The Sun.
London, England, 1850-04-17 00:00:00

EIGHT SHILLING DUTY ON CORN.

Mr. H. )3ERKELEY postponed, on behalf of his
hen. relative, Mr. G. Berkeley, the motion for a reim-
position of an 83. duty on corn until the 18th of May.
TOBACCO,,
Colonel DUNNE gave notice that cm an early day he
would move that the House resolve itself into a Com-
mittee of the whole House to consider the laws
relative to th• admission of tobacco into this country.
lONIAN ISLANDS.
Mr. HUME gave notice ,that on this day week he
would move the appointment of a Committee to inquire
into the late cases.of :riot and. to proclamation of mar-
tial law in the lonian Islands.
IRISH CHURCH.
Mr. ROtBUCK gave notice that on this day week he
would propose that the House take into its consideration
the state of the Irish Church, with a view to the promo-
tion of the well-being of the people of that country.
THE INDIA BENCH.
Mr. SADLEIR gave notice that on this day fortnight
he would make a motion with respect to the exclusion of
members of the Irish bar from the judicial bench in India.

Colonel DUNNE moved for certain returns of income-
tax arising from securities and possessions in Ireland,
which were agreed to.
MILITARY • KNIGHTS OF WINDSOR.
Colonel SALWEY gave notice that on this day fort-
night he would move the appointment of a Select Com-
mittee to inquire into the claims of the MilitiOY Knights
of Windsor.

POOR-LAW.
Mr. lIATCHELL stated, in reply to A question from
Colonel Baekall, that the Poor-law Commissioners,
had no power to award salaries to assistant poor-law
guardians, nor had they any power to pal them out of
the rates. They were in the position of ex officio or re-
presentative guardians, and were not .entit 01 to any-
salary.

WEDNESDAY EVENING, APRIL 17, 1850.

