The Sun.
London, England, 1860-05-22 00:00:00

COLONIAL.

TEA,—The telegraphic intelligence from Chin,a has
caused increased firmness in prices, and higher rates are
asked for all qualities.
SU GAR.—The market continues inactive, with little
variation to record in values. In the reOncd market there
is a want of animation, and quotations are unaltered.
COFFEE.—A large quantity is annourced for public com-
petition to-day, and the market has been exceedingly flat.
RICE.—The recent advance exhibited for the finer quali-
ties has been fully sustained ; but the dealings have not
been important.
SALTPETRE.—In the private market some rather large
transactions have taken place, at an advance of 9d. per cwt.
on previous rates.

tALLow.—The market has been steady for present deli-
very ; however, a slight decline has taken place, while for
delivery at the end of the year an advance of 6d. per cwt. is
quoted. P.Y.C., on the spot, 525. 6d. and 50s. 9d. for last
three months.

TBIS DAY'S SHIPPING.

LONDON, May 22.—Wind this day at noon—South-
Easterly; light breeze, and fine weather.

(BY SUBMARINE AND BRITISH TELEGRAPH.)

GRAVESEND, Tuesday Morning.
Wind E., light; tide first hour's flood; weather very fine.
Arrived, Ma) 21—Lydia, from Oskersham ; Atlas, from
Stettin ; Nancy, from Bogensse ; Martha, from Neustadt;
llinda, from Griefswald.
Arrived, May 22—London, from Messina ; Frederika
Maria, from Nykobing.
Sailed, May 22—Catherine, for Kurrachee ; Valetta, for
Montevideo ; Flecha, for Ghent ; Chanticleer, steamer, for
Stettin; Criterion, for Port Phillip; Esk, steamer, for
Konigsberg.

DEAL, Tuesday Morning.
Wind S.S.W. ; light.
Passed —Lizzie Aisbett, from Shields, for Genoa; Nancy
Dawson, from London, for Marseilles.
Mahommed Said, steamship, from Antwerp, for Malta,
which got on the Goodwin yesterday afternoon, has been
assisted off, on the flowing tide, with the loss of two kedge
anchors and warps, and about 40 tons of coals thrown over-
bOarde

