The Sun.
London, England, 1866-05-25 00:00:00

Mr. HUBRARD'S speech, last evening, respecting
the reduction of the fire insurance duties deserves
some attention. The terms of the hon. gentleman's
resolution declared that " the present duties on fire
and marine insurances are unjust in their incidence
on property, and injurious to the national industry."
Mr. HUBBARD made out a strong case for the remis-
sion, or at least the reduction, of these duties which
are certainly most injurious and oppressive in their
nature. Mr. GLADSTONE calls the fire insurance
duty a tax on property, but he might more truly
call it a tax on prudence. It is a pity that the
Chancellor of the Exchequer does not take a hint
from the Post-office, and consider the large revenue
which is now made in consequence of the reduction
of postage. The tea duties have given him a similar
lesson, one which will be more strongly enforced next
year when the reduction will have been longer in
operation. Even the fire insurance itself told the same
story, the effect produced by the reduction to ls.
quite confirming the anticipations of the Reformers.
It is no secret that a large proportion of the valu-
able property in the City warehouses and other
places is insured in Hamburg, so as to avoid the
excessive duty hitherto charged in this country.
Men would naturally prefer to insure in their own
country, and so the business of insurance would be
greatly extended. A legitimate source of profit is, in
fact, withdrawn from the English offices which will
now, we hope, be gradually regained. Mr. HUBBARD
proposes to bring the duty down to sixpence, a very
just and moderate proposal, in the course of time
bringing it down to Id. for a registration fee. At
that price he believes that it would produce an im-
mense amount of money. No doubt this belief is
well founded, and it is likely enough that before
long something of the kind will be tried with
Mr. HUBBARD complained of the
time which Mr. GLADSTONE had chosen
for dealing with the National Debt, but the
scheme of terminable annuities seemed to find
favour with the House, and justly so, being as good
an arrangement as could be devised for the purpose.
Mr. HUBBARD'S motion was negatived without a
division, but it deserved consideration, nevertheless,
and the Chancellor of the Exchequer, in his care
for the interests of the future, might well give some
thought to the wants and the grievances of the pre-
sent.

success.

The meeting held in the City yesterday, for the
purpose of devising some means of doing honour to
the munificent American citizen who has so greatly
benefited the poor of this Metropolis was, as
might have been expected, very numerously at-
tended. The Lord Mayor opened the proceed-
ings, paying, as he did so, a cordial tribute to Mr.
PEABODY, whose friendship he had, he said, enjoyed
for many years. After his Lordship came Mr.
FOWLER, who moved the first resolution, which pro-
posed that apublic statue of GEORGE PEABODY should
be erected on some conspicuous site in the city of Lon-
don. Mr. FOWLER observed that the erection of a
public statuewas so high an honour that it ought not
to be lightly given. They had two public statues
already in the City, statues erected in compliment
to one of the first soldiers the world had ever seen,
and to the man whose name would go down to pos-
terity in connection with the inauguration of free
trade. Inside Guildhall there were statues of the
two PITTS and of NELSON, but in no case had they
the statue of an eminent man belonging to another
country. The man whom they now desired to honour
had not taken Part either in war or in politics,
expressinglyser ve
tdh hise i n gene-
restt e
ration•
but he w3alsr.man whoh
the great country to which
which Englishmen feltn
i
taedr nob
aFOWLER, after
origin, concluded with a
few Mr.Pw PE .rtdDso, DwYloicwhe, owed his
wehope,
will not be without
their effect on his audience. They could
ynot all,he said, imitate the unparalleled munificence
of Mr. PEABODY; the could not contribute hun-
dreds of thousands of pounds for
the relief of
suffering humanity ; but they could all do
2°l.tlething within their - special spheres
for the
promotion
promotion of the same object, and for the success
of the great movement which Mr. PEABODY had
inaugurated.
If the company of wealthy and in-
fluential men who yesterday gathered together at the
Mansion-house were to take the hint, and each do
what they could by means of money, influence, per-
sonal exertion, and character to improve the condition
of our labouring classes, especially
in this very
practical and sensible matter of healthy and decent