The Sun.
London, England, 1861-03-09 00:00:00

ready that a committee of the house should examine into
'eVery part of the diplomatic service. He certainly could not
agree that a report of the committee on the salaries of pub-
lic officers was any authority upon this or upon any other
subject. He thought the committee had done its work very
hastily, and with regard to the diplomatic service, he found
that all its inquiries on this subject had been completed in
1 the course of a few hours.

The question having been put from the chair,
Mr. HENLEY said he wished to point out to the house
the state into which it was getting by reason of these mo-
tions. This was the third branch of the public service which
was being placed in a kind of trust. The Admiralty had
two nursing mothers, and the Colonial department had to
be inquired into as to the enormous military outlay in our
colonies.

The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER—There
is also the income tam..

Mr. HENLEY said he was very glad the right hon. gen-
tleman had suggested another. He (Mr. Henley) did not
think that its inquiries were on all fours with the question
of considering the efficiency of a branch of the public ser-
vice. It would be difficult to find any one year in which
three branches of the public service, with the consent of the
Executive Government, have been made the subject of pub-
lic inquiry. All he could say was, he hoped the public ser-
vice would be benefited ; but he must say he had some
doubt upon the subject, more especially as regarded
the case of public servants, who brought their complaints
before committees instead of applying to the heads of their
own departments—the Ministers of the Crown.
The motion was then agreed to.
FIRE INSURANCE.