Earl GRANVILLE—I rise to move the second reading
of a bill the object of which is to repeal a tax which has now
existed for nearly 150 years. That tax, as stated in the
preamble of the act, was imposed for the purpose of enabling
her Majesty Queen Anne vigorously to carry on the war
then raging, and it was to continue until she had secured a
lasting peace. Contemporary writers inform us that the real
object of the b 11 was to impose restrictions on the press,
which was at that time thought too licentious. It is curious
that Swift, the great Tory writer and the friend of the then*
Ministry, complained of this proceeding both in verse and
in prose. In verse, describing himself, he said—
" His works are hawked in every street,
"But seldom rise above one sheet ;
" Of late, indeed, the paper-stamp
"Did very much his genius cramp."
As you may suppose, in his history of the last four years of
Queen Anne's reign there is a passage, which is too long to
read to your lordships, but which is well worthy of atten-
tion, arguing, upon Conservative grounds, against the
cheap publications of a political character. The law, how-
ever, with some modifications, has continued to our
time. in 1832 an agitation was begun against it. In 1835
1 a Royal Commission, of which Sir Henry Parnell was at
the head, was appointed to examine into the tax. They
recommended some mo lifications, and also the reduction of
the duty by one-half. That reduction accordingly took
place, NIT s followed by an enormmsly increased consump-
tion, and, what is more remarkable, by a diminu►ion in the
price of paper to double the amount of the reduction. The
Commission begged it should not be thought that they ap-
proved the tax, and they hoped the time would soon come
when far greater benefits would result from its total repeal.
Motions were then made in the House of Commons on the
subject. Two years ago an abstract resolution was adopted
there ; and although in general abstract resolutions respect-
ing taxation are not very desirable, it was adopted with the
full concurrence of the late Government. Her Majesty's
present Ministers decided upon the repeal of the tax this
session. They brought forward a proposal to the effect in
the House of Commons; it has in different shapes gone
through the ordeal of three divisions in the house ; and it
now comes here for your lordships' approval. On any or-
dinary occasion, I should have satisfied myself with the
short history I have given of this tax in order to induce
your lorilships to take your share, whatever that may be,
in the work of relieving the people from a burden of this
character. Considering, however, the notice which has been
given by my noble friend below me (Lord Monteagle), and
the energetic assurances given by the noble earl (Lord
Derby) that he would not only vote for but would use all
his endeavours in the support of the noble baron's motion,
I think it necessary to trouble yOur lordships at much
greater length than I should otherwise have wished on this
subject. I must first briefly refer to the objections which
are likely to be brought against this bill. From the report
of what took place on Saturday, I have reason to suppose
that the noble earl does not intend to go much into the
merits or demerits of this tax. I was quite prepared for this
course, because the noble earl, no doubt, felt that it was
impossible to say anything in its favour. Half the leading
members of the late Government, indeed, have declared
themselves on this point. Lord Stanley, whose opiltions on
any question affecting the social state of the country are
so liberal and unprejudiced, has long been known as a
warm opponent of the tax. Sir B. Lytton, a very able
public man and man of letters, has been most eloquent
in his denunciations of the tax, and has described it very
truly and very happily as a tax on knowledge. The late
Chancellor of the Exchequer stated that it combined
moral as well as physical objections, and, as leader of the
house, he agreed to the resolution to which I have just re-
ferred, and which declared that paper was not a fit object of
permanent taxation. By the report of what took place, as
well as by a gentleman who was present, I am informed
that the noble earl, in answer to a deputation which waited
upon him on a previous occasion, declared that he only re-
peat:A his former impressions when he stated that this tax
was bad in principle and bad in practice. lam not there-
