The Sun.
London, England, 1832-04-04 00:00:00

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.

HOUSE OF COMMONS, APRIL 3.
(Continued from our Second Edition of yesterday).
Colonel DAVIES rose, pursuant to notice, to native for
a Select Committee, to inquire how far the Rlove trade of
the United Kingdom was injured by the introduction of
smuggled goods, and concerning the best means of affording
protection to the trade. He rose upon the present occasion
with extreme reluctance, when he recollected the
lengthy debate upon the subject which had al-
ready taken place ; but when he recollected what
had been done o■ the motion for granting an inquiry on
the silk trade, he could not but call the attention of the
House to a few circumstances connected with that debate.
He had heard his Right Hon. Friend's speech on that
occasion with great satisfaction, because every word hr
uttered, every argument he used, and every position he
took, furnished him (Colonel Davies) with the strongest
arguments in support of the claims he espoused, and against
the Right Hon. Gentleman (Mr. P. Thompson). The
Right lion. Gentleman had used arguments to prove
what he asserted at the beginning of his speech, viz. that
there was no occasion for inquiry as to the state of the
silk trade, and yet he concluded by conceding that
inquiry, while, as to the glove trade, he rea-
dily admitted that distress certainly existed, anp
yet refused an inquiry into the best means of affording
protection to the trade. On the silk question the
Right ainourshle Member referred to his speech in 1826
—a speech which he (Col. Davies) should never forg.it—
awl made use of precisely the same arguments with those
made use of by Mr. Huskisson ; but then there was his
difference,—that the Right Hurl. Gentleman granted that
inquiry which Mr. Huskisson, upon the same facts, refuseii.
An Hon. Member on a former occasion had stated there
were not a hundred dozen pairs of gloves smuggled
into this country in the course of the year, bat he

1 :RN that before the importation of foreign g!oves
scams legal, a great deal of smuggling was carried on.
Now it was evident, that if the smuggling existed be-
f.re the importatiotiinsettme legalArre facilities of smug-
gling were much greater since. One }muse in this
metropolis within the last few weeks had b en offered ire
sue lot three thousand deters pairs of French smug-
gled gloves, and this he (Calomel Davies) was ready to
prove before a Comnaiites. Anatker fact was, that ti e
greater part of entices a's gloves aam• from Flance
parked in silver paper."'The Walt-paper kept them.
from beating, and 'tbirliatuggisirT packed them in
silver paper, knowing that it might be. a roost-
d• rahle time before be would be able to get his goads de-
livered. Also, there was another trick in Vnt trade, which
was exceedingly common, and that was in packing 14 or
15 pairs together to the dozen. Gentletne i'm gloves
pressed tightly together, being very shin, were went over as
ladies' gloves. These were all tricks which were daily
practised, and which the Gallant Officer was prepart d
to prove without any difficulty er delay. He had no
doubt that, if this subject was inveetigated, the san •
sort of disclosures would take place, as retarded tl •
smuggling of gloves, which have come to lielit respeo'ing
the smuggling of spirits. P. has ben said by an Han.
Member that gloves could be madras cheap in this country
as on the continent ; but how that could be, he (Cane'
Davie.) was totally at a loss to understand, b -cause
he had been assured, on what he conceived to be the
best authority, that the very best cloves could not be
made here for less than eight shillings and sixpence
a dozen pair, whereas that beat Grenoble could be made
for 4a. 6d. Therefore, without a protecting duty
it was utterly impossible that the English glove manufac-
turer could compete with the for-ign glove manufacturer,
Let his Majesty's Government show, if they ssould, that
there were no means of remedying the distress ; and if
they showed that, he would be satisfied that no blame
ought to be attached to them. Ac the same time, if what
was demanded was deemed reasonable, they ought to con-
sider it. The people whose cause he represented, were
most loyal, and had never joined in any of the disturd-
ances which bad prevailed in many parts of the country.—
He concluded by moving that a Select Committee be ap-
pointed to inquire how far the elore trade had been in-
jured by the introduction of soma:ea goods, and to recom-
mend some remedial measure.
Mr. R. GORDON seconded the motion. He could
assure the H. Cott he was personally acquainted with
the distress which existed in the glove trade, and he sub-
mitted that it was the duty of the House to appoint a Com-
mittee to inquire into the causs of that distress.
Mr. P. THOMPSON trusted that it was not neces-
sary for him to urge the same obj-ctions to the
appointment of a Committee as be had urged upon
a former occasion. He had not heard fr. m tl e
Hon. and Gallant Officer one single reason, nor ore
single argument, why the Commirte• wanted,
The 11.-n. and G.illant Officer had stated that he (Mr..
Thompson) had denied the existence of any disttess io
the silk trade, and that there was, urdnubtedly, no
ground for the appointment of a Committee. What
he did state was, in fact, quite the reverse. He admitted
the existence of distress, and although he did not concur
in the appointment of a Committee upon the grounds
then urged. yet he concurred in it upon special
grounds, such as the amount of duty, and the
extensive smuggling that was teen c.,rryit.g on in silk.
The present case was wholly distinct from that of
the Silk Committee. In this case there were
no special circumstances, and no advantage would be
gained by the appointment of a Committee. hut, on the
contrary, it would be productive of much inconveni-
ence to the trade.--(Hear.) He admitted that there
might be considerable distress in that trade ; but lit be.
Neve,' it was not to such an extent as had beers

