The Sun.
London, England, 1842-06-16 00:00:00

SUGAR DUTIES BILL

On the motion of Lord WHARNCLIFFE this Bill
was read a second time, and ordered to be committed
to-morrow.

DISTRESS OF THE COUNTRY.

The Earl of RA.I)-Is.TO, in rising to make the motion
of which he had given notice, said he thought it was ne-
cessary that her Majesty's Ministers should do something
for the present distresses of the country, or at least give
some reason why they did not do so. The motion
he had to present was for an account of the quantities of
corn admitted for home consumption (if any) under the
provisions of the 7th George IV., c. 70 and 71. He be-
lieved tbat a considerable amount of corn was admitted
under that Act, though the distress then was not
so great as it was at present. He thought that
the distress at present existing could not be
denied ; in proof of it, however, he might instance
that at Manchester, where there was a soup esta-
blishment for the distribution of soup to the poor,
the doors were opened at eight o'clock in the morn-
ing, and continued open all day, yet were the
doors besieged as early as three o'clock in
the morning, and the miserable applicants re-
mained there till the doors opened. The number of
inmates of the Sheffield poorhouse was, in the year 1837,

261 ; in 1838, 401 ; in 1839, 386 ; in 1840, 443 ; in
1641, 480 ; at the present time 600. There were also
at the' present time 1,000 able-bodied people receiving
out-door relief ; the weekly payments to the casual
poor had increased from 7151., in 1837, to upwards of
15,0001. at the present time, and the county-rate
paid in 1837, all was 1,712/.. and had incy eaeed last year
to 2.453/, He had selected this,fact, in order to found a
case for the application ivhich he was about to mnke, and
he' should make it on the precedent of the year 1826,
when my Lord LiverpOol was the first Lord of the
Treasury. In that year a measure was brought forward
in the House of Commons, for an amendment of the corn
laws, when the Government said that a revision of these
laws was necessary. but that was not the time for it.
Two measures were passed .to remedy that state of
things ; one was to allow persons having corn in bond
to take it out at a lower rate. The former law, up to
1822, corn was prohibited until the price rose at home
to 80s. the quarter. lii that year it was allowed to intro-
duce wheat, when the price was 705., at a duty of 12s.
a quarter. In 1826 an act was passed to allow the ad-
mission of foreign wheat, not exceeding 500,000 quarters,
:tt a duty not exceeding 'l2s.. a quarter. He called the
attention of the present government, several members of
which were parties to that enactment, to their own pro-
ceeding on that occasion. . The circumstances were
very similar. Even now the new Corn-law had
not effected a reduction of prices.. On the, contrary
the price of corn was still rising. A duty of Ils. proved
to be prohibitory as much as 225. had been, and it was
clear that by lowering the duty they had not benefited
the people. They (the Ministers) had, first of all, said
that they would not interfere with the Corn-laws. But
they had interfered with it. They had broken faith with
the land, and they had not done any good to the people.
(Hear, hear.) The Noble Lord went into the details of
numerous returns, which shewed that wages did net rise
with the price of bread, but that on the contrary, in the
years in which bread was dear, wages were low, and in
the years 1834 and 1835, when bread was cheap, wages
were high. The increase of crime was concomitant with
the increase of the price of food, crime had been
increasing from 1836 to 1841. Some persons attributed
the increase of crime to the increase of population,
but all the returns showed that the increase was
more in proportion to the diminished quantity of food.
He was quite safe in saying that the increase and de-
crease of crime had kept pace with the increase and de-
crease in the price of wheat.—(Hear, hear.) The Noble
Lord concluded by moving for the returns of 'which he
had given notice.
The Duke of WELLINGTON said he had no objec-
tion to the motion of the Noble Lord, and all he could
say was, that he had no knowledge of any in-
tention on the part of her Majesty's Govern-
ment to introduce any measure of this descrip-
tion for the apptobation of Parliament. There was
no question but the distress in the country was very
great, but a variety, of measures had been introduced
with a ‘iew to the. alleviation of that distress,
and to relieve conimere .and manufactures front
the present emb4.rrassinents under which they
;uffered. The provisions to which the Noble Lord re-
, terred were passed only for a temporary purpose, and
the revision of the Corn-laws was postponed, but in point
of fact it did not take place in 1827. He did not know
that the measure which the Noble Lord proposed would

be of the slightest advantage to the country ; but
if the Noble Lord saw any advantage in it, thixe could
be no objection to the introduction of such a measure ;
or if the Noble Lord pleased, he could, at the close of
the • session, bring in a Bill to repeal an Act which
they had passed at, the. commencement of it.—(Hear.)
Lord KINNAIRD very much regretted to hear the
Noble Duke say that it was not the intention of her
Majesty's Government to introduce a measure on
the subject of the motion of his Noble Friend.
This was the second time the Noble Duke had told
them that they must wait, whilst the people we dying
by thousands for want of relief. He could fally bear
out the statements of his Noble Friend (Radnor), which
he knew to be strictly correct. He had that morning read
a letter frotna most respectablemanwho formerly employed
700 men, but now only 200, the rest had gone on the parish,
and he said he could not keep those long ; at the same
time that person had letters from American merchants
stating that they were willing at once to send over large
quantities of meal, in exchange for Sheffield goods.
The motion was then agreed to.
INCOME-TAX.

The Marquis of LANSDOWNE gave notice that on
the third reading of the Income-tax to-morrow, he
should move the resolution which it was his intention to
have moved on the second reading, and which had already
been laid upon the table by a Noble Friend of his.
Lord KINNAIRD moved for a copy of any report or
instruction given to the Commission sent to Burnley.
(LEFT SITTING.)