The Sun.
London, England, 1858-06-28 00:00:00

LOADON,

- . (From, Slit •rigoes4
Tee Eas!., India Company is
.uyt. mac Effete
Corporation with which Parliament will have tQ
deal before the recess. Amid the play of might'er
interests we have for a short While lost sight of the
aefeire of the Corporation of •L mdoe. For many
years past efforts have been mule front timerto
time to bring the government and revenues of the
City more into harmony with the ex.gencies.cf the
age. All such elf r's, livsier,.haite been
bly and steadily resisted by those persona whose.
interest it Mainly was to see them carried 'into •
effect. 'Hjad.tieerCity authorities been gifted 'with
but a moderate share of foresight they itinet bare •'
knoWn that change was imminent, and, in otaefonp -
or another, cowld not for any considerable period -
be staved off., It depended upon theinselies whe-
they such change should be mere or less sweeping.
If they exhansted all means'ef obstructiori which
the play of Parliamentary irate. sits left at their •
disposal—if they took advantage of ;every greater
incident in publioaffaire which might ensble 'them
to protract the ieevit ible dicussion from tme.sta--
sion to anothee it was perfectly possible for Arent
to hold ou from year to year ; bu', when the change
came, it would Le all the more cimplete. Such
has been the system of tactics which they have
pursued, and now they are abaut to reap the
fru'ts of their mistakeu policy. A bill is now
before Parliament for the reform of the
Corporation, founded up.m the - Report of
that Commission of which Mr. Justice Pattison
end Sir Coruewall Lewis were members, and which
is of an exceedingly moderate character. These
onnuaissioners- were directed—we quote the wolda
used by Sir G. Grey—" to collect iufor anon re-
specting
the rights, privileges, duties, j
civil and criminal. and ernes-Tly 'to i. q i.O lute, -
everythine'wh'sAr-:teeeld. isitut in anydegree the
Licit a or constittr ion of the corporation."
commissioners in the first place ex 'ruined witnissies
tawny -to-the eorporetiet, arid-next the officers of -
the corp Oration, with respect to the griessieces
alb-gad. The whole eace was dm= brought before _
them, and with a full aed mature knowledge of
the fees they made- their repor. Upon th'at re-
port the hill now in progress through the Commons
is founded. Now, on Thursday last, when the
formal motion was ma le for going into committee
upon this b:11, Mr. R It started up, as the defender
of the Corporation, to impugn the most impertant
clause which it contains wi h regard to the finaneial
settlement of the City's -affairs. Had Mr." 'Holt
simply taken sech.a c purse as would have-elicited
the opinion of the house upon the point at issue
there would have been no reasonable ground of
complaint. • Mr. Dolt has as good a right to hie
poPosiuitiferin. as-these
sforptllieyi.:tful)tatslietr? theirs'"afll)eurt,:slloisrapairioy- '
years of delay. PhD bill, fersoethe was to-be re-
ferred
b :ck to the select committee' with instrue-
tien; to hear coons lon behalf of the City. The
proposition is of course merely a "spoWng" one
for the sake of gaining time. The whole case—
as far as the facts are conecree,l—ie alieady before
the house. What occasion is there for the venal
eloquence of counsel to help the heuse to a deciiioie
upon the point of principle ? Surely the House of
Commons is quite competent to arrive at a retinue'
conclusion as to the justice and propriety of abolish-
ing certain old and oppressive dues, which the
Corporation seek to p rpetuate upon the ground
thet they have enjo3 ed their from time mule-
moral I

Tire question mainly arose as to the dues -derived •
from the corn metage. When we say thee frOut
Mr. Ro't's speech of Thursday night the unlearned
reader may derive a very minu.e and satisfactory
knowledge of the history of this impost, we give
the learned gentleman all the credit to which he is
fairly entitled. Let us, however, grant that it
orignally constituted part of the Royal revenue,
that in ancient days it passed into the posses4ou
of the Corporation, and that it has by them barn
enj .yed as a right founded upon immemorial niage
since our old hist iric time 3, with only a short in-
terval of wrongful depossessiots in the evil days of
the second -Charles—what then ? Is the abuse
—suppo:ing this to be the case—less an abuse
because it has been inflicted upon the people
for centuries ? We believe that we are correct in
stating that in every settler part of the kingdom nest)
dues have been abolished. In the City of Len-idol),
only ate they retained ; and there is neither reascir
nor pvcedeut why Parliament should, not now-take
the witeie question into ronsi&ratien. Mr. Itolt,
indeed, attempted to show that if the principle
of summarily dealing wit 4 the righ's of corpora-
tions were once adalittel the rights of property
would ba iihalcen to their foundation. Mr. Wortley,
however, who followed on the same side, and who
in Chris instance proved himself of wiser -counsel
than Mr. Nit, dissented from the view of his
fellow. "1 do not shrink from admitting," said Mr.
Wortley, "that there is a broad distinction betVreen
" property of this description in the hands of dor-
,
poratious and in the hanls individu ds. I admit
that Pell'aruent has the right to deal with such
preprty in the bands of corporations," Just-
so. Cuuld so monstrous a proposition be seriously
cut( rtained by any reasonable man as fils trejuat
levies n the subject are not to be reviewed by
Parliament be.-ause a corporate body may claim an
interest in them ? It appears, h ,wever, from a
statement made by Mr. Walpole, that, in all pro-
bability, the qnestion es stlett.ld will nett r be raised.
It may well turn out to be the case that these re-
venues were never grante 1 to the Corporation at
all in the manner all. by their supporters in and
out of Parlianenie They claim tlese dues as at-
solute prope.ty, for the purpose of raising a revenue
for .It ms-lees. Mr. Walpole states that not a
tittle of evidteue was given More the committee
in support of that view—so that, in fact, all the
arguments f eluded up -m the tights of the Corpo-
ration as of immemorial us age tall to the ground.
Now, it was never iutend'ed—if We rightly tin-
derstand the declarations which have been made
upon this subject—:hat the actual fiscal condition .
of the City a:ould be disregarded when the ques-
tion is finally settled. The City .derives a gross
income of 100,00 W. from metage, market, and
other dues and tolls. The net income was set the
other night by Mr. Rolt at 70,0001.—the.difference
being deducted for expenses.of collection -anctother
drawbacks. In a similar way the City enjoys a
gross income of 100,0001. from land and money ;
the net income from this source is 80,0001. Against
this aggregate annual income of 150,000/. there
to be set the interest on a debt of 1,000,0001., con-
tracted for the purposes of local improvement—say
50,000/. per annum. Another equal stun must be
allotted to the administration of justice in Middle-
sex. Then there is 10,000/. for charities, 10,000/.
for incidental expenses, making in all an annual
expenditure of 120,000/. The balance, or 30,0001.,
remains for the civic government of the City. The
figures we extract from Mr. Rolt's speech, and they
are, we believe, substantially cerrect. The question
remains whether, under a better system-of adminis-
tration, such economy cannot be introduced into
the management of civic affairs as shall preclude
the necessity of making these oppressive dues per-
petud. By a'l means let faith be kept with the
publiccreditors of the City. Subject to this one
condition, Parliament may make whatever arrange-
ment iney seem most fit to insure the speedy aboli-
tion of this unjust and clumsy form of taxation.
The question, however, should be discussed at once
' and settled during the actual &mien, for all that
can be elicited by inquiry is already known, and
the public should be made aware that a discussion
so important is simmering in the House of Com-
mons at this present time.

1
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accordingly. The Royal Exhibition, 1851:. 4-A law.
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