stated—(Hear, hear)—in proof of a hid) i.piniou
he knew that the number of manufmtturers in Yeovil
had considerably increased last fon, years.
The Hon. and Gallant Officer had taken eonsiderable pains
to obtain ioformation, and hr ( Mr. P. Thomson) wished
that he had more thoroughly sifted the tourers of that

information, and the hearings nt it, which would have
enabled him to arrive at a different conclusion than
he had done. For instance, the Gallant Colonel had
observed, that on the Ist ofJanuary there were 1,1(10.000
skins in warehouse. It should, however, ty• observed that
these skins were usually imported in the latter end of the
year, for the purpme of meeting th. demand for the spring
and summer months. It hail been mad,. a matter of com-
plaint that the trade in beaver gloves was almost annihi-
lated. But could the Legislature do any thing to remove
that complaint ? Could they, by any Inea-trre of theirs,
restore that branch of trade to Worm-ster ? The defection

in that branch of the trade might in some degree he ac
counted for, when they called to mind the quantity of Risk,
cotton, and woollen gloves that were now worn. Th. Hun
Seconder of the motion had said that the mant.f.etuters
denied the correctness of his statements. Now he would
say, " Do not adopt the assertions of the manufacturers,
but take as your data those documents which ;ire la-fore
Parliament,—namely, the Custom-house returns." A
manufacturer had been pl, aced to write to him au abusive
letter, denying hti statement that 4,030.000 skins had
been imported last year. He, in consequence, moved for
the return, which completely bore out that statement. The
sane individual then turned round and said, " 0, that
proves nothing, for one-third of those skin• were exported."
This assertion induced him to mo►e for a r: turn of the
number of skins exported, and he found that •hey
amounted to only 44,000. As to smuggling, he had for-
merly shown that, looking to the amount of duty and the
cost of the gloves, it was much bitter for a party to pay
the duty than to run the risk of smuggling the article.
The duty of 22i per cent. was much less than the smug-
gler would be contented with. There might be some
few pairs of gloves introdu...ed by passengers, hut there
was nJ such thing as that wholesale smuggling which
was practised with respect to some other articles. The
Gallant Colonel said, he could prove large quantities ,f
smuggled goods to have been offered for ■ate. Let him
give that evidence to the Customs, or to the Board of
Trade, and lie might rest assured that the matter would
be inquired into. A great portion of the distress under
which the glove manufacturers lebour d, arose from the
large consumption of what were called " Berlin gloves."
His Hon. Friend the Member for Ipswich had, in the
former debate on this subject, stated to the House the large
amount to which that consumption extended ; but he had

since reason to know that hie Hon. Friend's calculation
was even under the mark. A calculation had since been
made by persons well acquainted with that trade, from
which it appeared that the consumption of Berlin gloves
in the last year amounted to 300,000 d. cen,—that was to
sly, that 3,600,000 pair of Berlin gloves were made i■
that tune in this country. He would have no objection to
the appointment of a Committee on ►mugiling eenvally,
but he was against the appointment of a Commits e to in-
quire into smuggling in reference to any particular trade,
as it would be likely to disturb that trade, and tie should
therefore meet the present motion by a direct negative.
Mr. ROBINSON bad not beard a single reason for not
granting the Committee which was asked for in this in-
stance. It appeared to him that the only reason for granting
the Silk Committee was because the silk trade had a large
interest in that House, and that the only reason for refusing
a Committee on the present occasion was because the glove
manufacturers had but a small interest there.

Mr. SANFORD thought that the glove-manufacturers
would have a right to complain, if, after a Committee had
been granted to the silk trade, a similar application on
their part was met with a refusal by his Majesty's Go-
vernment.

Mr. Alderman W.urnalsar supporta the appointment
of the Committee.

An Hort. MEMBER, whose name we could not learn,
also declared himself in favour of the Committee.

Earl GROSVENOR having ■uece+ded in his own
motion for a Committee on the silk trade, felt hinwelf
bound also to aid that object with respect to gloves, where-
fore he would support the motion.
Colonel DAVIES replied, when the House divided—
For the motion 26
Against it
Majority