The Sun.
London, England, 1818-03-13 00:00:00

LEATHER DUTY,

LOH ALTHORPE had often called the attention
of the House to the state of the Leather Trade,
and should not therefore enter into details which
would only serve to create fatigue. If there was
a branch of Trade that declined whilst the rest were
improving, it was that branch that ought to he
relieved from taxation. On this there could be
but one opinion, and the point on which he ex-
pected the Chancellor of -the Exchequer to differ
from him would be, whether the Leather Trade
were in that declining condition, and whether the
country could consent to the sacrifice of the con-
tribution which it paid to the revenue. An idea
of the state of the trade might be formed from the
numerous petitions before the House. He knew
that it might be said Coat persons engaged in any
trade were always ready to come forward to claim
a relief from taxation ; bat %viten only one trade
petitioned, whilst all the others remai►►ed silent.
it was a proof that it was declining, and that they
went on prosperously. Another proof might be
derived from the amount of bankruptcies, which
b►ad always been, less ft equent in the tanning trade
than in any other. The average of bankruptcies
during the five years preceding the imposition of
►lre additional duty on leather had been 45. The
average of the five years following the tax,,75. ltz
tl►e first period the bankruptcies amongst tanners
did not amount to n►ore than nine n year. In the
latter; they rose to 15. This certainly proved it
considerable depression in the, Leather Trade.
Other evidence might be deduced from the num-
ber of licences granted to Tanners, -before anti
since.the imposition of the duty. In 1808,they
.amonnted...to 1725. 111 1810, to 1741. in 1811,
to 1756; and in 1812, to 1760. But the first
year after the tax, they had decreased to 1754.
In 1814, to 1699. In 1815, to 1671. In 1816.
to 1619, hint in 1817,. to .1595. When it wait
seen that the greatest diminution had taken place
since the years 1813, 14, and 15, it must ap-
pear evident that the usual nutuherot Tanners

tray kept np before the Tax, but that silica it bad
been doobled they had decreased every: year.
amount of toreign hides import 410. I ars
connive would also allot& a point of comparison.
1510,. !hey amounted- to 852,680. In 1811,
t•-ey amounted to 1,10-1,688; and in. 1812, to
672 91;0. hi 1814. s:nce the tax, they had sunk
to 623,162, 49,438 less than in 1112.
they were 345,655. In 1816, 427,966 ; and -in
1817, -337,493. The- average of thee three years
before the tax was 876,616, and that of the three
ear following its enactment 457,274; making a
donmution of 419,372: So that the. irppoit of
foleittt hides hid decreased nearly 0"4-half.sin.ce
the imposition of
.the 'additional duty"; a fact.
which concurred with the ditninUt;on of the num-
ber of tanners themselves, in proving that- their'
I I,srie•Was in a state of depression. He. was aware
Gat the receipts of the Treasury would be'brought
as-an answer: to -his arguments.• They hid cer-
tainly exceeded those of the- years befOre the tax,
lon one of the reasons of this increase of .the -Re-
venue was, that many individuals had givete,np
the trade and sold their stock in hand. • It was
thus that the price of leather had fallen frone22o.
to 20d. Thar a trade ,was depreSsed:might not
alone be a sufficient reason for taking off a tax,.
but when it was seen that all other trades save
that one. were .improving, the suffering branch
Ellwild be teplaced in the situation in which it had
bet n prosperous, and not be pressed down in time
of peace by a war dtity, lie took the produce of
that duty at 170,0001. or 200,0001., which might
be of considerable moment to Government at' a
iteriod like the present. But the tidies of the
country did not (leptond on the receipt of the re-
venue ; they flowed• from the prosperity of the
manufacturers;
.tind if those manufacturers were
injuredby any measure, .the revenue might expe-
rience a MOMtlitAry -inivro vent en, , but that inr-
rovement- would he followed by an ultimate loss.
A revenue of 200,0001. a year shookd not be put
into competition with the prosperity of trade.—
Neither should he 'propose any new tax, to re-
plare_t he duty which he hoped would be retnoved.
—Ft-Om The experience which he had of his Mr..-
j-Sty'S Ministers, he knew that they would find
means to make the revenue answer, if that branch
-of it was lopped away, and that was the only
mode in which the retrenchments necessary to
the welfare of the State. could be obtlined. He
concluded by moving. For leave to bring in a Bill
to repeal the additional Duty on Leather.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXC.:IIEO.O P,R was not
prepared to 'agree to a motion like the present.
The course whiCh he conceived the Noble Lord
ought to- have pursued would have been to move
for the appointment of a Committee of Inquiry, that
after due investigation some measure might have
been proposed to the House, if it were found neces-
sary. Had the Noble Lord concluded by such a mo-
tion; lie (the Chancellor of the Exchequer) would
not have opposed it.- He thought the complaints of
-Petitioners, when properly expressed, entitled to
the tjeat est attention ; and if be should find the
House disposed to enter into an enquiry, he should
conelode by moving that a Committee be eppoint-
el. He contended that the Noble Lord had only
partially used the information contained in the
papers. laid before the House. As long as the
duty Was productive, it was impossible that the
trade should be depressed. The Noble Lord had
crated that before the last tax, the tanning trade
Lad increased iii proportion to the population of
the country. But the 'increase apparent in' the
years which-- had been mentioned. bad arisen
solely from" the impulse. given by war to that
brAeeh of trade, and not from any other cause.
The Noble Lord had himself been of that opinion
.on a former OCC3SIOO , when he had warned his
,111 jesiy's ,Ministers that •they were not to depend
00 an amount of revenue which was raised to a
ecrtain height by tenniorary causes. By the.pro-
_duce of the tax at different periods, thq House
would be able to trace the progress of the trade.
The average produce of the. duty daring the four
years previous to the Amoican war foul heel)
204,0001.,- and of the four eliding in 1791,
.215,0001., and of those ending-on the sth Janu-
ary, 1812, on account of the extraordinary int-
:pulse: given by war to the trade, 39-1,0001. 'Fite
average of the last four years was 268,0001., and
that of the last two year 5•264,0001.. It therefore

