
the work did it under the express sanction of this board,
in opposition to the plan originally proposed ; and it
would then be said, that if they had been allowed to do
their work in their own way it would have stood, and
there would have been no accident whatever. In oppo-
sition to these arguments, it was contended that if the
superintending architect was to wrap himself up in offi-
cial reserve, and ref nee to explain his objections to any
particular plan submitted to him, that a huLndred plans
might be brought forward, and not one of them suit the
particular point of his objection. 7; 1
Mr. CAIIPM.tEL moved that the application be not
granted, and that the architect do nut offer any plan in
substitution of the one submitted to him.
.Mr. Deputy HAMMON seconded the motion.
Mr. WALLis moved that the architect's report and
recommendation be adopted ; which, having been se.
conded, the question was pun, and the numbers were
for the adoption of the report of the architect, 13 ; against
it, 11 ; majority in favour of the report, 2.
THE VITRA SEWER.
A letter was received from Mr. C. Reeves, police sur-
veyor, with a meinorial from the incumbent of St. John's,
Brixton, and others, as to the covering over of a portion
of the_Effra sewer, near the Brixton-road.
This subject was brought before the board a few weeks
bask, and the proposal was rejected by a majority of 15
votes to 14.
Mr—Dour:Am moved that the portion of the Effra
which was an open sewer, near the Brixton-road, be per-
mitted to be covered over. He said that the police, who
were about to build a station-house, had offered to sub-
scribe 1001., and the parish of Lambeth would subscribe
-the remaining 9001.,. which was to be the cost of covering
in the sewer. There was also a school within twenty feet
of the ditch, and a great deal of fever, disease, and death
bad resulted, and the school was to be closed in a month
unless something were done.
Mr. TAYLOR (representative for Lambeth) supported
the !notion, and said a large amount of cholera resulted
from this open sew r.
Mr. Deputy HARRISON moved an amendment, to the
effect that the assent of the Metropolitan Board be given
to the covering 1.11 of the sewer, providing the police com-
missioners pay the board 1001., and that the remainder
of the expense be assessed upon the parish of Lambeth.
This was seconded, and after some discussion the origi-
nal motion was carried, and the addition contained. in
the amendment.

FINANCIAL STATEMENT.
The following is the financial statement of the board
for the week ending Ist July :
CASH ACCOUNT.
Balance in hands of treasurer, Ist July,
1856
Checks drawn, bnt not presented

Available balance 5,408 10 2
127,522 2 2
Amount of deposit account

Total general balance £132,930 12 4
A mass of other routine business having been disposed
of, the board separated, after sitting upwards of six
hours.

THE SURGEON OF THE SURREY LUNATIC ASYLU3I.--..
The prosecution instituted by the Commissioners of Lu-
nacy against W. Snape, the surgeon at the Surrey
Lunatic Asylum, will be tried at the coming session of
the Central Criminal Court. Sir F. Thesiger is retained
for the prosecution, and Mr. Edwin James, Q.C., for
the defencv.