The Sun.
London, England, 1818-03-05 00:00:00

SA LT DUTY.

In answer to a quetion from -Nlr. DAVENPORT, MI
CriI.cRAFT said, he should certaiuly *rilt his moth)
rt.sio..cling the Salt -Duties, on Tuesday, the I Ith
RETURNS OF THE PROPERTY TAX.

Mr. BRHUGHAM rose to make a motion, which,
he trusted, would he as agreeable to the House as
it would be acceptable to the country. His mo-
tion- was intended to effect the destruction of
every retraining document or return of property
made pursuant to the odious novelly Tax. Al-
though the returns had been promised to the
House, they would recollect how imperfectly that
pledge had been redeemed. The fact was, that in
this city, and the towns- throughout the coun-
try, these returns were to be found enveloping
the commonest cormtrodities, as waste paper.
The effect likely' to be produced upon the cre-
dit or commercial character of individuals
named in these returns, was obvious. No-
thing could he more prejudicial to trade than
such disclosures. 'ho his inquiries on a former
night, the Chancellor of the Excheyer.tsad re,
/died, that the returns its the offices were all in
blank. Admitting the names hail been left Out,
still it world be very ea,y for the vagle-eyes of
the 'fax-office people to discover who the parties
were whose property was described, •from other
parts of these schedules. But in most cases, he
heiievcd, the pen had merely been drawn thronelp
the name, leaving it still perfectly legible. Now
it the Right Hon. Gentleman had in view any si-
milar measure, or one .at al.l resembling the
Property Tax, which might be assisted by
knowing the state of the property of a parish
or district, let a gener4l item of the pro-
perty of such district he noted down in 'one
line, without name or other local description,
,except that of the parish to which it applied. He
feared there would be a great difficsilty found in
insuring the destruction of theSe documents in the
country, as well as town, inasmuch as the Tax-
office of the Right Hon. Gentleman hart but little
control over there. Besides there always had
been great backwardness on the part of the Tax:-
office people, whom he could not help denomi-
nating.a refractory department, as to the produc-
tion of papers ordered by
.that House. On.a late
occasion papers had been ordered to be furnished
from those offices on the 3d Feb, last ; it was now
a full calendar month since that order, .and none
such had as yet -made their appearance. The same
returns, it ordered from the Treasury or ot her office,
would have been completed its half the (nue,—
In fact, they felt this House rather a troublesome
impediment its the pursuit of their favourite. oc-
cupation of whippingop the. revenue, by prac-
tices savouring strongly of exaction, in these de,
partments No doubt these persons
..feelings
were in unison with those of the Chancellor of
the Exchequer, who never bean), the subject of
property started its that place, ;Wit he diclirot sing
the dirge of the Property Tax. Bot_ he would
tell the Right Honourable G:ffisleman„ whatever
%sere his views on this subject, he had only lost
instead of gained ground, fur where there were
formerly nine out of ten against that *i'ax. there
are now 99 out of 100. Fur these reasons, he
moved
That That a Committee be appointed to inquire into the steps
taken in pursuance of the order of the Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer. to destroy all Returns made under the Income Tax,
by any Bodies Corporate, or Individuals, and report thereon
to the House. •
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said, •if
the lion. Gentleman had understood he- was 'dis-
posed to consent to a motion like the present be
was msich mistaken, for he was very _far from
thinking a Committee appoipted for the purpose
set forth its the motion could do any good what-
ever. The Tax Office, in common with all the
hoards under Government, were ever ready to
comply with the orders of that House. He could
exculpate the Tax Office in the instance which
had beets brought forward by the Hon. Gentle-
man. Those who had imptired at the Vote Office
respecting the return he had mentioned, must
know that it had long beetvin the possession of
the House, and had been printed by its order.—
(Hear, bear I)—The return was ordered to be laid
before the House by a Resolution of the 3d of
February. On February 10. they had ordered
that it should be printed, so that it was clear the
return had been made as early as it could have
been possible to make it --(Hear!)—Now, with
respect to the Property Tax, whatever he might
do in the event of a new war, it was not Isis in-
tention to propose that it should be revived during
the continuance of peace.—(Hear, hear!)—lt had
been eminently serviceable in war, and had car-
ried the country triumphantly through the greatest
difficulties with which she had ever had to con-
tend ; but he thought it would be objection-
able, as he trusted it would be 'unnecessary, so
long as the nation should be blessed with peace.
—(Hear, hear !)—With respect to the returns of
the Property Tax, be regretted that some of thew
had been destroyed, as, if they had been preserved,
they might have been useful in recovering arrears,
or in detecting frauds which had taken place. He,
however, had no wish that any of the returns
made under the schedule B. which related to the
affairs of those in trade, should be preserved. It
was not reasonable to suppose that he could wish
such documents preserved with a view to the re-
vival of the tax, as every one must know that pa-
pers, which referred to the circumstances of com.
mercial men four years ago, would, if the tax were
again to be brought forward, be of little or no use
now. He only wished those to be preserved which
could beot3no service to-the Minister when impos;
ing any new tax—which had reference but to.land-
ed property—which had never been a mhtter of
secrecy, and which never could disclose anything,
of importance. The present mo,inn, however, was
premature, for there still remained sus aerear of
from 200,0001. to 300,0001. of the Property Tax
due. Under all the circumstances, thetetore, he

