The Sun.
London, England, 1861-04-16 00:00:00

faith enough in free trade to believe that an increase in our I
exports must have accompanied an increase in cur importa-
tions. (Hear, hear.) The importation of silks is generally
associated with the deep distress in particular districts of
this country, but it singularly happened that, as far as re-
gards the trade of the season of 1860, the article of ribands
in which the manufacturers and weavers of Coventry are
interested, is one of relatively few that exhibited an abso-
lute decrease of importation. I may likewise say in refer-
ence to the treaty, that it is not the riband manufacturers
of France, as I am informed, with whom the people of
Coventry have to cops, but the thrifty and industrious wee.
vers of Basle, who are the producers of the cheapest ribands
and the moat formidable rivals to our manufacturers. Of
course, we have no means of knowing what is the con-
sumption of English ribands, but the statement I have
obtained from private sources, from persons at
the centre of the manufacture, who have the best means of
information, is this,--that in 1860 there was a decrease in
the importation of French ribands of about 121 per cent.,
and in the use of English ribands of 26 2-3ds per cent. '
(" Hear, hear," from Mr. Newdegate.) My hon. friend'is
cheer refers, no doubt, to the fact that there was a greater
decease in English than in French ribands. The change
of last year, while beneficial in its general character, aggra-
vated, I have no doubt, but certainly did not cause, the
the distress in Coventry. (Hear, hear.) I much regret
the coincidence in time of the two circumstances ; but it
was, I believe, partly the change of fashion and still more
the sad weather, which almost destroyed the spring e-
mma, which was the cause of those elifficulaes and cala-
mities. (Hear.) lam deeply sorry that a change which
was absolutely demanded in justice to the people and every
class of producers should for a moment and in a particular
instance have been accompanied by any distress! We heard
last year in this house a woful tale of the destruction im-
pending over I know not how many millions of the pro-
perty of .our British fellow-subjects in North America.
Notwithstanding the terrors of that prophecy we perse-
• vered in our legislation, and I must record it to the honour
of the colonists, that, as far as I am aware, not one word has
escaped from them in complaint of the just and expedient
measures adopted by Parliament for the benefit of the
country. (Hear, hear.) lam happy to say that they are
not ruined, and that their property is, to all appearance, in
a very satisfactory condition. There has been an immense
increase in the importations of foreign timber, but colonial
timber has not disappeared from the British market, and
has been more in demand than it was before. (Hear, hear.)
In 1859.60 colonial timber and deals were imported to the
extent of 1,262,000 loads. In 1860-61, after the perpetra-
tion of the act of destruction to the trade, as we were told
it would be, the import of colonial timber and deals rose to
1,276,000. (Hear, hear.) The objection taken last year
to the measures adopted by the house was that the
duties reduced and abandoned were of moderate amount,
useful for fiscal purposes, and without any ten-
dency to restrain trade and consumption. I will give the
import of four leading :articles cf food set free from duty
last year—butter, cheese, eggs, and rice. In 1859-60 butter
was imported into this country to the extent of £2,362,000 in
value; in 1860-61 the import rose to £4,122,000. In 1859-60
cheese was imported to the amount of £1,097,000, and in
1860-61 to the amount of £1,592,000. The import of eggs
rose from £345,000 in 1859-60 to £497,000 in 1860-61, and
the import of rice in the same years from £890,000 to
£1,142,000. In the importation of these four articles there
was a total increase of from £4,694,000 in 1859-60 to
£7,300,000 in 1860-61. It cannot fail to awaken a senti-
ment of wonder in the mind of every one who hears me
when I exhibit by itself—because it is an exceptional article,
excess in the importation of which must tend, if it has any
. effect, to restrain the importation of all other articles, and
to displace them for the moment—the import of corn. In
1859-60 the importations of corn amounted in value to
£17,384,000, but in 1860-61 they rose to no less a sum than
£38,159,000. (Hear, hear.) We must, of course, regret
the diminution of the resources of producers and the in-
creased tax on consumers within our own shores which
those figures imply ; but, on the other hand, it must in-
spire every man with a deep and cordial sentiment of thank-
fulness to the Almighty disposer of events, that in the day
of our scarcity no barrier was interposed between our wants
and an abundant supply, and that the ships of England
came over every sea, almost bursting with the cargoes that
made up the enormous amount I have stated. (Cheers.)
