The Sun.
London, England, 1842-11-18 00:00:00

THE INCOME-TAX.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
seems that the imposition of the odious and
inquisitorial Income-tax is not enough without add-
ing to its burthen and offence injurious consequences,
from the imperfections in the Act of Parliament, in
regard to the deduction or retention of that tax from
small ground-rents. Now, Sir, although the mean,
fastidious, or oppressive landlord may avail himself of
this deficiency in the Act, who could have expected
that the office of that Government which has imposed
this iniquitous tax, for such I consider the Duchy of
Lancaster to be, should act in the way it has done
towards their tenants? I hold a house of that Duchy
under a long term, paying a ground-rent of 201. per
annum. At their audit on the 3d instant I went to
pay the half-year's rent, and from which I claimed a
deduction of 70 pence (53. 10d.) for Income-tax, when
I was told that the auditors had determined not to
allow any such deduction, unless it were proved to
them that that tax had been paid. The house was
many years since underlet at 601. per annum, and
when I received the 30/. for the half-year due to me
at Michaelmas last, I, without the least hesitation,
allowed my tenant the 30 sevenpences, and took only
of him 291.25. 6d. This rent belongs to an annuitant
for life. I therefore retained 91. 14s. 2d. for the
Duchy, and paid the 191.85. 4d., the balance to the
amount, so that in fact I have only the 91. 14s. 2d. for
the Duchy. However, this explanation was of no
avail, for nothing less than the 101. in full tale would
they receive, and as I had not that sum in hand, the
half-year's rent is unpaid to the Duchy. My tenant
underlet at a further rent, and his tenant, it appear 3,
has done so also. It is impossible for me to produce
any voucher for the payment of this abominable tax.
But surely, Sir, this is something like adding insult
to injury. Can there, for one moment, be any doubt
but that an Income or Property-tax must be paid to
the extent of the ground-rent? Then, why this an-
noyance and perplexity of accounts ? Suppose I pay
the 101., when and how am Ito get it from the
Duchy ? Am Ito dance attendance upon them for
this paltry 55.10 d.; and how am I to satisfy their
tender scepticism that the tax is paid? Must I pro-
duce all the sub-tenants, from first to last, to remove
their scruples ? Suppose, Sir, it were the last half-
year of the tenantcy, and they were paid the whole
rent, what then is to be done ?
I hope you will insert this at your earliest conve-
nience, and that some one of your legal readers will
oblige me and many others with the real construction
of the Act, and whether we have any, and what, re-
medy.—l am, Sir, your constant reader, K. Y.
Strand, Nov. 10, 1842.

.TIIE NAVAL CLUB.—Though we have reason to
believe that the table-talk of the " Naval Club" in
New Bond-street is more amusing, in virtue of its
piquant and stirring anecdotes of the service, than
the gossip of any other Club extant, we doubt if it can
compete either in richness and variety of material, or
in liveliness of style, with that of Mr. Barker's ("The
Old Sailor's") " Naval Club," just published. The
inexhaustible fund of naval anecdote possessed by this
writer, and his hearty and happy mode of putting it
forth, render him perhaps the most entertaining of
all our naval yarn-spinners. There is no end to his
old stories and characteristic traits of that most sin-
gular and unmatchable specimen of humanity—the
British sailor—whom he hits off with equal force and
drollery, whether afloat or on shore, whether
thrashing the foes of his country on the deck of a
first rate, or fighting his battles o er again in his snug
berth at Greenwich, or wherever else he may chance
to be laid up for life. He is equally at home, too,
with every grade of the profession, from the poorest
Jack in the service to the highest Admiral in the
Fleet. Even a late Royal sailor himself does not
escape his anecdotical and story-telling propensities.

SUDDEN DEATH IN THE STREET.—As police. con-
stable 136 M was proceeding along Union-street,
Borough, about half-past nine on Wednesday night,
his attention was called to an old gentleman, who fell
down at the corner of Lawnsend-court. He found
him in a state of insensibility, and, with assistance,
conveyed him to the station-house in the Southwark
Bridge-road. Mr. Odling, the surgeon, was instantly
in attendance, and pronounced him quite dead.
The name of deceased was John Chisholm, aged 74,
who carried on the business of a jeweller, at No. 3,
Herbert's-buildings, Webber-street. He had been
out that afternoon with Mr. Crawcour, of Windsor-
place, who left Shim in perfect health about eight
o'clock, in Long-lane, Bermondsey.
PROPOSED RAILWAYS.—A survey is now in pro-
gress for the construction of a line of railway to pass
through the towns of Greenwich, Woolwich, Graves-
end, and Rochester, terminating at the town of Maid-
stone. Surveys have lately been made for a line of
railway from Oxford, to join the Great Western at
Wallingford ; also for a branch line to join the Ayles-
bury railway—thus opening a direct communication
between Oxford and London.