fore surprised at his determination to refrain now from en-
tering into the merits of the tax ; but, as I don't know what
view may be taken by the noble lords on the subject it will
be necessary that I should state as shortly as I can what
are some of the principal objections to it. There is a phrase
used by Lord Stanley which so well describes the operation
of the tax that I should almost wish to take it as the text
of the objections which may be advanced to it. He stated
that the tax was vexatious in collection, that it impeded
improvements in manufacture, that it heightened the price
of an article the demand for which exceeded the supply, and
pressed injuriously on the supply of cheap literature and
the diffusion of news. As to its being vexatious in collec-
tion, I must refer to the report of the Commissioners of
Inland Revenue published on the Ist of March in the pre-
sent year. I see the noble baron smile, but Ido trust that
in this house we shall not hear the insinuations which
have been thrown out elsewhere, that this is not the deli-
berate opinion of the commissioners, but a report got up to
order. To prevent the repetition here of a statement so
derogatory to the gentlemen of high character who com-
pose the Board of Inland Revenue I will state what I have
ascertained on this point. I went to Somerset-hearse for the
purpose of making inquiry on the subject, and what I found
to be the case was this :—Very soon after the passing of the
resolution agreed to by the late Government the difficulty
of collecting the tax daily became greater. Towards the be-
ginning of this year the board got applications for exemp-
tion to which they were unable to give any answer what-
ever; and in this dilemma, not knowing whether the Go-
verment meant to repeal the tax or not, they appointed
some of their most able and practical officers to.examine
into the question and see whether they could adopt any
changes which might be draughted into a bill, and which,
if approved by Parliament, might enable them to collect
the tax with something like justice. Afterwards, when the
Government, acting partly on the opinion of the Inland
Revenue, and partly from reasons to which I shall pre-
sently advert, came to the determination of repealing the
tax, a debate took place in the House of Commons, and
Mr. Walpole said that, comparing the former report of the
Board with the statement of the Chancellor of the Exche-
quer, he did not think these were perfectly consistent. I
think it only just, both to the commissioners and to Mr
Gladstone, to state that the former drew up this report per-
fectly spontaneously, and without the slightest communi-
cation with the Chancellor of the Exchequer or any other
member of the Government. I shall be confirmed in this
statement by the noble earl opposite, as he can tell your
lordships that during the time he was in office letters were
constantly received at the Treasury from the commissioners
bearing exactly on the same point. [Here the Earl of
Derby made some intimation.] If the noble earl does not
know it, I can assure him that it is the fact. I will read
one or two sentences from the report. (The noble earl pro-
ceeded to read from the report of the commissioners pas •
sages to the effect that it was their deliberate opinion that
the paper duty was rapidly becoming untenable; and the
commissioners explained that there was no inconsistency
whatever between their different reports ; they stated that
in their third report cf last year they were compelled to
draw attention to the great and increasing embarrassments
involved in the collection of this tax, and they might have
added that the evils of which they complained had been ac-
cumulating for many years previously, and that the attempt
to frame new regulations had entirely failed.) The whole
of the report is well worthy of your lordships' attention, as
showing the excessive injustice and inequality of the tax,
and the necessity to which they were driven to exercise
an arbitrary decision, there being no definition of " paper"
sufficiently:clear. The noble earl opposite, in the course of
a speech he delivered on Saturday last, stated that he had
heard a good deal of a contrary character from publishers,
booksellers, and newspaper proprietors, and stated that be
was intrusted with petitions from Irish newspaper proprie-
tors on the subject. I can explain this matter to your