- must give a negative to the motion for the pre-
sent.—Mr. BROUGHAM-explained.
Mr. GRENFELL did not wish to revive discus-
sions gone by, bat wished to prevent any mis-
apprehension as to the Secretary to the Board of
'faxes being implicated-in the unfavourable cha-
racter given of that BOard. .He must congratu-
late the House and the Country on its being now
stated by the Chancellor of the Exchequer that
the ',iconic Tax was never to he laid on in time
of peace. He thought no reason had been given
why the motion should not be agreed to.
Mr. CALveaT animadverted on the conduct of
the Surveyors of taxes, in over-rating houses
without examination or inquiry. He particu-
larly alluded to the parishes of Twickenham and
Isle worth..
Mr. BROUGHAM could not help wondering at
the course adopted by the Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer in opposing the motion. An inquiry seas
all that was wanted. It there was any portion of
the. papers which, consistently with the public
service, ought not to be destroyed, they need not
be touched. But the Right Hon. Gentleman
acted in a way very inconsistent with his usual
Candour, with respect to this motion; and' he
could not help imputing the opposition which he
now gave to it as originating in some other
quarter. The Right Hon. Gentleman sent the
Secretary of the Treasury to him (Mr. Brougham)
to ask what was to be Vie nature of Isis motion ;
upon which he put into that Hon. Gentleman's
hands a copy of the motion itself, which very
copy was carried across the House, and pot into
the hands. of the Chancellor of the Exchequer,
who lie was told said that he did not object to a
Committee.- When lie was informed of this, he
told many of his friends that the sense of the
House could not be taken on the twition, as it
was to be agreed to. As tho,e Hon. Members
were in consequence not now present, and as he
knew they would wish to testify their opinions
upon th, subject by their vote, he tilt it Isis duty
to adjourn the debate npon this motion till Tues-
day next.—Mr. GRENFELL explained.
. LAMBTON bore testimony to the truth of
the statement of his Honourable Friend r.
Brougham) respecting the communication of a
copy of
,his Motion.

Tbe,CioNcatAoa:of the ExcnEctutut said, he
hal 'no Objection to the postpoitiwz the present
motion. It was very trite, as stated by the Hon.
soil Learned 6etillemau (Mr. Brougham), that
be. had com.multicated a copy of his motion to
But wit it he said' on, that occasion was,
that a motion for a Committee would be less
objectionable than if it were, in another form;
and that he did not oppoSe,the motion if it were
put oft 'till a e-ornmittee"was amicably appointed.,
To this the Hon: acid Learned Gentleman refused
to accede ; then of course he (Mr. V.) conceived,
the negoeiatiOn to be entirely broken off.
Mr, liaoironam certainly understood that it
was not intetided to oppose the motion.
Mr. LAsta:roN wished the House to observe,
that the ChanCellor of the Exchequer did not op-
pose the motion for a Committee, until he under-
stood it was to be composed of a majority against
hhpself.—(Lood laughter from the Ministerial
Benches.)—The debate was then adjourned till
Tuesday.