appeared, that the tax 'had tint impeded the home
consumption, which, had been greater in the lat-
ter pet iod than in 1771, and had occasioned a.,rise
of-50,0001. a year in its produce since 1791. Un-
les- the Noble Lord conic' make it out that the
tanning trade was inure impoverished than any
other, his motion rested on no solid ground. It
appeared, on the contrary, that it was the trade
which bad, least suffered. The Noble Lord bad
referred to the number of bankruptcies, and said
that the'y had amounted to 75 during the five years
that hail foll Owed the imposition of the tax,
whilst there had been only 45 in the preceding
fire years. But he ought to have said, that
within the laSt two years, nod a half, fifty-six out
of those seventy-five bankruptcies, had occurred
in consequence of the
.cessation of the tvar.--
Tl.e average for the other two years and a half
previous to the peace was therefore inferior to
what it bad been before the tax. It had been
the same with , respect to the licenses:" In 1813
Ili, battle of Leipsic had been fought, In March.
IEI4 Paris had been captured, and Buonaparte
lad surrendered. The high expectations excited-.
.11 those events accounted tor the increase in stock
which bad inkr.n. place at that period in the.trade•
he next point urged by the Noble Lord was the:
11. crease in the importation of • foreign
Notwititt,tatiding that.decrease, the leatfier used
for home consumption had evidently not di-
,minished in • any considerable degree. Our;

great imports of bides were •from,. Scott)
Amcrica ai.d Ilinenos Ayres; riod those coin-
toodies during-.the war bad been forced into

vohr market. •••;ince the peace, however, we
ha-4 shired that trade with other nations. . Hence
siffse the diffeteoce het ncen- our former and our

p:es Fit'i'nit:mts, The stale of th'e trade was not
'‘ito4i-105 the Noble Lord had described. In Match
'che'piice of sole leather .was per
pound ; in-1817, Is. 6d.; and.in.L.9lB, 15.,9d.;
60, ft it it had increased in 'a ratio calculated to do

•
ip(kiie .144 n cover the Yax. as ;mother proot that
the tra-..vras'iroproving, lie skould. ineutiOn this

