The Sun.
London, England, 1857-01-10 00:00:00

LONDON, SATUItDAY EVENING, JANUARY 10,

REPEAL OF THE INCOME T.

A public meeting convened by the mayor—E. N. Grace,
Elq.—in compliance with a very numerously-signed requi-
sition, was held in the Guildhall, Newcastle-upon-Tyne,
on Thursday last, to consider the propriety of petitioning
Parliament against the income tax. There was a large at-
tendance of merchants, shipowners, and other persons in-
terested.

Mr. M. CLAYTON having read the requisition,
Sir J. FIFE rose to propose the first resolution. In doing
so, he intimated his intention of taking each of the allega-
tions contained in the resolution in succession, and show-
ing how truly they designatedthe income tax, as at present
existing. Tha first charge against the tax was that it was
unjust, unfair, and oppressive. There was one single fact
in illustration of the truth of this allegation, which he
thought was sufficient to convince the most fastidious and
the most sceptical. It was this :—A man who by his in-

dustry, anxiety, and toil, obtained an income in some large
town or city, amounting to 1,0001. a year, paid a certain
amount of income tax; his neighbour, who had landed pro-
perty worth 20,0001., from which he received 1,00001. a
year, paid his tax, and each of them paid exactly the same
amount. This was a fact of such outrageous injustice as
to be nearly incredible, and yet it was true that a man
who every year was worth 21,0001., paid exactly the same
amount as if he had not sixpence beyond his 1,0001. With
this fact before them he thought he was entitled to say
that the history of this country did not record an instance
of more barefaced injustice. (Applause.) Well, then, it
was stated that in the mode of its assessment it was inqui-
sitorial, so much so indeed that many of them had shrunk
from going before the commissioners with as appeal against
it. (A. voice—No use to go and appeal.) Not the least,
but at present, fortunately for this town, they had a
surveyor who seemed to Lave some sense of justice in his
breast, and blessed were the inhabitants who had a sur-
veyor of income tax who possessed some of the feelings of
a gentleman, or they might be robbed and cheated to any
extent. (Hear.) Next it was alleged that it was calculated
to create dissatisfaction and demoralisation. This was one
of the worst features of the case, because the tax as at
present levied actually held out a bonus of fraud and im-
position. (Cheers.) Many persons so much regarded it
as a swindle that they thought their honour not compro-
mised by misrepresenting the circumstances in which they
were placed. Sir John then pointed out how peculiarly
oppressive was the income tax to gentlemen of the medical
profession, and how inapplicable in their case was the re- ,
medy by appeal, inasmuch as the books of a medical man
contained secrets which he was bound in honour to keep.
(Hear.) It had always been admitted that in taxation
some broad principle should be kept in view, that it should
rest upon the broadest shoulders—upon those for whose
benefit government was carried on. Now he would ask
any man in his senses if this principle did not point to a
property tax—(applause)—which was the most humane
and just of all others; while the income tax, for thereasona
he had shown, was the most unjust, inquisitorial, and
cruel. The latter was a tax which pressed with peculiar
severity upon the industrious and enterprising classes.
Mr. HENRY TURNER seconded the resolution, and re-
marked that this was one of the short days of the year,
but if they should speak during the whole of one of the
longest days, it would be impossible to go through all the
iniquities and villanies by which the income tax of the
present day was levied. He spoke the sentiments of every
person who paid taxes when he said that we had been more
extensively robbed, insulted, and cheated by this system
of taxation than by any other which had been devised.
(Cheers.) The system of taxation, from beginning to end,
was one of darkness and mystery. Many of them, he had
no doubt, had appealed against the tax, and knew the
difficulties in the way of getting justice. He could speak
to the matter with perhaps more knowledge upon some
points than many present, having had the pleasing duty
imposed upon him of being an income tax collector—
(laughter and applause)—and had seen somewhat of the
villanies of the system. He would not allude to them in
full, for no doubt they were too well acquainted with them,
and had again and again paid the tax upon enormous sums
rather than be at the trouble and annoyance and expenses
of an appeal.