The figures I have quoted represent, I believe, from
23,000,000 to 24,000,000 quarters. The importation in the'
financial year just ended was more than double that of the
previous year, the percentage of increase being 1191 per
cent. (Hear, hear.) I take next a very small class of
articles on which a duty was imposed in 1860. In what
may be called the simplification of the Customs' Tariff cer-
tain articles, particularly limited branches of the wood
trade, were brought under a duty, and the result is rather
singular. I believe the measure was a sound one and for
the interests of commerce, but the result shows what the
working of these things is. The total value of the impor-
tations of these articles, principally chicory and certain
woods in 1859-60, was £2,906,000, and in 1860-61 it was but
£2,405,000 being a decrease of £501,000, or IT per cent.
I crave the particular attention of the Committee to the
figures which lam now about to give. Without any selec-
tion of articles, I will give in three classes the whole of the
duties which we have now before us. First of all, always
excepting corn, I will give you the whole of the articles
forming th...l,Jeetb yr British trade In the way of imports
which were left untouched by the legislation of last year. I
will then give you those on which Parliament last year re-
duced the dutiee, and lastly, I will give you the articles on
which the duties were wholly repealed. The imports of
those articles the duties on which were left untouched last
year amounted in 1859-60 to £138,158,000. In 1860-61 the
value was nearly the 5ame—£137,406,000, being a trifling
decrease of 1 per cent., showing us, in point of fact, a sta-
tionary condition—always excepting corn—as to the general
condition of trade. I come now to the articles on which the
• duty was reduced last year. In 1859-60 the value of the
imports of those articles was £11,316,000, but in 1860-61
the value was £13,323,000, showing an increase of
£1,976,000, or 17.1 per tentage, while the rest of the trade
of the country was stationary. (Hear.) Next come the
articles on which the duties were repealed in 1860. The
value of the importation of those articles in 1859-60 was
£15,735,000, while in 1860-61 it was £22,062,000, being an
increase of £6,327,000, orno less than 401 percent. (Cheers.)
The principle I take it on which we have proceeded through-
out in our operations on these classes of articles has been
this—that the true basis on which to consolidate the revenue
of this country lies in the extension of its trade. The ex-
perience is narrow and the time is short ; the treaty with
France is still a one-sided instrument ; the French legisla-
tion is not in operation, except as to some two or three
heads, which are not amongst the most weighty or im •
portant. You have not got nearly the benefit which
is to arise from it; but in this year, when we needed
increased means of employment for the people, wo are able
to show that by means of the reductions made by that
treaty and the accompanying measures an addition has
already been made to the trade of the country of nearly
£9,000,000. (Cheers.) For my own part, I believe that the
merits of this instrument, considered with reference to its
commercial consequences, may well stand on the results of
such a statement. (Hear, hear.) I will now pass from the
retrospective part of my duty to that which concerns the
future, thanking the house for the indulgence which they
have shown me (cheers), and assuring them that I shall not
have to make such extravagant demands on their time in the
portion of my task which still remains. I come now to the
financial year which has already begun-1861-62, and I have
first to present to the Committee the estimate of the expen-
diture of the country for that year. Much of it is already
before them, and the whole will very shortly be in their
hands. The interest on the Funded and Unfunded Debt
in 18G1-62 will amount to £26,180,000. I may say on this
head that there are various modifications of minor points in
it ; the interest of the Unfunded Debt is increased, and the
interest of the Funded Debt diminished, in consequence of
the lapse of certain annuities; but it is not worth while
taking up the time of the house by going into these matters
at present. The Consolidated Fund charges is £1,930,000,
the Army and Militia £15,256,000, and the Navy
£12,029,000. I may say here that it will be our duty to ask
the house for a further vote of credit on account of the war
be China, which will probably amount to £1,000,000. The
total charge for military operations under these heads, ordi-
nary and extraordinary, will be £28,285,000, without in-
cluding the packet service, which is now removed to a sepa-
rate vote. The Miscellaneous Civil Services charge is
£7,7 .7,000. Upon this particular head of expenditure I will
just venture to say that there is an apparent increase
in the gross sum to be voted this year for the
Miscellaneous Civil Services amounting to £203,000 ;
but I have the satisfaction of assuring the Committee, on
the other hand, that there is no general increase in these
estimates. I can very readily account for more than the
£203,000 which represents this apiirent increase. Tho
main part is a real charge, although it is a charge which is
occasional, and a charge in respect to which we obtain value
far what we pay. The censtie which is now going on will
cost the country, I,believe, £127,000. A sum £37,000 will
be charged in the estimates for the salaries of the district
registrars under the Court of Probate; but more than a
of
responding sum, £56,000, will be received in the shape
tec_seterieeps representing the fees which are paid to those
cps representing
that increase represents an economy.