pair of boots and then put them into the post-office,
they would go as a newspaper.—(Laughter.) It was
well known that Savory, the silversmith, was able to
send his catalogue of plated goods through
the Post-office by getting it stamped as a
newspaper. It might be said that the tax on newspapers
was a political question, and that its tax ought to be
maintained in order to keep newspapers respectable. He
would relate a circumstance which showed what security
it afforded for that purpose. There was a paper called
Sam Sly, which lived by libelling individuals; and
amongst other persons it libelled a clergyman at
Barking, by stating that he had been guilty of
some improper communication with one of his female
servants. The Solicitor of the Stamp-office was written
to, and that gentleman (Mr. Keogh) wrote in reply that
" the paper called Sam Sly was not liable to
the newspaper stamp." If libelling individuals was
not news, and that of the worst description, what was
news? But according to the solicitor of the Stamp-
office they might actually circulate a paper like Sam
Sly without being liable to the stamp duty.
Where, then, was their security fur respectability?
With respect to scientific publications, although they
contained matter which might savour of news, still the
details assumed much of the character of a review.
Now, considering the enormous penalties involved in
breaches of the Stamp Act, he (Mr. Gibson) thought
something more definite than speaking about articles
which "savoured of news" should be given for the re-
gulations of persons liable to these penalties. Ho hoped
the Noble Lord at the head of the Government would
be more explicit, because the statute wag a penal statute.
He had been in correspondence with the proprietor of a
small publication at Greenock, who had fallen upon an
ingenious mode of evading the Stamp Act. The person
informed him that he was prosecuted for an infringe-
ment of the Stamp Act, and was subjected to pay a
penalty of 100/., being 201. fur each of five numbers.
Having studied the Act very carefully, he found that
printing on cloth—(Hear, hear)—was not provided for;
and, therefore, with the view of keeping within the law
he resolved to use an inferior and more expansive me-
dium. He had received a letter that morning, from the
same person, explaining that he had appealed against
the penalty to the proper authorities, and that the fine
had been remitted. The name of the publication
had been changed, in consequence of what had oc-
curred, to the " Greenock News Club." (A copy of this
publication, which appeared to be of the size of Cham-
bers's Journal, and printed upon cotton, was produced by
Mr. Gibson, and handed, amidst some merriment, to the
Chaneellor of the Exchequer, who scrutinised it with
some interest.) Now, he would say, enforce your law.
It was fatal to select particular cases, because it placed a
censorship in the authorities of Somerset House as to
what constituted a newspaper and what did not. If the
House was not prepared to tolerate that principle, let
one of two things be done—repeal the stamp duty or
enforce it—enforce it fairly and indiscriminately. Let
there be no evasion ; let all bear the burden. If that
was not to be done, do not let the House place itself in
that other predicament of erecting and maintaining a
censorship in Somerset House. These were the grounds
upon which he called upon Hon. Gentlemen to vote for
the repeal of the stamp duty. The revenue might be
350,000/., but the whole of that sum would not be lost by
repeal. All which went through the Post,office would
still pay the duty. 'Mr. Rowland Hill calculated that of
86,000,000 of stamps printed, 66,000,000 were trans-
mitted by post. He (Mr. Gibson) would not say that as
many would be sent through the post as were now sent
were the duty repealed, but it was fair to presume that
a considerable portion would continue to be
transmitted. All that he asked the House to do was to
sacrifice a portion of the 350,0001., and thus confer a
great boon and advantage upon the great body of the
people, by circulating cheap newspapers among them.
There was no reason why newspapers should not be as
cheap in England as in other countries. The case of
America was well known. There was no reason why
the working man in this country should not obtain, un-
der the new order of things, a faithful abridgment of
the news and occurrences of the day at the same cost
that he paid for publications of a less useful kind. By
means of; a better class of newspapers working men
might be taught useful hints as to the best means of get-
ting employment and of earning a livelihood, and by
this means the mistakes and misconceptions which had
in several instances occurred—sueh, for instance, as on
the subject of machinery—would be avoided. Correct
ideas, too, on the subject of factory legislation, would
be circulated. He believed that cheap newspapers would
be of infinite advantage in the discussion of questions
affecting labour and employment. Let him say one
word in reference to the law. A man was not allowed
to plead ignorance of the law. If so, why were
steps taken to prevent men from knowing the law
by excluding them from all knowledge of what
occurred in courts of justice ? He would contend that
cheap newspapers contained the best and most practical
mode by which that information could be communicated.
Few could study Blackstone or Coke, or other learned
authorities; but the proceedings in police-courts and
courts of justice were calculated to yield warning and
instruction. On these grounds, then, he did hope that
he should have a favourable consideration, on the part
' of the Government, of the newspaper stamp, as well as
of the duty on paper.—(Bear.) With respect to the
next resolution of the series, he hardly felt himself at
liberty to enter upon it, inasmnch as it was in the hands
of his Hon. Friend the Member fir Dumfries (Mr.
Ewan), who had paid great attention to the subject.
He (Mr. Gibson) had placed the subject of the duty on
advertisements in his motion, as coming under the ge-
neric term of " taxes on knowledge," and without it his
motion would have appeared incomplete.—(Hear.) It