The resolution, on being put to the meeting by the Mayor,
was carried unanimously.
Mr. W. LOCKET HARLE, in proposing the next resolu-
tion, alluded to a sentence in a recent speech of Lord Pan.
more, in which that minister had characterised the pa-
tience which the people of this country had exhibited under
taxation as admirable. They had been told that the income
tax had been leavied for the purpose of carrying on a great,
and he was about to say, a successful war, but he would
not say it, for we had paid a price for that which had not
brought adbitional glory to thee country. It brought to
their recollection errors innumerable, military and naval,
and errors of statesmanship. Every man appeared to be
in the wrong place, and we had to pay dearly to maintain
the greatness of this country. Yet, scarcely any person
complained. Every man appeared willing to pay the cost
of the war, and traly might the war, minister say the pa-
tience of the people was admirable. Now, however, the
government must be told that the war being over taxation
must cease. (Cheers.) They must have observed in all parts
of the country a strong feeling abroad that this particular
tax should be altered entirely. The people could not bear
it any longer ; those who toil and spin, whose brains are
on the rack from morn to night to maintain their position
in society, could not any longer tolerate this tax. (Hear.)
Mr. Harle then entered into some explanatory statements
relative to the tax, and denounced its inquisitorial charac-
ter. Mr. Gladstone might reason over eight columns of a
newspaper to show that it was impossible to make a dis-

Unction between income tax and property tax. Did not
this prove the barrenness of statesmanship of which they
complained ? The people felt without any reasoning that
Mr. Gladstone and the parties who supported him were
palpably wrong, for it was plain and evident that there
was a marked difference between property which had
been created and property in the course of formation.
(Hear, hear.) All he asked for was, that the govern-
ment should not tax a man who was industrious, who
was toiling year by year, and day by day, as they
would tax him who was an idler, who enjoyed his otiunt
cunt dignitate, and had arrived at the happy state
when he could think no longer, except it should be
how to preserve his property from ticket-of-leave men.
(" Hear," and laughter.) Mr. Harle next alluded to the
act of Parliament limiting the duration of the tax to the
6th of April which shall first happen after the expiration
of one year from the ratification of a definitive treaty of
peace, and contended that to all intents and purposes the
war ceased in the early part of last year, and that it was a
mere quibble to allege in favour of the continuation of the
tax that the ratification of the treaty did not occur till
after April. He drew a melancholy picture of a British
House of Commons debating this one word " ratification,"
and contended that our representatives should be most
imperatively requested to support the abolition of the tax.
He concluded by moving the second resolution.
Mr. C. JACKSON seconded the resolution, which was
carried by show of hands.
Mr. JOHN SHIELD, jun., Uriefly moved the next resolu-
tion.

Mr. E. W. CHALLONER, in seconding the motion sug-
gested that as 30 years' purchase was generally given for
landed property, 10 for that embarked in trade, while not
more than two years' purchase could be obtained for a pro-
prietor paying the major portion, the trader the medium
share, and the professional man, whose income ceased with
his existence, the minimum amount. This, he contended,
would remove the monstrous inequality which at present
characterised the tax upon income, and if properly balanced,
could be made to produce the same amount of revenue,
and an infinitely greater amount of satisfaction to all
parties concerned. (Applause.)
C. ALLIIIIiiEN, Esq., in proposing the last resolution,
stated as his opinion that the tax -was an absurdity, inas-
much as it proposed to do an impossible thing, namely—to
tax the income of every individual without providing the
means to show what the income really was. (Hear, hear.)
He had had a great deal of experience in the sharp practice
which the collectors of the tax wore in the habit of using.
His books had been examined, his word of honour doubted,
and himself insulted by those persons, who, however, con-
soled him with the idea that the law required them to act
in such a manner, and they, as the parties deputed to carry
the law into effect, were compelled to take the course they
pursued. He had asked them to point out to him the law,
and when he had seen it he found that it favoured his own
representation of the case, for it stated that the collectors
should take his affidavit as to tho amount of his income,
and if that did not satisfy them they should obtain the
bookkeeper's affidavit, and then if they disputed the
united testimony of himself and bookkeeper they should
examine the books themselves. He had thOught it only
light and proper to resist the demands of the collectors,

and his case had lasted two years, but he finally got his
money back again. (Hear.) lie concluded by proposing
the resolution, which was put and carried,
The meeting concluded with a vote of thanks to the
Mayor.—NewcasCe Chronic/c.

MEETING IN FINSBURY.
Last evening a public meeting was held at the Royal
British Institution, Cowper-street, Finsbury-square, for
the purpose of considering the propriety of petitioning the
Legislature, and taking other measures to obtain a repeal
or modification of the income tax in its present form.
Mr. JOHN BROWN, the senior churchwarden of St.
Luke's, was called to the chair.
Mr. R. PHILLIPS moved the first resolution, condemning
the income tax as being, in its present form, unjust and
oppressive; unjust in principle, inasmuch as it levies a
percentage on trades and professions, always precarious
1 and uncertain, and not easily definable 41agaount ; oppres-

