The Sun.
London, England, 1858-12-18 00:00:00

NEW S PAPE R
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.1. A-A.4

general eonsumer and the manufak
was a great hardship • but tilt
hardship to the shippingnnterest,
that the shipowner could not brew...—.
produced the civic certificate that al he toitty
duties had been satisfied. The ilomeßeerettry
himself had expressed an opinion that the coal
duties ought to be abolished, if they could be dis-
pensed with. (A laugh). But the corporation
adhered.to the duties on the plea of property. -
Mr. WALPOLE—I think the first question is, can
the coal duties be dispensed with bytheleorporation
consistently with their engagements ?
Mr. SAUNDERS—The corporation say they want
it on account of the Cannon-street improvements.
Such, I believe, is not the case. It may be said to
deal with the subject now is prospective legislation.
But I think that the whole of our duties are in a
'very confused state, and the whole thing must be
dealt with, if not now, at a very early period. As
to old vested rights, they have been altered, and
extended, and prolonged ; chaidrons have been _
ronverted_ into tons, and various acts haTe been
passed in order to perpetuate those duties. The act
to extend the area of the corporate jurisdiction to 20
miles was brought in under the title of "An Act to
facilitate the Measurement of Coals." Just within
the radius' a man pays £4OO a year for coal duty ;
a manufacturer living within a few miles off pays
nothing ;he is exempt from the duties. We ask
that these duties should_be removed.

Mr. DOULTON pointed out that Lambeth contri-
buted to the extent of £12,000 a-year to the City
of London without receiving an iota of benefit.
And with regard to many trades they must either
remove from the district or consent to continue
their trade with a reduced profit.
Mr. WYLD, M.P., in reference to the objection
that if the coal dues were abolished there would be
no fund applicable for metropolitan improvements, -
reminded the Home Secretary that the Board of
-Works had power under their act to tax the whole -
metropolitan community for such works.
Mr. W.. WILLIAMS, M.P., considered it a great
hardship that the manufacturers of London and its
neighbourhood, who had to pay a higher price for
their coals than the manufacturers in the coal dis-
tricts, should be compelled to pay this tax in addi-

tion.
Mr. Secretary WALPOLE remarked that the
question was by no means so easy of solution as at
first sight might be supposed. He quite concurred
with the deputation that upon the generally ad-
mitted principles of taxation this tax was not a
sound one so far as it was imposed upon the manu-
facturers of the metropolis and its neighbourhood
and the poor people to whom coals formed one of
the necessaries of life. At the same time, seeing
that it was a tax that was to continue only until
1862, it might fairly be urged that it would be un-
wise in him to attempt to deal with it in 1859.
That was the first point that struck him. But
supposing that objection got rid of, the question
would arise, how was he to make provision for the
different charges now resting upon the tax? Must
it not be continued, at all events, to the extent of
those charges unless a proper substitute could be
found. And upon that pint, as they were
aware, it was by no means an easy matter to
fix upon any tax which would be accepted
as a proper substitute for another—because
after all, that would be but a mere 'shifting of the
burden. The next point was as to that portion of
the tax. which went to augment the revenues of the
City of London. What the City said was :—" This
is one of those dues which have belonged to us a
very long time, which have been given to us by
Acts of Parliament, and you are now proposing to
take away by one Act of Parliament that which
former Acts of Parliament gave to us." That was
the third point. And he would invite the attention
of his hon. friend Mr. Williams to these considera-
tions, because he knew, as well as anybody, what
little:chance there would be of satisfactorily solving
these questions. It would, however, be his (Mr.
Walpole's).duty carefully to go through all the
Acts of• Parliament bearing upon the question, and
to examine all the rights that the City of London
or any other parties might be suppo&el to have
upon the proceeds of this tax, or any portion of it ;
and having done so, to consider whether he could
properly recommend the Government to legislate
upon it. It was his intention to examine very
carefully the Acts of Parliament under which these
dues were originally granted, and by virtue of
which they continued to be levied, and for this
reason he was anxious to have the opinion which
had been given by Mr. Lloyd, and he should also
be glad if the committee would furnish him with
any other information they might have which
might tend to elucidate the subject. If they would
furnish him with these, he assured them that the
question should have his best attention, and, having
given it that attention, he hoped, to be able to
form a sound and just opinion.
After some remarks from Mr. W. WILLIAMS and
Mr. DICKENSON,
Mr. LOCKE, M.P. (Southwark), expressed a hope
on the part of many of his constituents who were
deeply interested in this question, that it should be
dealt with in the forthcoming bill for reforming
the corporation of London. (Hear, hear.) The last
time the question was before the right hon. gentle-
man was upon the bill introduced by the late
Government, in which there was no clause which
dealt with it.
Mr. Secretary WALPOLE—Except indirectly. In
that way the clause relating to metagc dealtwith it.
Mr. LOCKE—Yes, indirectly, but nothing was
said in that bill directly about the coal dues, and
in consequence those who desired to be heard
against them in the committee were placed in an
unfair position. Ho hoped that that would notbe
the case in the coming bill.
The deputation then retired.