Tiix PRICE OF WEEAT.—From the present time
till after Christmas some rise in the price of grain
may be expected to continue, as the only supplies of
wheat which the farmer may have to bring to market
must be grain that was housed at harvest, and lies in
the barn now, for that which is in the stack cannot be
in a fit condition for the miller till the frost declares
its drying power ; therefore the rise which has taken
place in the price of wheat may be expected to con-
tinue till the period we have pointed out. There is a
vast quantity of duty paid on foreign wheat in the
warehouses at the seaports, and which will be let PI. 0 the
country as the markets afford a profit to the importers
of it. Therefore the fernier must not hesitate in
bringing his grain to market, for should he hold back
till the stacked wheat is ready for the miller, he 'may
make up his mind to take less money for his produce
than he might have had during the first two months
of winter. In thus giving warning to the farmer of
the variation that may be expected in the prices of
wheat, we trust that he will compare his own obser-
vations with ours, and act on them, if he finds that
his experience corroborates our opinion.—Bucks Gaz.
On Wednesday last, as they were lowering into
the Water Witch a carriage belonging to Lord Pem-
broke, the chain broke and the carriage tumbled into
the harbour. This is the second time within six
weeks that a similar breaking of the chlin has taken
place ; on the former occasion the carriage fell upon
the deck of the vessel, fortunately there was no person
underneath it. Is this chain to be taken as a
specimen of French iron-chains and French manu-
facture ? and to support such rubbish the Chamber
of Commerce will have to pay for Lord Pembroke's
carriage, for certainly they cannot shirk it, as they
insist upon landing and embarking carriages, and
charge pretty well for it.—Boulogne Gazette.

ANOTORIOUS GANG OF SWINDLERS.-At
yesterday, two men, named Homer and Moore,
were placed at the bar before Sir Peter Laurie,
charged with being concerned with a man named
Clark, who is at present at large, with defrauding
several tradesmen of property to the amount of seve-
ral hundred pounds. The Justice-room was crowded
with persons who have been duped. In each case a
reference was given to a person said to be named
Hamer, who turns out to be a man of straw. Sir
Peter said he was determined to do all in his power
to break up the notorious gangs of swindlers with
which London at present abounded. The prisoners
were again remanded.

FARMERS.—The Cornd-laws have got up your rents,
-leereaasbileidtyytoourputarexheass,
eaonyoudhre.piirvodeducye.our
Tcuhsetyomareerso
de-
stroying our trade, your prosperity
de-
pends. You have been deceived by them. By a total
repeal, you might again have a fair start, which
would be much better than bit-and-bit alterations,
which keep you constantly in suspense. By this
change Rents would come down. 2. Poor's
rates would be greatly reduced. 3. Tithe charge
would also be lower. 4. Markets would be much
more steady. .5. Full one-third less of money would
stock a farm. 6. Losses in cattle and other losses would
be less severe. 7. One monopoly destroyed, others
would follow, and you would not only get cheap seed
and cheap food,; but also cheap sugar and coffee for
yourselves and families. 8. Your sons and dependents
might then embark in trade, which would very much
lessen the competition for farms. For your own in-
terests, then, you ought to agitate and petition for
repeal.—From Livesey's Illustrated Anti-Corn-law
Almauack.
MUNIFICENT BENEVOLENCE.--WE are informed by
the gentleman who was the almoner, that the late
Jonathan Backhouse, Esq., of Darlington, during the
whole of last winter supported and relieved weekly
not less than 60 destitute families in that town, at his
own expense, besides giving meal, or coals, or cash
to others, according as their necessities required.—
York Courant.

rapidly improving. One
example
113;risoilsfiintssobne'neerfiecsipaeletesffects is familiar to most
English persons who know Paris. A street, called
the Rue du Dauphin, runs from the Rue St. Ro-
nore, the church of St. Roche, to the
Rue re,
de nearlynivohis street was, until lately, not
ii. facing
fifteen feet wide, a circumstance which enabled him,
by whose decree it was long afterwards widened, to
pave the way to that pinnacle on which he stood for
many years, for it was up this street that " the Sec-
were approaching en masse to attack the Tuile-
ie tion,' in 1797, having been defeated on the Pont
Royal,
whereal, the Convention was sitting, when Napoleon,
who had been only twelve hours previously entrusted
with the military command of Paris, opened upon
them a fire of grape,
which, notwithstanding the im-
pediments offered by the bodies of thousands of the un-
happy wretches, made those marks on the wall of the
church of St. Roche, yet visible, though filled up, by
order of King Louis Philippe, with the utmost ni-
cety and art. The operation ofNapoleon's wide street
decree is nowhere more striking than in this Rue du
Dauphin, which is now of the regulated width (af-
fording space
j. mints), all the houses being, moreover, in adirect line.
for three carriages abreast with pave-

TELEGRAPHS IN ENGLAND AND
ON THE CONTINENT.

