The Sun.
London, England, 1868-03-25 00:00:00

THE LICENCING SYSTEM.

Mr. MARSH. called the attentio s of the house to the
subject of those licences which restrict the trade and com-
merce of the country, with a view to their abolition,
and, in case of a financial necessity, a transfer of the
charges to make or 8311 any article to a direct tax ou the
article itsalf ; and moved, That, in the opinion of the house,
it was desirable that all licences injuriously affecting the in-
dustry and commerce of the country should be abolished.
The hon. gentleman said. there were no less than 121 dif-
ferent licences, but he did not intend to touch upon them
all, but those to which he wished to draw particular notice
were those that were very small in amount, yet very irk-
some to trade. The first was a licence to make soap; it
was a very foolish tax, and ought at once to be repealed.
There was a tax for carrying on the business of vinegar
makers: there ought to be no such trade as a vinegar
maker, because vinegar made itself —it was merely wine
which had become sour. Then there was the licensing
for carrying ou the trade of paper making, selling tea
and coffee, but as no tax was placed on the draper,
he thought the tea dealer had good reason to complain.
Tobacco also was taxed and so was the trade in wine, but
the quality of wine sold in retail over the counter was
generally very inferior, and ha was 011 it could be got
for about 16s. a dolen. Now, he thought the license to
sell wine of that quality ought to be abolished, so that it
might be sold as free as small beer. There was a license
required to deal in sweets, to sell gold or silver, to carry
on the trade of a pawnbroker, but as the latter were liable
to take in stolen goods he thought they ought to be regis-
tered, so that they ought to become known to the police.
There was the tax on malt and beer, but the
tax on the former was, in fact, an additional
tax on the latter. Nut content with this, there was
also a tax upon the retailers of beer, so that the dealer in
this necessary article was compelled to sell the article

to the consumer at a higher price than it was worth,
in order to enable him, the retailer, to pay the
heavy taxes imposed on him. The hon. gentleman
then went on to refer to the taxes levied on private
brewers, makers of spirits, chemists using still; hackney

carriages and cabs; the drivers of the latter he con-
sidered a very illused body of men. The taxation
of the hackney carriages produced about £20,000,
and an additional 3 per cent. on the assessed duty
would enable the whole of the irksome licenses to
be abolished. There was a license enforced upon
auctioneers of LEO per annum, and why, a man should
have to pty for the permission to carry on such
a trade as that was quite beyond his comprehension. He
thought if the licences were abolished in most of the trades
he had mentioned, the loss would ba more than replaced
by the increased consumption of the article sold.
Mr. P. lIRQ,UHART seconded the motion.

Mr. LABOUCHERE dilated on the grievance of the
London brewers, who only made about 8 per cent. profit,
and on whom Mr. Gladstone had imposed a duty of 15 per
cent. on their trade profits ; and Mr. Bass argued that,
while any licence system must be bad unless it were
general, the tax on brewers was positively iniquitous.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER, in a short
reply. admitted that Mr. Marsh had made out a good case
against the licence duties in some instances, but pointed
out the difficulty of dealing piecemeal with the question,
and promised to take Mr. Marsh's representations into con-
sideration.

Mr. GLADSTONE agreed that nothing could be more
anomalous than our present system of licences, though any
change would be surrounded with difficulties; and, while
he was in favour of getting as much as possible out of the
spirit trade, both in the share of indiredt taxes and licence
duty, he admitted that the licence duties on the sale of
such articles as tea produced a very insignificant amount
of revenue and interposed great obstacles to trade. lie
defended his share in the imposition of the brewers' li-
cences.

After some observations from Mr. T'ollard-Urquhart and
Mr. Greene, the motion was withdrawn.

SCIENTIFIC INS TRUCTION.

Mr. SAMUELSON moved for a select cemtnittee to in-
quire into the provisions for givicg instruction in theo-
retical and applied science to the industrial classes. In
an interesting speech he canvassed the working of the
schools under the science and art department, showing
that the results were unsatisfactory, and that a great im-
provement in scientific education was necessary for the
develop:netit of our manufacturing prosperity ; and ho
held out a strong hope that it would, at the same time,
promote the literary and general education of the working
classes.

The motion was seconded by Mr. Dixon and supported
by Mr. BAINES, who held that a strong case for inquiry
had bean made cut, but preferred that it should be by a
Royal Commission.
Mr. BAZLEY was inclined to trust for our manufac-
turing progress to the inventive genus, enterprise, and
self-education of our manufacturers, rather than to tech-
nical education, and exhorted them to put their own
shoulders to the wheel, instead of appealing to the State
for help. The duty of the State, ho insisted, was to give
a good primary education, and with that we need not de-
spair that the English workman would keep pace with the
world. Ho denied that we were retrograding in any
branch of manufactures, and he deprecated the interfer-
ence of the State in the education of the workshop.
Mr. E. POTTER took entirely the same view as Mr.
Baxley, and denied that it was the duty of the Govern-
ment to supply a kind of education which the manufac-
turers themselves had done so little to promote; and Mr.
BAGNALL argued that technical education was more needed
for the class of managers and overlookers than for the
working men.

Lord R. MONTAGU hold it to be proved beyond doubt
that in many branches our manufacturers were being
closely pressed by foreign competition, though this did not
arise so much from the deterioration of our processes as
from the improvement and increase of continental manu-
factures, and the completion of the foreign lines of rail-
ways. He mentioned numerous cases within his own
knowledge in which foreign manufacturers had success-
fully competed with us even in our own markets, and the
cause he held to be that though we had iron, coal, cheap
transit, intelligent, industrious, and tasteful workmen, we
wanted technical education. After an elaborate discussion
of tho moaning and objects of technical education, he laid
it down that the duty of the State did not go beyond giv-
ing the workman such knowledge of the natural laws ap-
plicable to his calling as would enable him to exercise it
with the greatest effect. The State had to elq with the
brain, the workship must perfect the hands. He traced
the improvements effected in many branches of our ma-
nufactures by the educational movement which was the
result of the Exhibition of 1851, and he argued that the
chief things to be avoided were the establishment of spe-
cial schools and of State manufactures for the encourage-
ment of trade. The recent minute of council for the crea-
tion of industrial schools, he explained, had been very
successful, and he concluded by acceding to the motion
for a committee.

