The Sun.
London, England, 1861-05-07 00:00:00

the paper tax would greatly benefit every class of the corn

munity. For all the reasons he had stated he was prepared
to give this resolution his most cordial support. (Hear.)
Mr. BENTINCK.—The varied uses to which paper

might be applied had been insisted on as an argument in
favour of the remission. One of those uses was alleged to
be paper pipes, but he had heard that where such pipes
had been laid down they were eaten away by rats.
(Laughter.) That fact showed that paper could not come
into such general use as had been imagined. (Hear, hear.)
The Chancellor of the Exchequer did not think the sup-
plementary estimates of last year a sufficient warning
against the proposed remission. The Chinese war, he said,
could not be anticipated. Could the right hon. gentleman
foretell what effect the American war might have on the
financial condition of this country ? If not, why dispose of
his imaginary surplus by this unnecessary remission of
the paper duties ? The opposition to the remission was
irrespective of party feeling. (Hear, hear.) He would for
that reason, at this time, regret any decision {1 ,vvnla

necessitate a change of Government. He had reason to
hplieve that, in their opposition to the resolution on the
paper duties, the majority of the Opposition were not actu•
eed by any hostile feeling against her Majesty's Govern-
ment. The surplus calculated upon by the Chancellor of
the Exchequer consisted of money borrowed and the casual
receipt of an indemnity from China. Those sources of in-
come should not be dealt with as if they were permanent or
usual sources of revenue. (Hear.) He (Mr. Bentinck)
deeply regretted that the noble lord (Palmerston) should
have given his assent to the proposal of the Chancellor of
the Exchequer. Would the noble lord undertake to say
that the present state of America would not involve us in
any difficulties ? Would he say there would be no. defi •
ciency in the supply of cotton and tobacco ? or that there
would be no consequent distress in the manufacturing dis-
tricts ? (Hear.) From what had occurred since he last
spoke had the noble lord any grounds for altering the opinion
he then expressed ?
Lord C. HAMILTON said that the taunt used by his
hon. friend (Mr. L. Gower) in reference to the working
man's tea did not apply to his (Lord C. Hamilton's) side of
the house, for the term was used by the right hon. the
Chancellor when he was in opposition to Lord Derby's Go-
vernment, consequently the shaft directed towards the pre-
sent Opposition fell short of its intended aim. The noble
lord then said that he house ought to insist upon having
some more solid arguments in support of the Eudget from
the Government than had yet been addressed to the house.
Neither the Chancellor of the Exchequer ner the right hon.
gentleman the President of the Board of Trade had given
that information respecting the project before the house
which hon. members were entitled to. The right. hon.
gentleman (Mr. Gibson) said the data rested on by the
Chancellor of the Exchequer in respect to his Budget had
been supplied to him from the Government departments,
and that it was not likely that these departments would
have cooked the accounts to suit the purposes of the Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer. Now he (Lord C. Hamilton)
contended that this was an effort to shirk responsibility,
which the Government had no right to resort to. The
right hon. gentleman the Chancellor of the Exchequer
also said that if the house would have a large expenditure
it must be prepared to meet that expenditure by increased
taxation. Now, that was not language that should be
addressed to the House of Commons. He hoped that
some explanations would be given on these points by the
Government, in the course of debate.
Mr. BAINES considered the Budget of the Chancellor
of the Exchequer was founded in justice, and with a due
regard to the development of the industrial resources of the
,o e entry.the v
41;
ul (03,
pe
toafutchee,
and paper
ei;
rdo
ae
tsr,
cownioauzlfd
tlEadrtgcel
atyesrpsarr
yo-
o f
publications—consisting of renb
works—which was eagerly sought after by th. working
classes; and that was one of the great reasons why he
supported this branch of the Chancellor's budget. He stated
on a former occasion the great number of cheap publications
which were now issued, and he believed they would be ma-
terially increased by the present measure. Take the Holy
Scriptures. There was a drawback on the duty on those
published by the Queen's Printer and the University, but
it was not so with others. Then the tax on writing paper
was a discouragement to parties who wished to learn to
write, and the removal of the duty would of course facilitate
it. It was condemned nine or ten years ago by a resolution
of that house. It was positively repealed last session, but
thrown out by the House of Lords. It was therefore one
which the Chancellor of the Exchequer was bound to re-
move as soon as possible. After what occurred last year
withhusee ther other House of Parliament, the honour of that
(faired that it should be repealed. With reference to
theo
expense of their war establishments, he found that in
1840
presenthteyiewaerriet Ih4admthillieoulisto, inthleBsOls
enormous,millioannsd, ahned
would
nouthlde
say, shameful sung of 25 millions. Theya had no war 'a
China, peace was restored in India,ne the Great
Powers of Europe, they were on th most friendly terms
thenaval power of those
Stateswit h mwosatseafbtsho el
unit .e
ly, eatne America,nih ilate d and although a naval
force may be required to protect their commerce in the Gulf
of Mexico, no additional expenditure was necessary. Then
why incur this enormous expenditure?
Sir L. PALK agreed with hon. members that
a surplus was in the Exchequer, but he did not by any
means approve of the manner in which it was applied. What
were they to do with the surplus ? Would they reduce the
income tax ? Undoubtedly that tax ought to be reduced;
but the solemn pledge that was given by the right hon.
gentleman that it should be taken off iu 1860 was not kept.
The tea duty, too, was not to be reduced ; and by a singe.
lar infelicity the tax which the Government proposed to re-
duce was that which brought in a revenue of nearly a mil-
lion and a halt, and that which pressed least of any tax on
the people—he meant the paper duty. (Hear.) Last year,
when it was
proposed to repeal that duty, the House of
Lords stepped in, and by their vote saved that tax to the
country. It was then said that the country would be indig-
nant, and that meetings would be held in disapprobation of
the course taken by the House of Lords ; but no such meet-
ings wero held—(hear, hear)—and if there were an appeal
made to the country as to which tax the public would pro-
for to have repealed—that upon tea or upon paper—he ven-
tured to say the response would be the tea duty. (Hear,
hear.) The bon. gentleman read documents which he had
received from stationers and others, representing; to him