-fadi,likat.lefiire "the, tax theie was but one stCaRl-

engine in Loudon employed iu the tanning bu-

sloes', whereas there now Were five. Had the
Noede Lord been able to imint out a hranch of
that trade, which, not haelog been toxic% was
more fioutishi,,g than—the-rest,- then-he wordd
love eceepfetete ..eetahlkshaef his case. But he
(effe ChericOlor, of the
.Exchtleer) coeld_proye
the very converse of that position. e-Hr could
strew that there, was a branchrvlrich had not
been taxed, and wloch was io a worse Condition
than the rest--ehe meant the trade in 'buff leather
and oiled.aud dressed leather, on which there %yes
err addirionel defy, .and which had produced
130,0001. the year before that d'rty had been
imposed on the , other branches,
.and not with-
standing its exemption had since decreased, first
to 117,0001. and lastly to between 40 - and
50,0001. a-year. The next arginireot used by the
Noble Lord related to the number of petitions
before the House. He (the Chancellor of the
Excheriner) wished to treat them with all due re-
spect. lie would have them referred to, a Com-
mittee of Inquiry to consider their 'allegations. As
to their numbers, they tright.be acconnied for by
a circular letter_ whiCh had been sent through the
country, dated the fith March, and which stated,
that it was only by the, greatest exertions,
and by sending as marry petitions as possible
to Parlimirept before next `l'hutscl ty, and by a
particular application to Members at- this most
favourable period, that Tanners could hope to get
rid of the additional duty. There were petitions
before the House against other taxes, which
brought a revenue ef three millions and an half,
and if the repeal of this duty should be followed
by that of the rest, what resource would remain
to the country ? The Noble Lord said that the
public' expenditure might be diminished and sine-
cures ahelislied.. But sinecures had been abo-
lished-last year. It was true the Noble Lord had
proposed a reduction in the army which be sup-
posed would 'produce a saving of 180,0001. a
year, but that would not have been sufficient to
replace a tax which brought from 200,0001. to
250,000/. If [lon. Ilembers doubted the ac-
curacy of his statements, let a Committee be ap-
pointed to investigate the merits of the question,
or let them reject a motion, which, if successfully
followed by others against existing duties, must
leave the country no other choice than disgrace
and bankruptcy on the one side, or the Property
Tax on the other.
Mr. CURWEN should not be deterred by the
threat of the Property Tax front giving his sup-
port to the motion. The Leather Trade was in a
most distressed condition. The augmentation in
the number of steam-engines employed by Tan-
ners in the metropolis was no proof of an in-
crease of trade, butt arose from the state of per-
fection to which those engines had been brought,
and their havingbeen rendered applicable to other
branches of industry. He should .not have ob-•
jected to a Committee, had not one been appoint-
ed at a former period, without any good coming
out of it. He therefore thought that it would be
better to meet the question at once.
Mr. BENSON denied that the Petitions before
the House had been procured by the Circular
Letter alluded to by the Right Hon. Gentleman
opposite. They arose from real distress, But the
Right Hon. Gentleman, who had courage to per-
severe in the Tax, dared not tell the country that
he would reject her Petitions, but proposed that
they should be referred to a Committee. Every
oncknew what would be the result. • A Commit-
tee had been already appointed, and had lasted
the whole of the Session ; and this would
.again
he rite case if that mode were adopted. He was
therefore strenuous for the motion. The midi-
tionel duty was 170,0001., and lie wished to know
whether this was an object fit to prevent Govern-
ment from giving employmeht to the poor ? •
Lord CASTLEREAGH said, the question was now
fairly before the House, which would be ready to
efford relief in any case ; hut great cautiop ought
to be observed in all appeals against taxation, or
the country would be• left without funds. It
ought to be examined what the operation of-the
Report of the last Session had been, as the House
never could prevent great capitals from overlaying
small ones. He was therefore in favour of referring
the question to a Committee, "Ishe leather ferule
had undoubtedly been affected by the peace, but it
had as great a tendency to revive as any other
trade, particularly as the home trade had, it ap-
peared, doubled itself within the last five years.
He moved, as an amendment to the motion of the
Noble Lord, that a Select Committee be ap-
pointed to take the petitions into consideratioo.
Mr. BROUGHAM had seen no ground for alter-
ing the opinion he entertained when theeolditional
duty was laid on. It was, in his opinion, a soli-
tary sort of Income, Tax laid upon labour, and
that Government would, in the end, be the losers
by it.

Lord COMPTON was in favour of the motion,
because those most interested in the reduction of
the tax, the agriculturists, were that class whom
the. House most wished to serve. As machinery
had not produced the effect it originally had in all
other trades, it afforded a proof that this trade
was in a very hail way.
Colonel Wool) did not pretend to-understand
the history of this trade; but if foreign hides bad
been excluded, the trade of Britain and Ireland
must have been benefited. Ile was in- favour of
the Committee, because he did not- think that the
reduction of this branch of the Revenue was,
caused by the additional duty; but it might be;
caused by the peace; as abundance of army shoes,
purchased at Gs. Gd. were now sold at 2s. lie

thought we had shifted the burden of the Property
Tax from the shoulders of the rich to those of the
poor, who
.did.not subscribe a farthing towards it.
He would therefore have-no hesitation to vote for
a renewal of that Tax, if the Salt Tax, which af-
fected every person ill the kingdom, could be got
rid of, as well as that on leather. He proceeded
to shew how these two taxes bore upon the coun-
try, but particularly the for.mer, which, he con-
tended, affected every necessary of life. Ile was
Convinced, that it would be much better to pre-
serve the Duty on Leather, and to reduce that on
Salt.

General GASCOIGNE was,agaimst the'Committee,
as occasioning delay, as the P titiuti all agreed
that the additional duty was a most. serious tax.
lie was'" sure the House. would support any taxis
wodetately laid, in preference to this, which was