sive, inasmuch as the only method of levying it is by re-
quiring returns from the parties to be charged, exposing,
consequently, their aff tirs, to avoid which many parties
pay upon sums never earned. He believed that the income
tax pressed in its present form most unjustly upon all
classes of society; even upon those who did not pay it, for
he believed it was one of the consequences of the tax that
15,000 men in this great city were now out of employment.
(Hear.)
Mr. STARLING seconded the resolution, and entered into
a variety of social and domestic statistics with a view to
show how injurious the tax was to families with incomes
ranging between 1001. and 2001 a year.
The CHAIRMAN put the resolution to the meeting, and
it was unanimously adopted.
Mr. G. KING proposed the next resolution, which was
as follows "That the enormous amount of the present
charge as adopted by the House of Commons was a tem-
,,orary measure only, to continue during the war; and as
the war is over this meeting trusts that every legitimate
means will be taken to obtain an immediate reduction, as
well as a more equitable adjustment of the tax, or the re-
peal of it on all trades and professions." He trusted the
country would never be silent while the tax remained. He
was far from wishing to sow the seeds of discord in the
country, but he could not conceal from himself the fact
that great ill-feeling would prevail if the Chancellor of the
Exchequer persisted in retaining the tax contrary to the
publicly expressed feeling of the country.
Mr. BONIFACE seconded the resolution, which was
spoken to by Mr. Pallisser, Mr. Allred Walker, Mr.
Higham, and other gentlemen, all of whom gave details,
showing the unequal and oppresssve nature of the tax.

A petition to the House of Commons embodying the
resolutions was agreed to, and was entrusted to Mr. Thos.
Duncombe, M.P., for presentation.
Thanks wete voted to the Chairman, and the meeting
separated. '

ST. PANCRAS.—At the weekly meeting of the vestry of
St. Pancras (the Rev. Canon Dale, the vicar, in the chair),
the Rev. R. Eckett, in the absence of Mr. Brettinghani,
who had given notice of the subject, brought forward the
following resolution—" That in the opinion of this vestry
the income tax on trades and professions is alike odious,
inquisitorial, tyrannical, and unjust; and that a com-
mittee therefore be now formed, with powers similar to
those exercised by the committee appointed by this vestry
for the repeal of the tax on windows, namely, to prepare
petitions to the three estates of the realm, and to solicit the
aid and co-operation of every city and borough in the king-
dom for the unconditional repeal of this iniquitous tax."
The Rev. Mr. Eckett regretted that this motion did not ex-
tend to the property tax, not that he thought the property
tax should be entirely repealed, but that it might be more
equitably assessed. Persons with house property for instance,
were taxed upon the gross amount instead of the net, when
perhaps they might have to pay 25 per cent, out of the
rents they received before they came to their hands. The
motion was seconded ; and after a slight modification of
the strong language contained in it the resolution was
carried unanimously.

BRISTOL.--A large public meeting was held in the
Guildhall, Bristol, yesterday afternoon, for the purpose of
petitioning Parliament on the subject of the income tax.
The Mayor presided, and the meeting was addressed by
Mr. G. Shaw, Mr. Goss, Mr. H. Visger (town councillors),
Mr. H. J. Mills (editor of the Bristol Gazette), Mr. M.
Bowden (glass manufacturer), Mr. Herapath (magistrate),
Mr. P. F. Aiken (banker), Mr. C. Tovey (town councillor),
Mr. C. T. Dando, and Mr. W. H. Gore Langton, M.P.
Mr. Berkeley, M.P., was unable to attend. Resolutions
were adopted calling for the repcal of the additional 9d. in
the pound on the sth of April next, and for the total
abolition of the tax in 1860; and suggesting that the duty
of collecting should be transferred to the Inland Revenue
Department. A petition embodying the resolutions was
agreed upon, and the members for the city were requested
to support its prayer. Mr. Langton, M.P., expressed his
intention of doing the utmost in his power to carry out
the objects of the meeting. A vote of thanks to the mayor
was awarded by acclamation, and brought the proceedings
to a close.

CANTERBURY.—On Thursday evening a public meeting
of the inhabitants of Canterbury and the neighbourhood
was held in the Guildhall, under the presidency of Mr. W.
J. Cooper. when the following resolution was moved by
Mr C. P. Cooper, Q.C., seconded by Mr. Councillor Jack-
son, and carried unanimously :—" That a Government will
ill perform its duty which, when the nation is not engaged
in any great European war, shall continue a tax so unequal
and unjust, so prying and inquisitorial, and yet so liable
to evasion, so vexatious, galling, and oppressive, and ano-
ther so obnoxious and", odious- as that-now levied upon
income." A second resolution was also adopted, entrust-
ing the forwarding of the resolution to the Right Hon.
Lord Palmerston to the hands of Mr. Parton Cooper, Q.O.