Mr. 11. A. BRUCE dwelt on the importance of elemen-
tary education, and
Mr. HENLEY defended the working classes from the
imputations of ignorance recently made against them, the
motive of which, he hinted, was not altogether dis-
interested, inasmuch as he had noticed in the reports that
these highly-educated foreign workmen invariably worked
longer hours and for less money. He ridiculed the sug-
gestion that a trade could be taught in school ; the work-
shop was the only training school.
The committee was agreed to after some observations
from Mr. -PAGET and Mr. ACLAND.
TAXES ON LOCOMOTION.

Mr. Alderman LAWRENCE moved a resolution for
the revision and equalisation of the Post Horses and Car-
riage Licences Duties, by means of a scheme which he ex-
plained in detail, and the broad feature of which was to
substitute for the present duties a tax of £1 on every horse
and £2 on every vehicle.
Mr. AYRTON argued in favour of a total remission.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER pointed out
the impossibility of sacrificing so large au item of revenue,
and, after some remarks from Mr. Alderman Lusk, Mr.
Alderman Lawrence withdrew his motion.
Mr. HARDY brought in the Boundaries Bill, which he
explained was exactly in the shape of the report of th 3
Parliamentary Commission.
A bill was brought in by Mr. Monk to relieve customs
and excise officers from their present disability to vote at
Parliamentary elections.
The committal of the London Coal and Wine Duties
Continuance Bill was opposed by Mr. Candlish, Mr. Pease,
and Mr. Watkin in the int,:rest of the coal-producing dis-
tricts ; by Mr. Samuda for the shipbuilders ; and the bill
was defended by Lord J. Manners, Mr. Gosehen, Colonel
Hogg, and others. On a division the stage was carried
by 117 to 33. A clause prepared by Mr. Ayrton to
exempt all factories within the Metropolitan Police area
was negatived by 146 to 36, and the bill passed through
committee.

Shortly after ono o'clock Mr. Gladstone's Church-rate
Abolitton Bill came on for a third reading, but Mr. New-
degate and Mr. Henley objected, ou account of the late-
ness of the hour. A motion to adjourn the &bate was
defeated by 131 to 28, and the bill was then read a third
time and passed, amid considerable cheering.
The house adjourned at half-past oiao o'clock.

TIIE TEA DUTY IS REDUCED. —Horn/males Pure Tea is
sold mod. per pound Cheaper. This interesting fact will, when
fully known, oven further increase the demand for these
Choice, long-approved Teas. They are not sold loose, but
only in I'ackets, signed " Horniman," London.

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711ErEr TOMMY O.PPICA

The Herald, in glancing at Mrs. Disraeli's reception fn
connection with the opening of the new Foreign (Ace,
gives the following description of the building :—" It was a
thousand pities that Lord Palmerston's hatred of Gothic
marred the construction of a work which would have har-
monised so fully with the Abbey and the new Palace.
But the sheer force of his genius has made Mr. Scott at
home in the unaccustomed lines of the classic style. The
exterior of the building has a certain not altogether dis-
pleasing severity of aspect, but the interior by rich decora-
tion has been made even beautiful. The corridor is
paved with Minton's mosaic tiles, the walls are decorated in
chrome and gold, but the full beauty of the building's pro-
portions does not strike the visitor until he reaches the
grand staircase, which divides to right and left, and
which is a marvel of elegance and richness. The
steps, of Portland stone, are flanked on either side
by the richest marbles, in the most tasteful com-
binations. The bases of the pedestals and the string
courses are of black marble, the pedestals themselves
of Devonshire marble, the balusters of alabaster,
and the handrails of dove marble. The panelling of
the staircase is in marbles of various colours, and
the great pillars supporting the upper corridor are of rich
polished Peterhead granite. A fine arcading at the top of
the staircase is supported by columns of Devonshire
marble, and an entablature in gold and chrome sets off not
a little the beauties of the whole conception. The roof,
which is waggon-shaped, and filled with panels of gold and
colours, will be relieved by a dome in the centre ; but this
portion of the work is as yet hardly finished. The panels of
the walls are highly decorated in green and gold, while the
ceiling also is relieved withgold. Turning to the le ft, the com-
pony will reach the grand reception-rooms in thenorth-west
angle of the building, one of which will afterwards be the
Secretary of State's audience-room. These rooms are well
proportioned and highly ornamented, but there is a rich
softness, as well as a vast variety, about the decorations,
which prevents the possibility of adequate description.,
Five rooms in the western cistridor are reserved for recep•
tion and supper rooms, and five other rooms on the north
side—at the top of the staircase—will be used as reception
and refreshment rooms. The west corridor is very elabo•
rate in its decorations, the *evailing colours being claret-
brown, pink, and gold on the walls, and light blue, picked
out ivith gold, in the groining of the roof. Everywhere
rich carpets are spread ; and in every available corner
great banks of flowers are piled."

"QIJN."--LATEST EDITION.-Mr.
kJ MARSHALL, of the "Neeld Arms," Harrow-road, op-
pDsite the Lock Hospital, takes the Edition of " THE SUN" con-
t lining the result of the day's Racing, Latest Betting, Money
Market, &e.—Omn•buses every half hour to and from the City.