"Z•l:e2fsee
an h
extra charge of £40,000 for the Mint connected
c;37 xecution of the copper coinage, but that charge
00,01:70t !acted in a satisfactory manner by the set-off of
of to.3,olt.lae,iedscellaneous revenue, showing a net profit
which deserve there are several charges in the estimates
which is
connected
are
attention of the house, one of
in Western xortZlawith the drawing of the frontiers line
and the United staZr" between the British territory
,haand for which I am afraid a con-
ever, leave it to toy right Zito be incurred. I will, how-
. friend the Secretary of the
Treasury to explain the additipornesteonthese estimates in detail
at the proper time. For the
justified in say-
arges ..our
ing that, while both in foineer years and eara year we have
liscellaneous
somewhat retrenched the ch
the
Standing
Estimates by the use of balances which werefl‘o
to the credit of respective items, the
• provision we make
Will be amply sufficient for the expenditure, and the fl
I have laid bef;ire the Commit tee, though they may prglieselst
Lorne apparent increase, do not represent any real or general
increase. (Hear, hear.) The Revenue Department charge
is 4780,000. That is a diminution, as compared with last
rear. A considerable part of that clialhattical—not less

than £BO,OOO, represeLts the reductions of estat lishments, as
far as they have gone, in the Customs' Department, which
are among the beneficial results of the legislation of last
year. Ido not by any means think that the limits of those
useful retrenchments have been reached, but in all reduc-
tions of this sort there are always superannuations to be
provided, and the charges for superannuations will fall upon
this estimate. The packet service is £995,000. That is an
estimate which always fills me with some jealousy. (Hear.)
This year there is a diminution in it, which is mainly due
to the receipt of certain colonial payments in aid of the
colonial packet service. The total estimate for the expen-
diture of the year is £69,900,000—in round numbers,
£70,000,000. The vote of credit for the Chinese operations
has been calculated on the same principles as heretofore. It
is impossible to be quite precise with regard to a small ex-
cess or a small diminution, but I do not doubt that sub-
stantially it is likely to correspond with such demands as
will be made upon us. The house will be asked also to vote
a certain sum—£2oo,ooo—for army excess in the year 1859-
60. That is a matter into which Ido not enter. I know
there is a controversy going on which another set of com-
batants have all to themselves, but it has no bearing on the
statement I have made, because it is asked for a charge
.which has received Parliamentary sanction, which has been
incurred and met, and it does not enter into the balance-
sheet of the year. £69,900,000, then, is the sum at which
we estimate the expenditure of the year. I come now to the
estimate of the revenue for the year. (Cheers.) And in
stating the amount of the revenue I will take the liberty of
incluclingcert tin small sums which will be propoied through
some minor'financial adjustments which we are about to
make. The whole extent of them is very small, if we ex-
cept those sumps to which I have just referred. They will
not be perhaps more than £50,000 a year, but it is more
convenient to include these items than to bring forward
substantive details with regard to them. In the Customs
revenue we propose to double the duty which was laid
last year upon the article of chicory, and, including that
small sum, the Customs will yield £23,585,000. Of course
that includes the augmented duty on spirits, which is now
in frill operation. The revenue of the Excise will be
£19,463,000. The revenue of stamps will be £8,460,000.