was, indeed, a tax Lull of inequalities, and one that
pressed very unfairly upon the poor; making, as had
often been said, the poor servant in want of a place pay
as great an amount for an advertisement Its was paid by
the rich proprietor for the sale of his estate.—
(Heir, hear.) They both paid Is. 6d, in the
shape of advertisement duty. He remembered that
Mr. James Mill had put this question of an advertise-
ment duty very cleivly and strongly when he said that
the old fashion used to be to advertise all our wares by
means of the public cries, and supposed the case of an
exciseman stepping up to him when he was about to
announce some important event necessary to be known,
such, for instance, as the loss of a child and any such
circumstance, and telling him to stop, for that he must
not say a word on the matter he was about to announce
until he should have paid eighteenpence into the public
exchequer.—(Hear, hear.) Tbis advertisement duty
would have amounted to a tax upon speech. What
would have been said if the excisemen had really stepped
forward in such a case and asked for is. 6d.? Why, he
would have been scouted—(Hear, hear)—and people
would have almost been tempted to have bad recourse to
physical force to get rid of him. Our advertisement duty
osup
be
;cart
iedbe, roes
~ at so a a tax
gugpe odns
cchhoaorli ty ;
without for osnoem ceopu
ol dr t hi
oont
of the money going to the State.—(Hear, hear.) People
did not know that when they were giving their money
in aid of the great Exhibition of 1851, part of their
subscription to that object went to the Exchequer.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer, when complaints
were made on the subject of this duty, said,
" True, but the advertisement duty brings us 153,0001.
a year." The Right lion. Gentleman, however, ought
to deduct that which he himself had to pay in the shape
of advertisement duty, for he, too, had to advertise, like
the rest of them. And, after all, what was this sum of
100,000/, or 150,0001., or whatever it was, in comparison
with the wrong that was thereby done to the people,
the injury to literature, and the cruelty to those who
were in distress,—(Hear, hear.) The Daily News, not
long since, proposed, he understood, to give a list of all
sales that had passed, and all the sales to come, just as
all the papers published accounts of where the hounds
met, the law notices, and such other things, and which
were not what was technically termed " news," but still
information which was of use to many persons. The
Stamp-office, however, said, " You must not do anything
of the kind without paying the advertisement duty.—
(Hear, hear.) One would imagine, at the same time, that
the insertion of forthcoming sales in a newspaper was
quite as natural as the publication in the Morning Post,
Bell's Life, or any other paper, of the particulars of
sporting matters, or many other things of a far less use-
ful character. He believed that the expense of adver-
tising in the United States of America, as compared with
the cost of it in this country, was so largely against Eng-
land as scarcely to be believed by persons not acquainted
with the facts. The charge for one advertisement
in this country would be found to be six or seven
times as large as for the same thing in the United
States; and indeed he believed that the comparative
charges would be found to be, in some instances, in the
proportion of 8/. or 9/. to 200/. The advertisement
duty was, in short, a fatal drawback to all trades, and
to the necessary intercourse between men, not only for
commercial, but even for social purposes.—(Hear, hear.)
His last resolution referred to a somewhat smaller
matter, but one, at the same time, of much importance,
namely, the duty on foreign books. It was true that
this duty only gave about 8,000/. a year, but it operated
as a very heavy per centage on foreign classics, and as
a great obstacle to the supply of libraries with foreign
books; and, as such were the effects of the tax, and as
it led to so much fraud, he did hope that he should
have the concurrence of the House in his opinion that
this duty should be removed from the tariff, as it was
one of those which it had been contemplated to remove,
acting, as it did, as a great obstacle to literature and
the free circulation of books between this country and
other nations, and being attended with many practical
evils. The Right Hon. Gentleman then said, in con-
clusion, that he would proceed to place in the hands of
the Right Hon. Gentleman in the chair the first resolu-
tion comprised in his motion, viz., that on the paper
duties, hoping that it would receive the favourable con-
sideration of the House; for it was his firm conviction
that if they did not remove these taxes, which hindered
and retarded the spread and progress of knowledge
among the great body of the people, they were laying
in store some great and serious evils that would fall on
this country, at some future time, as a not unfit retribu-
tion for their erroneous policy.—(Cheers.)
Mr. COWAN, in seconding the motion, said he was
not afraid to say, before the landed aristocracy of En-
gland, that nearly all he possessed in the world was con-
nected with that manufacture which had been referred
to by his Right Hon. Friend in the earlier portion of 1
his speech. And this, perhaps, might expose him to
some disadvantage, inasmuch as that the bight Hon.,
Gentleman the Chancellor of the Exchequer might tell
i
him he ought to leave well alone—that he ought, n
short, to beware of stirring in this question, as the
repeal of this tax would necessarily create greater corn-
petition in the manufacture and sale of paper, by in-
ducing a greater number of persons to enter into trade.
He was not, however, afraid of such a result—(Hear)—
nor,'even it he were, would he refrain from denouncing
this tax as one of a most injurious description, and one
in the removal of which he would not by any means
stand in the way.—(Hear, hear.) The Hon. Member
then, in explaining the peculiar pressure of the restric-
tions that were imposed on the manufacture of paper,
said that the duty was levied at once, and 'by means of
affixed ,ta ~every_ paper
atampa awl labels that mast be