The Sun.
London, England, 1861-04-27 00:00:00

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gether dependent upon freighting ships in the
merchant service. It is desirable to hold freights
in check, but I should strongly deprecate reliance
being placed exclusively upon the possession of
such means. At the commencement of the Russian
war I bought the Himalaya and the Prince. One
turned out a fortunate bargain—the other a dead
loss, with no insurance to cover it.
Admiral Duncombe—Do you think that the
public service requires that it should have at its
disposal a number of troop-ships for short voyages
—to Ireland and the Channel Islands, for instance ?
Sir J. Graham—Yes, and to Gibraltar. I think
there is great advantage in employing such vessels
for short voyages. With regard to our Indian reliefs,
it is a question whether they ought not to be sent
out in sailing rather than in steamships ; but leav-
ing the Indian service out of the question, I am
of opinion that a limited number of Queen's trans-
ports should be retained for the home reliefs.
Mr. Baillie—Do you object to the principle of
Government insuring the transport vessels against'
loss ?

Sir James Graham—The Government think it
better, on the whole, to be their own insurers, and
to give the public the benefit of the profit which
would arise to other parties from insurance. My
observation applies to the stores, dockyards, build-
ing of ships, and all other matters. They do not
insure at all. With regard to the use of steamships
as transports for long distances, it must be remem-
bered, that they are very thin iron ships, and that
if they touch a rock they go to pieces, with no
chance left for those on board. That is a strong
argument in favour of sailing ships for long dis-
tances. I am told that sailing ships do perform
long voyages in much less time than may be anti-
cipated. I think that every order for tha move-
ment of troops should emanate from the Secretary
of State for War, and that the Admiralty should
not put itself in communication with the Horse
Guards at all.

The Chairman—You would leave to the Transport
Board the responsibility of settling the sort of ship
in which the troops should be conveyed ?
Sir James Graham—ln a time of war I would
have a military officer acting in conjunction with a
naval officer and a civilian. Though not favour-
able to hoards generally, I think a small board in
a time of war in this case is necessary. If ex-
pense were the only question, I believe it would be
more costly to employ Queen's transports than to
freight merchant vessels.
At the close of the examination of Sir James the
committee adjourned.

COLONIAL MILITARY EXPENDITURE.
This committee met again on Thursday—Mr.
Arthur Mills in the chair. The other members
present were—Sir George Grey, Mr. Adderley, Mr.
Baxter, Mr. Chichester Fortescue, Mr. Childers,
Mr. Marsh, Mr. T. G. Baring, and Mr. Ellice.
Mr. Whiffen, Accountant-General in the War
Department, was examined at some length as to
the mode in which the sums contributed by the co-
lonies for their defence find their way into the Im-
perial. Exchequer. He was requested to prepare
and put in a statement of the actual payments made
annually by the colonies, from the year 1851-2 to
1861 2, and brought to imperial credit. It appeared
from the statements made by the witness that, al-
though the mode of payment is circuitous, the sums
paid ultimately find their way into the Exchequer,
and appear in the army estimates.
Mr. Carter, of the Adjutant-General's office, put
in a return of the number of troops of the line, ar-
tillery, and engineers, in the colonies, according to
the last returns furnished to the War Department.
Also a return of the average number of desertions
from the line during the last six years, from which
it appeared that the average number of desertions
in Canada was 137; in Nova Scotia, New Bruns-
wick, and Newfoundland, 124 ; in New Zealand,
36 ; in Australia, 139 ; and at the Cape, 105.
Admiral Sir Charles Elliot was the next witness
examined. He stated that he was Governor of Ber-
muda from 1846 to 1853, and from that time up to
1856 was Governor of Trinidad. The proportion
of black troops to the white was about 80 to 200.
There was very little fear of any disaffection in the
West India colonies. He had always entertained
the opinion that it was desirable to have a Euro-
pean constabulary, something in the nature of the
Irish constabulary. He thought that the head-
quarters ought to be at Barbadoes, and that there
should be stations at Guiana, Trinidad, and to the
leeward. Such a force ought to consist entirely of
white people—all Europeans. The number required
would he about 400, of whom 150 should be sta-
tioned at Barbadoes, 75 at Trinidad, 100 at Guiana,
and 75 to the leeward. They should be so sta-
tioned as to be easily concentrated. He thought the
Crown should be at the expense of arming, cloth-
ing, and transporting such t force, and that the cost
of rations should fall on the province. He did not
propose to dispense with the ordinary local police.
The new force ought to be placed under military
authority, with an army officer holding the rank of
colonel. They would occupy much the same posi-
tion that the regular troops now occupied, but would
be more frequently removed. The sole defence
against external attack on the West India Islands
must depend on our maritime supremacy. Such
small islands must always be at the mercy of any
Power that had the command of the sea in time of
war.
The committee then adjourned.

INCOME AND PROPERTY TAX.
This committee, of which Mr. Hubbard is chair-
man, met again yesterday; but in consequence of
Mr. Hubbard himself being a witness, the public
were not admitted for some time. After a short
delay, however, the door was thrown open, when
we found Mr. Sotheron-Estcourt acting as chairman
pro tens , and Mr. Hubbard in the witness-box.
Mr. Hubbard, in reply to questions by the chair-
man. said his attention had been more particularly
attracted to the question of the income tax in 1852,
and from that to the present time he had con-
stantly given it very close attention, and had been
enabled by his position as Governor of the Bank of
England to watch its working. He considered the
law as it now existed had many inequalities which
required revision by Parliament. He thought that
the recent decision of the House of Commons, and
the very general opinion which had been expressed
throughout the country on the subject, was a sta
cient proof how wide the feeling was as to the ine-
quality and injustice of the income tax. He thought
it would be necessary to abolish the 133 d section
of the Income-tax Act altogether. By his plan he
incomes
up to deduct £6O from all industrial
up to 1:180 a year, and incomes under £lOO he
would exempt altogether.
In reply to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr.
Hubbard said he had not made it his business to
inquire what the effect would be of his plan upon
the total receipts of the revenue, because his only
object was to ascertain what was the justice of the
case, and he believed that, though the changes he
proposed were very important, they would involve
only a very small amount of legislation. With re-
gard to real incomes, the conviction had grown up
in his mind since this inquiry commenced, and
after considering the evidence given before the com-
mittee of 1852, that there was no ground whatever
for any exemptions on real property; and refer-
ring to the instance before the Committee of 1852,
it would be found that by far the greater share of
trouble and expense in assessing the income tax
arose from exemptions on small incomes arising
from vested property ; it appeared to him, there-
fore, that there ought to be no exemptions with re-
gard to income tax in that class. He expected
that one result of his plan would be to diminish
temptations to fraudulent returns to the income tax. ,
The committee then adjourned.