Under those heads are included some further small changes
of which I will now take cursory notice. We propose to
reduce the amount, which has long been felt to be high, for
hawkers' licences. The payment is now £4, which we know
is a severe payment. We propose to reduce that which is a
£4 licence, if taken for a year, to £2, and at the same time
to allow licences for half a year to be taken for £l. (Hear,
hear.) That change, it is expected, will be made without
any loss of revenue. With regard to the Refreshment
Houses Act, we propose to declare more clearly the law,
and in so declaring to enlarge the meaning of refreshment
houses with respect to their liability to duty when kept
open at night. Tho effect of legislation last year was to con-
fine the imposition of duty to those houses which were kept
open at night ; but it was the clear intention and desire of
Parliament that all classes of those houses should be em-
braced. I propose to clear the law and likewise to declare
that a particular class of shops shall be taken—that tobacco
shops, where they are kept open for the purpose of amok -
ing, shall be included. (Laughter.) That change will pro-
duce, as we estimate, about £20,000. There is another
change which we are about to make, which I must say is
one of the clearest in the policy on which it is founded ever
submitted to Parliament, and it is a matter on which con-
siderable interest is felt by many members. I refer to the
state of our law with regard to the sale of spirits. Probably
many gentlemen have not inquired into the method by
which, when there is a necessity for the use of a small quan-
tity of spirits in their own household, that demand is usually
supplied. I am afraid that if the proceedings of hon. mem-
bers, as heads of families, were investigated, it would turn
out that probably nine-tenths of them were breakers of the
law. (Laughter.) But the law is so irrational that I cannot
refuse to submit the alteration of it to Parliament. The law
is this, that unless a man wants for the purposes of his
house or family as large a quantity of spirits as two gallons,
which most probably would not be consumed in most of our
houses, or in many of them, in a twelvemonth—unless he
wants two gallons of spirits, which must be left in the keep-
ing of servants, with the temptation incident thereto, he
has no choice but to send a servant for it to a publichouse.
I really must say that law is a discredit to society. I think
the condition imposed on the whole middle class disgraceful
—that all who do not keep men servants, but have women
servants, should, when they have occasion to send for a
small quantity of spirits for a sick child or a sick wife, have
no choice but to send a woman- servant for it to a public-
house. (Hear.) What we propose is, that on payment of
£3 3s. a-year the wholesale spirit dealer, who now pays
£lO 10s. a-year, may acquire the right of selling retail. By
that:change we expect to obtain a revenue of £5,000 a-year ;
and my picture of the present state of the law is completed
when I say that it is the constant practice of the Board of In-
land Revenue, when breaches are made known to them, not
to press for penalties, the law being one which it is clearly
impossible to carry into effect. (Hear, hear.) Then there is
a change in the stamps at present applicable to agreements
for furnished houses let for less than a year. At present
they pay the same ad valorem duty as a conveyance. The
principle in other cases is to tax mush lower agreements of
a fugitive character, and we propose, instead of 10s. for
every £lOO of value, to require a stamp duty of 2s. 6d. on
every part of an agreement—that is to say ss. for the whole,
whatever may be the amount of letting. That will yield a
small revenue of £5,000 a-year. We shall take care that
the duty is enforced and paid, which is not so at present.
We also propose that house agents in all cases shall take
out a £2 licence, so as to keep them under the view of the
Revenue Department with respect to these stamps. There
will also be an alteration of the law with respect to foreign
bills of exchange. Instead of having jumps as I may term
them, of considerable amount, the stamps will increase by
Is. for every £lOO, and in that way we shall economise and
render more convenient the operation of the law. Those
small charges, with the transfer of £50,000, the fees of the
district registrars of the Court of Probrate, will raise the
revenue of the Excise to £19,463,000 ; the stamps will give, as
I have already said, £8,460,000 ; the revenue from taxes will
be £3,150,000; and the revenue from the income-tax will be
£11,200,000. Of course, the committee will have perceived
that in making this statement I am assuming the continuance
in state quo of all taxes which exist; and that is obviously the
most convenient mode. (Laughter.) The revenue from
the Crown lands is expected to be £295,000, and the mis-
cellaneous revenue £1,400,000. Upon that I will say
that although the miscellaneous revenue has lost the
benefit this year of £250,000 received in payment from
Spain, yet on the other hand it profits very considerably by
a new arrangement with the East India Company with re-
ference to the payment of non-effective services. It had
becomelittle.more than £60,000. It will be now £150,000.