THE COAL TEA ) ;

(From the Newcastle Chronicle.)

The importatio❑ of sea-borne Coals into London Tons.
in December, 1856, amounted to 280,820

Imported from Ist Jan. to 31st Dec., 1836 3,119,841
11 • JP 1855

Increase in the present year

Delivery in December amounted to

Deliyery from 14 Jan. to 31st Dec., 187)6
)7 /1, „ 1855

103,016

291,348

3,100,322
. 3,016,868

Increase in present year

Coal 3 by railway and canal in December

83,454

Coals by railway and canal from Ist Jan. to
31st Dec., 1856
IP 1855

104,011

Increase in present year . .

110,61

The weather throughout December was not of a cha-
racter favourable to consumption, and the trade during
the month was continuously depressed, with scarcely
any change from the prices prev.lent in November—
viz., about 10s, for best Wear, and 17s. for the best Tyne
house coals. Steam sorts have also ruled very low,
selling at 15R. to 16s. Freights have shared in the de-
pression, and have been at 7s. 6d. and 3d., which are
lower rates than we recollect for many winters. Several
shipowners, declining to charter on these terms, have
laid their vessels up.
The importation sea-borne in December exceeded that
of the corresponding month last year by 107,000 tons,
but the supply in.Decembor, 1855, owing to contrary
winds, was much below an average. Still prices at the
close of 1855 were some shillings below those which ob-
tained throughout the previous autumn, and doubtless
the effect has been to some extent that the public re-
frained last year from laying in their usual stocks.
We give below a statement of the importation of sea-
borne coal in the last three years (classifying the several
sorts as correctly as possible) together with the quanti
ties sent by railway and canal in the same periods.

1854. 1855. 185 G.
Tyne House Coals
Snnderland & Seaham Do 915.816 802,696 873,010
Hartlepool& Stockton Do 590,952 524,530 569,409

Total House Coals 1,781,405 1,592,450 1,668,505
Steam 351,934 2 3,924 242,259

Coking
Manufacturing
Welsh

Yorkshire

616,351 576,9.0 599;037

275,569 220,789 248,182
200,627 183750 171,026
86,144 126,789 147,466

31,911 32,474 35,249

Small, &e.

19,620 9,732

8,190

Total seaborne
Coals by Railway & Canal 979,170 1,162,486 1,273,270

Total

. 4,678,731 4,179,331 4,393,154

It is out of our power to classify the portion by rail-
way and canal, except such as below, for the last two
years the inland coals consisting of 50 or 60 curiously-
named sorts, we have no means of dividing them into
house, steam, &c. _

1855. 1856.
House coals from Wear, 'cc 168,943 129,639
Gas, coking, &c., from Wear, &c 52,746 31,801
Coke
Welsh
Inland

Total by rail and canal 1,162,485 1,273,270

As we prognosticated some years ago, the supply of
low class house coals from the Tyne is rapidly diminish-
ing, whilst similar competing sorts from the midland
counties show a great increase. The quantity carried
by the Great Northern Railway from Durham, which
in 1855 amounted to 221,690 tons, fell off to 164,440
tons in last year, and shows pretty clearly that our ship-
owners have not much reason to fear their competition
in carrying coals from the districts north of York.

The main production of the Tyne district sent to Lon-
don consists of gas, steam, coking, and manufacturing
sorts. The gas and coking descriptions have as yet met
with little or no competition worth naming, but steam
and manufacturing kinds continuo to be beaten back by
railway coals, which sell at prices which render it more
than doubtful whether any profit can be left to coal-
owner or railway company.
We look with considerable alarm on the prospects of
our London trade for steam and manufacturing coals,
when, next year, the enactments of the Smoke Prohibition
Bill will be extended to all steam vessels and factories
between London-bridge and the Nore, though it is pro-
posed to pollute the water and the air with the sewerage
of the metropolis some 10 miles down the river. We fear
it is too late to agitate successfully for an abrogation of
the act, but we think if our members and coalowners
had been as active as the proprietors of the smokeless
Welsh coals, such an absurd extension of a highly penal
law might have been prevented.
We subjoin an account of the coals on which City's
dues were paid by the several railway companies, &c., in
the last three years :

1854. 1855. 1856.
Great Northern 398,562 547,603 591,435
North-Western 271,011 339,657 443,672
Eastern Counties 167,958 145,327 126,775
Great Western
South Eastern
South Western
Grand Junction Canal 32,153 23,251 25,295
Thames
Common Roads
1,960 1,400 no return.