Mr. H. B. SHERIDAN, after presenting petitions from
eight places for the reduction of the duty on fire insurance,
moved, pursuant to notice, to bring in a bill to reduce the
duty on fire insurances. It was not necessary for him to
trouble the house at the same length as on former occasions,
for ho thought the subject was never so well understood as
at present. This was not an abstract proposition, such as was
recently condemned by the Chancellor of the Exchequer,
but a definite proposal. There was a society in existence
whose professed object it was to sweep away this tax alto.
gether. That was not his object; he wished to show how
the tax might be modified, and yet how the supposed defi-
ciency in the revenue would be supplied. His proposition
was to reduce the duty from 3s. to Is. At the same time he
was satisfied that the country would not consent to this
reduction without being assured that the deficiency would
be made good. The income arising from fire duty amounted
at the present moment to £1,400,000. His proposal would
affect two-thirds of that revenue. One class of insured pro-
perty was that which was called "extremely hazardous,"
The ordinary or prudential insurances were effected on
household goods, ships and their cargoes, and property of
that kind. It was out of this class of property he thought
the deficiency of £BOO,OOO would be made up. Not only
would the number of insurances bo largely increased as a
permanent business, but a great number of insurances would
at once take place, which were now ready to be carried out
in expectation of the reduction of the tax. He ventured to
predict that before two years had passed the amount of
business would be increased threefold. He need not refer
to the well-known case of the Post-office, but he would men-
tion the instance of Post-office orders. From a pamphlet
published by Mr. Risoborough Sharman, entitled " The
Duty on Fire Insurances erroneous in Principle and injuri-
ous in Practice," it appeared that since the reduction of
the charges on Post-office orders, in 1841, the number of
applications had increased beyond all anticipation. It
might be asked whether there was any margin in the
event of a reduction taking place to make up the antici-
pated deficiency. That was a very natural question. In
1845 the national property was estimated at £2,200,000,000,
and now amounted to £3,800,000,000. Reducing that by
£800,000,000, as representing the national debt, there
would be £3,000,000,000 left as representing the personal
property of the country. The real property of the country,
according to Mr. Porter, could not be very accurately
ascertained. But it was estimated that the value of the
real property in 1812 was 2,382 millions, exclusive of Ire-
land, and if they added for the 18 years which had since
elapsed 600 millions, it would bring up the actual value of
the real property of the country to 3,000 millions. A little
work called the "Financial Register" fully confirmed
that view of the case. Then taking the personal property
into consideration, he found that there was about 4,000
millions which might be fairly termed insurable property.
The increase in the value of that property had been chiefly
in the shape of buildings upon land ; but, besides, there
had been a great deal of additional property created by the
reclamation of land. In Ireland alone, of late years, there
had been an increase in the value of property from that
source to the extent of £3,000,000, and a great deal of land
had also been reclaimed in England. It would be idle for
him to attempt to give anything like an accurate represen-
tation of the value of the national property of this country,
all that he could do was to give some approximation drawn
from Mr. Porter's able work upon that subject. Perhaps,
so far as regarded the increase in personal property, one
criterion would be the vast increase in the exports and
imports within the last few years. Quoting from the
figures in a valuable little work upon this subject by Mr.
Leone Levi, ho found that the whole amount of exports in
1355 was 260 millions, whereas in 1857 they were no less
than 331 millions, being an increase of no less than 74
millions. The number of vessels which cleared out that
year were no less than 97,500, with a tonnage of 22,300,000
tons, and if they estimated the value of the
tonnage on the basis which Mr. McCulloch had
given, namely, £l3, it would give a gross value of
no less than £289,900,000, and he would add to that the
£600,000,000 which he estimated was the increase in per-
sonal property. They must remember that that was almost
all of it insurable property. The practice had hitherto been,
with reference to ships, to insure them during the time
they were loading and unloading, and to charge so much
per month on the insurance. He was prepared to say that
if this duty was reduced it would very materially increase
the insurance of that particular class of property. At pre-
sent a great many shipowners were their own insurers, in-
cluding most of the shipping companies, and he attributed
that fact almost entirely to the heavy duty now cherged
upon fire insurances. This amount of national wealth,
which he had estimated at £6,000,000,000, was small com-
pared with the national wealth of France. There existed in
France 180 milliards of insurable property, amounting to
£7,200,000,000 of English money. That was exclusive of
real propetty. In this country a proportionate increase of
insurance was by no means equal to that of France. In 1835
the amount insured in this country was £500,000,000. In
1855 it had only £800,000,000. The revenue derived from
fire insurance in 1815 was £1,062,000. In 1860 it was
£1,100,000 or thereabouts. In England the habit of in •
suring had existed for 180 years. In France it had existed
for only 34 or 35 years. But whilst we had only insured
1,000 millions out of 4,000 millions, France had insured
2,200 millions. Might it not therefore be fairly argued that
in this commercial country there was some reason for this
non.insurance of property ? (Hear, hear.) The Chancellor
of the Exchequer had argued that fire insurances were not
likely to increase, because no great increase had followed
the exemption of agricultural produce. But the actuary of
the Guardian Insurance-office had shown that in the first
two years after the change the insurance on farming stock
more than doubled ; that in the following five years it has
increased 80 per cent. more; and in the next five years, 20
per cent. more. (Hear, hear.) He now came to the un-
just character of the tax, and would instance the case of
a society consisting of 1,000 members, proposing to
insure each of its members to the extent of £l,OOO. Sup-
posing them to have contributed sufficient in premiums to
meet the emergency, before they could hand over the
amount the Government would step in and demand £2,000
for due y. (Hear, hear.) This was neither more nor less than
a fine on those who desired to take care of that which they
had earned by their labour. It was a bonus to the public
not to insure. On what principle could the Government
claim £2,000 from a society before permitting them to pay
£l,OOO, which was legitimately due ? If the profits of a
company amounted to 20 per cent. the Government stepped
in and took 1,000 per cent. on those profits for doing nothing
beyond restricting its operations. (Hear, heat.) If the
Government were anxious to destroy the national property
they could not pursue a course more calculated to effect
their object. Insured propetty to the extent of £1,000,000
was annually destroyed by fire, whilst the amount of un-
insured property annually burnt reached £5,000,000. If
tho tax was viewed as a property tax the intentions of the
Government might be understood. In that case let it be
properly assessed. Property which was insured paid its
shale of the property tax in the same way as property that
was uninsured, and he did not see why the provident
insurer should be doubly taxed in respect of his property.
(Hear, hear.) Why were the tenants of rich men ex-
cluded? Why should agriculttiral property be exempt from
the tax more than any other property of the country ?
(Hear.) He looked upon the tax as a second property tax,
unjustly, and he might also soy dishonestly administered.
A great deal had been said on former occasions of the
absence of petitiotte on the part of the leading insurance
offices of the country; but this evening a petition had
been presented from all the leading insurance offices pro-
testing against the present duty. And this circumstance
had the More force because the insurance offices derived a
largo income frena the discounting of the large sums which
they paid as duty. They Could, therefore, be moved by no
other consideration than this, that if the duty was reduced
their business would be largely increased, and their revenue
greatly migteented. If that was the view of the insurance.
offices, the very settle coesideration should also weigh
th
the Government. This was the strongest argument whim
he could adduce in favour of the motion which he had to
submit to the house. The right hon. gentleman would no
doubt urge two objections to that motion—first, that the
motion was not submitted to the house by a member of
the
Government ; and second, that he had not the means to
the
enable him to assent to the proposal. With regard to
no
first objection he had to observe, that since the
and that all last d
Government had attempted to correct this evil,
great reforms had not proceeded from the Government, but
had oeen forced on Government by ndPe n dnt members
and by public opinion. But the Governmentiec had gone fur-
ther in this very matter, for when a Fraenh countrycom to insurepanymade
an attempt to enable the people of this
their property without payment of the duty, the paternal
Government interfered arid induced Parliament to pass the
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