lordships, and the petitions of the Trish newspaper pro-
prietors need not have very great effect on your
lordships' minds. The Irish newspapers only pay three
farthings tax, and the English newspapers pay. It/.
stamp duty; and the Irish ne it-sleeper proprietors had-bigtal
told that if they were relieved from the necessity of buying '‘
dear paper, it would be only fair to put them on an,equility
with the English newspaper proprietors. (Laughter.) With
respect to the effect which the abolition of an excise tax his
on the manufacture of an article, we all know what hap..
pened on the abolition of the excise duty on glass, how that
material was cheapened, and how it ineteased in quantity
and improved in quality. I know that with regard to the
material from which paper may be made, some persons de-
dare that fibre is not applicable to the manufacture of the
finer and better sorts of paper. Still it is applicable to the
manufacture of tepaper most useful to the poorer classes of
persons. I remember four or five years ago a very interest-
ing discussion being brought on in this house respecting
the manufacture of beautiful paper from West India fibre ;
and a complaint was made that a charter of limited liability
had not been granted to a company for the manufacture of
that paper. Now it appears to me a clumsy proceeding to
put a tax on one side, and then to prop it up by some special
privilege on the other. There are several very ingen:o is
ventions waiting to come in to operation as soon as the ex-
cise duty should be abolished. Pulp may be used for form-
ing, models from works of art, some of the finer kinds of
which are liable to be hurt by contact with clay or plaster
of Paris. This pulp is applicable to any work of art with-
out injury; but it is obliged to be dry before it leaves tho
papermaker, and therefore, until the duty should be re-
pealed, it would be absolutely impossible to use it for the
purpose I have indicated. A mill in Lincolnshire, owned
by a person named Sharpe, has been built to turn twitch,
that most destructive weed to the farmer, into paper; but
the tax interferes so much with the process that the owner
Las been compelled to shut up the mill. If the duty were
repealed the mill would be reopened, lam told. (Hear.)
The duty qperates also in a peculiar way in creating a
monopoly, owing to the manner in which the payment of
the duty is made to press on the millowners, in conse-
quence of purchases made from them shortly before the
moment when the duty must be paid. 'When I see that
in America all the processes of papermaking are infinitely
superior to ours, that the paper is made much che*,-)ef^-d
that the eonaneaptienris. something like treble of oureer
head, then, colsideiteg the wealth and enterprise of this
country, I think there must be some reason for this. When
1 advert to France, and note the enormous quantities of
paper exported from that country, and when I remark that
the French paper is superior for printing purposes, the same
reflection forces itself on my mind ; as also when I go in
imagination to Japan, or read this interesting book written
by Captain Osborn in reference to that country. (The noble
earl here real an extract from that work, describing the
variety of purposes to which paper was applied in Japan,
among the articles made from it being saddles and water-
proof coats that perfectly kept out the *rain. Of so much
importance was paper considered in Japan that in the mar-
riage settlements, in order to protect the wife from a tyran-
nical husband, it was stipulated that the wife should-be al-
lowed a certain quantity of paper.) (Laughter.) I think
the fact of a great enterprising nation like ours being in re •
spect to the manufacture of paper behind the Americans,
the French, and the Japanese may, without any great
stretch of imagination, be attributed to the effect which we
know the Excise laws produce in other matters. With re-
spect to the repeal of the paper duty, some people have the
most extraordinary notions, thinking that that repeal is
merely advocated to give a greater circulation to a particu-
lar newspaper; expreising extreme views, not certainly in
accordance with those held by the majority ef your lord-
ships. What is the case ?In London there are three penny
daily papers,—the Morning Star, %journal of advanced Li-
beral opinions; the Daily Telegraph, also a Liberal paper,
but not on all questiens at one with the Morning Star ; and
the Standard, a journal of purely Conservative principles.
I bad the pleasure some three days ago of reading an inte-
restin; and well written article in the Standard, attacking
the Liberal party in general, but myself in particular. (A
laugh.) Well, I have here a letter written in 1856 by the
manager of the Standard, stating that every day he paid £29
to the Excise, and that if the paper duty were repealed he
should have 20 for the better remuneration of literary
talent and the purchase of better material to print upon,
leaving, ofecourse, a larger profit for the proprietors of '
his journal. He also points out the heavy charge '
placel upon newspapers like the Standard in the obli-
gation to have their sheets of certain sizes dried before
they left the paper-mill, and damped again in the print-
ing-office, all causing great waste and delay. lie adds that