979,170 1,162,486 1,271,700

A great increase in the quantity carried by th• Lon.
don and North Western Company will be observed. This
Company has within the last 12 months expended a con-
siderable sum in the erection of depots, sidings, trucks,
&c., and also in an elaborate system of signalling to
enable them to carry a large addition to their already
enormous traffic, with what results the frequent acci-
dents reported land not reported sufficiently) show. The
Great Wester Company, we believe, are also bitten
with the same mania for coal traffic, and are preparing
to carry largely, though, with th*'ir badly situated ter-
minus, they are placed at a great disadvantage compared
to their rivals.
We concluded our remarks on the London coal trade
for 1855, by stating that the prospect for the ensuing
year was most cheering, and we must again repeat the
words as regards the trade for 1857.
It is probable that we shall not have so bad a
spring trade as prevailed last year, but in the face,
of a competition of 1,273,270 tons per annum (about
equal to the yearly quantity sent to London from the
Tyne) it is idle to expect a fair range of prices, and much
higher rates (as we have bef re said) would not be advis•
able. We think, indeed, it is a fair source of congratu-
lation that, considering the immense accession to the
supply of London which has sprung up only in the last
five or six years, we have not yet had to encounter as
low a range of prices as we have witnessed from our own
internal competition within a very short interval.
It is to the cheapening of cost in getting to market
that we must mainly look for a means of successfully
competing with the railways ; and that screw steamers
can and will eventually, with proper facilities, secure to
this district its pre-eminence in supplying the metropolis
with coals, we have very little doubt.
The quantity of coals carried to London by
steamers in 1856 amounted to 238,597 tons, against
85,000 tons in 1855. The war and the high freights offer-
ing in some other trades have prevented their employ.
meat to the still greater extent we hoped for, and it will
be a matter of some years before they come into general
use which we anticipated for them. Only four or five
screws were er:ployed regularly all the year. The
greatest number of voyages was made by the Ross, D.
Mangles, which carried 36 cargoes, amounting to
23,205 toss. The Samuel Laing, since April, has made
31 voyages, carrying 18,464 tons.
We conclude with giving a statement of the quantities
of coals received into London from the several ports,
and a list of the entries of the coal factors. We shall
next week give a few more statistics of the trade.

Ships. Ports. Tons.
358 Newcastle
83 Seaham
177 Sunderland 59,857
190 Hartlepool and West Hartlepool
18 Stockton and Middlesbro' 4,261
11 Blyth 2,742
14 Scotch
34 Welsh
80 Yorkshire, &c 2,861

280,880

Factors. Ships.
Hill, Wood, & Hughes, 2,188
Smith, Scurfield, & Co. 966
Dixon, Harris, &c 954
Marshall, Page, & Co Bl7 ,
Hugh Taylor
S. Clarke 517
William Miln es 139

Factors. Ships.
Charleton and Watson 377
F. D. Lambert ...... 315
Miller and Potter 227
Fenwick, Laroche, &Co. 205
Metcalfe & Son 46
Carr, Lamb, & Co l4
Agents 1,124

TEIN MAILS.—SOUTHAMPTON, Jan. 9.—The Royal
Mail Company's steamship Tamar, Captain Jellicoe,
sailed to-day for Lisbon, Teneriffe, St. Vincent, Pernain-
buco, Bahia, Rio Janeiro, Monte Video, and Buenos
Ayres, with the Brazilian and River Plate moils, specie
ralue 15,0001., jewellery value 25,8001., a full cargo, and
108 passengers, among whom are Capt. and Mrs. Piers,
Captain Prance, Drs. Barton and Rigo. The Spanish
Ecrow steamer Hamburg, Captain Lagier, also sailed
this afternoon with 13 passengers and 650 tons of cargo,
for Santander, Barcelona, and Marseilles. The European
and Australian Royal Mail Company's steamer Colum-
bia, Captain Pender, leaves on Monday next with the
mails for the Australian colonies. The United States
mail steamship Arago, Captain Lines, is to leave Havre
on Tuesday next, and Southampton on Wednesday, with
the French and English mails, for New York. The
Union Steamship Company's screw steamer Celt, which
put back on Monday, was taken into the graving-dock
on Thursday, and thoroughly examined by Mr. Job
hog (Lloyd's surveyor) and Mr. Rubie (engineering
surveyor to the Board of Trade). The vessel was found
to be perfectly sound in every respect, and she will
leave here again to-morrow (Saturday) for the Brazils,
under the command of Captain Cook.