That bringsthemiscellaneousrevenue to £1,400,000. Lastly,
we estimate theindemnity from China to be received by the
31st of March, 1862, at £750,000. That is more than a
year's receipt of that indemnity. I hear an hon. member
say "the occupation will cost more." I look upon money
from a Chinese indemnity as unhappily representing a
much larger sum which we have spent. (Hear, hear.) But
this £750,000 must be taken as representing about a year
and a half's indemnity. Twosums have beenpaid. Nothing
has been brought to account. Although we cannot regard
these payments minutely and precisely as if we were deal-
ing with payments at home, yet on the whole I think the
two payments already made and five quarterly payments
will give a sum of £750,000 in China; which will come to
credit and be available for expenditure up to the 31st of
March, 1862. [An hon. member.—" How much from the
Post-officer'] Tho Post-office will yield £3,500,000. The
total of those items is £71,823,000, and if not the very largess
it is oneof the largest, estimates of revenue which has ever
been presented to this country in a time of peace. (Cheers.)
It remains to compare this sum with the estimate of expen-
diture. The estimate of expenditure is £69,000,000, so that
on the face of the estimates there is a surplus of estimated
revenue over estimated expenditure to the extent of
£1,923,000. (Cheers.) And, Sir, I must say I cannot pro-
nounce that sum without hearing a great crash. I hear
somewhere in the distance a great downfall of prophecies,
predictions, forebodings, lamentations, sympathies, remon-
strances, and regrets, of which the crop last year, though
it was a bad season for other products, was most abundant.
(Cheers and laughter.) We come now to-the question of
the proposals of the Government with regard to the
balance. It is now time that I should repeat the observa-
tions which I have just made as a matter of form, that it
is not a balance which we possess, but which, if we
are to have it, we must ask you to give it. The Income-tax
Act has expired. The act levying the tea and sugar duties
expires on the 30th of June. Between the two they repre-
sent a sum of £22,000,000. We shall have to ask you to re-
new bills, of which I shall say more by and by, but the
authority for renewing which we shall have to obtain from
you. Her Majesty's Government have come to the conclu-
sion that they cannot reasonably expect to be allowed to
keep in hand a balance so large as that which I have
named. Independently of the circumstance that it does not
grow out of existing laws, but depends on grants to be
made in Committee of Ways and Means, it would, in poi,
of fact, be an amount which no Chancellor of the Each;;.

quer for the last 30 years—since the present arrangement
of the Sinking Fund—has ever'presvmed to ask or has ever
had the smallest chance or hope of obtaining. I therefore

presume, sir, that I shall carry with me the approval of the

committee when I say that we think this is an occasion on

which we may dispose of a portion of this balance by the

remission of taxes. When I have got thus Err it is obvious
that four subjects, all of them important, will occur to the
mind of every man who considers the question. Two of
them are the duties upon tea and sugar—(hear, hear)—and
these subjects are connected together by the fact that the
duties were imposed together and have been handled toge-
ther for the purpose ogwar and for the purpose of meeting
an extraordinary expenditure. (Hear, hear.) It is quite true
that the duties now leviable upon tea and sugar are what
are called war duties; that is to say, that it was in conside-
ration of a war that Parliament consented not absolutely
and in fact to raise them, at least as regards [tea, but to
allow them to remain at a higher point than had previously
been contemplated : and I think that no one can fail to feel
than they are duties the reduction of which is greatly to be
desired: (Hear, hear.) At the same time, while the duty
upon tea is more than 100 per cent, and the duty upon sugar
is over 50 per cent., the supplies of both articles are abun-
dant, the consumption of them both in ordinary years and in
ordinary states of the country, shows a decided disposition
/.4 i"Te44O) azul there is ue such great dituculty atteuclin