if the paper duty were abolished he has not the slightest
doubt that the circulation of the Standard would be doubled
in amount. That, surely, is a consummation which noble
lords opposite must earnestly desire to bring about, because'',
it means that with greater literary talent Conservativel`,
principles would spread among double the number of iettders.
So with respect to books. The paper duty presses very"'
lightly indeed upon popular novels in three volumes, ex-
pensively got-up annuals, and works of that sort, and vela-

able works—such as Macaulay's or Mahon's " History of
England." But, when we come to books intended far circu
lation among the poorer classes of the community, then,
ic-
stead of 5 or 10 per cent., we have the duty rising t_) 30,
40, 50, and even 60 per cent, upon publications which the •
working-classes desire and ought to obtain. Mr. Black
says that upon one work alone he paid duty to the amount
of £4,000, and he calculates that the tax cost the purchasers
of the book at least 18,000—astatement which is, of course,
equally applicable to smaller books. Your lordships know
that Mr. Knight has been occupied all his life in endeavour-
ing to spread useful and instructive books at cheap rates
among the people. He was the publisher of the " Penny
Cyclopmdia," a work brought out under the patronage of a
noble and learned lord who is at this moment engaged in
the cause of education—a cause which he has served during
a long and laborious life—and whose absence I regret to-
night, because I know he entertains a strong opinion as to
the necessity of the immediate abolition of the paper duty.
What does Mr. Knight say ? lie states that in 2 years he
spent £BO,OOO on authorship, and £50,000 on Excise. The
Messrs. Chambers say they have been constantly prevented
issuing cheap publications of an improving character in
consequence of the paper duty. They once published a •
series of instructive tracts sold at three halfpence per copy.
The sale was enormous, but after a certain time they 'found,
on making up their books, that they had paid .LO,OOO to the •
Excise without getting a single farthing in the way of pro-
fit to themselves, and therefore in the middle of an immense
circulation, they stopped the publication. I could go on
thus far ever. Here is a bulky pamphlet full of details in
which Mr. Knight proves to demonstration that, while the
tax on paper falls with crushing effect upon cheap publica-
tions of an instructive character, it does nothing whatever
to stop licentious and obscene books, which are got up for a
mere trifle. But let me come to a class of books which
greatly interest me—national school books. The duty upon
them is quite enormous, and while these school books, on
one side, are paying a heavy tax. I, in my office, on the other,
am administering Government grants to counteract that
effect. (Hear, hear.) It is impossible to conceive a more
ridiculous system. lam afraid lam wearying your lord-
ships, but you can hardly imagine the immense mass of ma-
terials I have before me all tending to the same point—the
condemnation of this most vexatious and unjust tax. But -
I shall spare your lordships, and shall assume that the main
objection to the repeal of the paper duty is one of a finan-
cial character. Some of your lordships may think that we
ought to have reduced the tea and sugar duties instead of
repealing the duty on paper. (Hear, hear.) That is a ques-
tion
upon which two opinions may fairly be held. All I
cay say is, that after mature consideration the Government '
came to the conclusion that the repeal of the paper duty
would afford the greatest amount of relief to the trade and
industry of the country. I must add that they were pecu-
liarly urged to that conclusion by the report of the Excise
Commissioners stating that the tax was untenable in its
present shape, and that it could not be improved. Again,
some of your lordships may be of opinion that we ought to
have taken a less income 'tax and to have retained the paper
duty. That ~uestion was started in the House of Commons,
it was discussed there at considerable length, and decide d
in the negative; therefore I need not trouble your lordships
with any remarks upon it. lam not aware that there can
he any other financial objection to our proposal except this,
that the Government have been improvident in providing
for the financial necessities of the year, which must mean
either that we were improvident at the time our budget was
produced, or that the circumstances which have sinoc-
curred have stamped that character upon our propositions.
Now, I am not going to make a long financial statement to
your lordships, although, after the example you are going
notyou sure
th tehluatborrtatowifinall not become
tsthoiteisoensetu.st:mnlingtilothtlartloucabamisee I trust that a second Chancellor
of the Exchequer will be appointed for the purpose of
supplying you with that information which must be re-
quisite to enable your lordships to adjust the
balance between. income and expenditure. Meanwhile,
as that course has not yet been adopted, I feel myself en-
tirely relieved from the obligation of inflicting upon your
lordships the intolerable tedium of a budget speech from
ivy mouth, and shall content myself with merely stating
the general principles upon which Government have acted
in dealing with the finances for the year—a year, be it re-
membered, so difficult that I believe it was looked forward
to by the late Government under the awful designation o:
" the year of immortal smash." (A. laugh.) Well, my lords,
this year of immortal smash presents, at all events, one re-
markable peculiarity. Our expenditure is greater than ever
it was before in a time of peace. To provide for that vast
outlay the Government were not content to frame a plan
which should only just make the twa ends meet, but they
proposed, while raising an adequate revenue, to continue

those commercial reforms and improvementa which not only
have conferred enormous benefits upon the nation at large,
but which have produced a peculiar and extraordinary
strength and elasticity in our revenue, especially in our in-
direct taxation. The only possible objection to our finan-
cial policy in this respect must be connected with the ques-
tion which has already been put to me this afternoon—the
probable expense of the Chinese war. Now, when we made
our budget arrangements we did not know whether we should
have war with China or not. (A loud Cry of "Hear, hear"
from Earl Grey.) The noble lord gives me a most insulting
cheer upon a matter of fact—that we did not know whether
there was war or peace, We had given orders for the fitting