It has long been a subject of great complaint among
the merchants in the City, Liverpool, Bristol, Glas-
gow, and Hull, that in a great commercial country
like Great Britain there should not be a regular line of
telegraphs at the different outports, so that the arrival
of vessels may be immediately communicated to the
Board of Admiralty and at Lloyd's. For some time
past the Lords of the Admiralty have had the grand
project in contemplation of establishing semaphores
from Portsmouth to Plymouth, Falmouth, and the
Land's End; as it very often happens that ships can-
not make the British Channel, and are obliged to run
up the Bristol or the St. George's Channel for safety,
and their arrival off the coast is not known to the
merchants until they have put into port. A Govern..
ment survey is now being made, under the direction
of experienced engineers, to carry the line on to the
Lands End, and to fix the points mast eligible for the
erection of telegraphs, a report of which will be laid
before Parliament when it assembles in February
next. At present the deficiency is felt daily by the
Admiralty Board, as there is but one line, and that
only to Portsmouth. The stations are to be as
follow :-Ist, At the Board of Admiralty, White-
hall ; 2d, Chelsea Hospital ; 3d, Putney ; 4th,
Kingston-upon-Thames; sth, Esher; 6th, Cob-
ham ; 7th, Guildford ; Bth, Godalming ; 9th,
Haslemere ; 10th, Midhurst ; 11th, Beacon-hill ;
12th, Compton-down ; lath, Portsdown-hill, and
14th, Portsmouth ; the whole of which are under
command of Lieutenants of the Royal Navy. Intelli-
gence and orders for the sailing of of war from
Portsmouth can be thus communicated by the Admi-
ralty, and vice versa, in three minutes and a half from
one end of the line to the other, should the weather
be clear. As soon as the signal is made, it is instantly
answered by the next one, and so on; until it has gone
the whole line, when another is made, till the whole
communication is dispatched from the chief office to
the officer in command, who communicates it to the
Admiral on the station. The contemplated line to the
Land's End will pass through Truro, Falmouth, and
Plymouth, Gosport and Portsmouth ;• thereby em-
bracing the whole of the English Channel. A dis-
patch, from one end to the other, is expected to be
made in nine or ten minutes, the distance being rather
better than 290 miles. It is also in contemplation to
establish a line from Holyhead, Pembroke, Bristol,
and Liverpool. The only Ene at present to Dover
and the Downs is by Watson's telegraph, at Lon-
don -bridge, but not through the Admiralty, who
are indebted to this for their intelligence of ar-
rivals of ships of war in the Downs. A line
to Hull and Harwich is much wanted. On
the Continent telegraphs have been established
for the last eighty years, but particularly in
France, to whom we are indebted for the invention.
The French Government have lines of communica-
tion' from every port and large town throughout
the -kingdom. From Calais, Dunkerque, Boulogne,
Dieppe, Havre, Caen, Brest, Nantes, Rochefort, La
Rochelle, L'Orient, Bordeaux, Bayonne, in the north
and west • Perpignan, Marseilles, Toulon, Antibes,
&c., in the Mediterranean ; Montpellier, Aix, Gre-
noble, Avignon, Lyons, Dijon, on to Paris, Metz,
and all the fortified towns on the borders of Ger-
many, Lille, Valenciennes, Douai, Cambrai, and the
frontiers of Belgium ; so that in case of emeutes,
or the advance of any foreign power, the arrival
of vessels, &c., the circumstance is immediately
communicate& to the Admiralty at 'Paris, which
is daily made acquainted with whatever is stir-
ring from one end of the country to the other. In
Algeria, the French have also established a regularline
of telegraphs from Algiers to Bona, all along the
coast to Constantine, and through the interior, in case
of a sudden attack by the Arabs under Abd-el.Kader.
In Spain there is a line of telegraphs from Cadiz,
Puerta Santa Maria, Seville, to Madrid ; from Algesi-
ras, opposite Gibraltar, Malaga,Carthagena, Barcelona,
in the Mediterranean, Corunna, Vigo, Bilboa, &c., in
the north-west Biscaya, along the frontiers of France
to Catalonia, and the principal towns to the capital;
the same in Portugal, Belgium, Holland, Prussia,
Russia, and Austria ; there are lines from one end to
the other, from Trieste and Venice, in the Adriatic, to
Vienna and the Baltic. England is the only country
where telegraphs are scarcely used. Should the plan
of the Board of Admiralty be carried into effect, it
will prove highly beneficial to the merchants for early
intelligence, and to the shipping for assistance.