The Sun.
London, England, 1842-03-03 00:00:00

laugh.) He hoped the Right Hon. Gentleman or • the
House would not attribute it to any disrespect if, after
the lengthened discussions which had already taken
place, he declined to enter upon the subject anew.—
(Hear' hear.) It was for the public n'lvantage that
these discussions should cease—(Hear, hear)—and if
they delayed successive nights upon the question, the
only result would be, that they would have to travel over
the same ground to be followed by the same effect.—
(Hear, hear.) The Hon. Gentleman proposed that the
duty should be 20s. when the price was under 215., and
that the duty should be 6s. w hen the price was 645. By
his (Sir R. Peel's) scale the duty was to be 65., when the
price was 665., but the Hon.Gentletnan would have his duty
of 6s. a fixed' one, without any reference to the price of
corn, and his duty under certain circumstances would
be, therefore, higher than his (Sir R. Peel's). He
thought that the sense of the House had been already
taken upon the subject of a fixed duty, and if the Noble
Lord, the Member for London, were present, he
could not acquiesce in the views of the Honourable
Gentlemen, because,when he proposed a duty of Ss., he also
proposed to provide for the cessation of the duty in cer-
tain circumstances. When the Bill was in Committee
Hon. Gentlemen would then have an opportunity of dis-
cussing the question with him, but at present he felt
that it would be much for the public advantage that a
limit should be put upon the discussions ; and though
he (Sir R. Peel) could not place any limit to the extent
of their discusSions, he felt he could not be a 'party to
them. They had already nine nights' debate, and in
every stage of the Bill there would be ample opportu-
nities of objecting to his scale ; and, under these circum-
stances, he must be excused for not now entering on the
discussion.
Mr. BULLER addressed some further observations to
she House, which were almost inaudible amid loud cries
of " Spoke, spoke." He was understood to say, that he
had understood if any reasonable plan were proposed by
way of compromise, it would have been accepted by her
Majesty's Government.— (Order, and Spoke.)
Sir 11. PEEL said he was really surprised to hear that
he had ever been understood to have said a word to the
effect that if any scheme should be proposed in the wit),
of a compromise, it would be cheerfully accepted.—
(Hear, hear.) Having gone over the scale, and suc-
ceeded in retaining every figure of it, he could only say,
that if the Hon. Gentleman really meant to propose his
alteration as one likely, to be accepted by him, the Hon.
Gentleman must be more credulous than, from his Par-
liamentary experience, he could have supposed him to be.
Mr. WARD said, if the motion was . proposed as a
compromise, it would perhaps be quite as acceptable to
many gentlemen on his side of the House, as the mea-
sure of the Right Hon. Gentleinan. He could not sup-
port the motion, as it proposed a sliding scale at one end
of the scheme, and a fixed duty at the.other.
The motion was then withdrawn.
Mr. HASTIE rose to propose the motion of which he
had given notice, viz. :« That as it appears from the
returns laid upon the table of this House by her Ma-
jesty's Government, that at an average of years with
average crops a sufficient quantity of corn is not pro-
duced in this country for the food of the population, the
deficiency, amounting to about one million quarters of
wheat, two hundred and fifty thousand quarters 'of bar-
ley, and two hundred and fifty thousand quarters of
oats ; that in each year, and before the scale of duties
comes into operation, the following quantities of grain
shall be admitted for home consumption at a duty
of one shilling the quarter ; viz., 1,000,000 quar-
ters of wheat, 250,000 quarters of barley, and 250,000
quarters of oats." He said he did not anticipate
that her Majesty's Government would oppose his motion.
—(Oh, oh.) If they did not oppose it, he should not
detain the House with any long remarks, but if they did,
he must detain the House while he explained how he
proposed that the duty of Is. a quarter should be levied.
He augured from the silence of her Majesty's Govern-
ment, that they did not intend to accede to the proposi-
tion. He must remind the House and the Government
of the injurious effects of any scale which had in it a pro-
hibitory limit. One of the consequences of a prohibitory
duty was, that in case of a sudden demand arising from
a deficiency in the harvest, there would be an immense
quantity of bills circulated upon the Continent, and 'the'
exchanges thrown against the country. The farmer was
not benefited hy. the present system of prohibition, for
foreign corn was admitted and kept in store against him
to answer the objects of the speculator. This often
caused derangement of commerce and loss of capital to
merchants and manufacturers, and loss of employment to
workmen. His motion would cure the evils consequent
upon the jerks of the present, or of the new scale, and
the quantities of which it would ensure the importation
would .regulate the exchange of commodities between us
and other oeuntries ; and as when wheat was below 50s.
none but the very best foreign wheat would be intro-
duced, that would be mixed with the second class of
English, and greatly improve it in price and quality.
If such times should arise as had arisen in 1835, when
the average price of wheat was 455., the agricultural in-
terest might say that the introduction of such a quantity
must have a tendency to lower the price, but such would
not be the case, for wheat would, under those circum-
stances, be at so low a price, that we -could afford to ex-
port it, and supply the Brazils with wheat, and in that
manner we should get rid of our surplus quantity, and
give employment to our shipping, while, by supplying
our ships with food at a cheaper rate, we should be
enabling our shipowners to compete with the shipowners
of foreign nations. If the proposers of the sliding scale
had endeavoured to devise a scheme, which, while it held
out a large nominal protection to the farmer, should af-
ford him no real protection whatever, and should at the
same time derange the currency and ruin commerce and
manufactures, they could not have succeeded more effec-
tually. He would not trouble the House further, but he
could not sit down without expressing a hope that the
Government would accede to his proposition.
Sir ROBERT PEEL hoped he had not said anything
that would lead the Hon. Gentleman to think that he
(Sir R. Peel) would accede to the scheme now proposed
by the Hon. Gentleman. Ile (Sir R. Peel) trusted that
the lion. Gentleman was not labouring under the same
delusion which the Hon. MeMber who had spoken be-
fore him seemed to be. Of all the proposals ever made,
that of the Hon. Gentleman seemed to him (Sir R. Peel)
the most extravagant. That proposal was that every
year a certain fixed quantity of wheat, oats, and
barley should be admitted into this country at a duty of
Is:per quarter, no matter what were the necessities of
the country, no matter was the price of corn. Exactly
the, same quantity was to be admitted free of duty each
year, without reference to circumstances-1,000,000
quarters of wheat, 250,000 quarters of barley, and
250,000 quarters of oats. And this was to be once, in
each year. Of course it would be necessary to define
the year. They must state from the Ist of January in
one year to the Ist of January in the' next. Supposing
there were 2,000,000 quarters of wheat in bond, the
holder of 1,060,000 would be entitled to the immense
advantage of having his wheat admitted free of duty.
Who was to determine which of the two holders should
be entitled to the advantage ? Was it to be deter-
mined by lot or how ?
Mr. HASTIE said lie meant to give precedence to
that corn which had been first entered in bond for
consumption.
Sir R. PEEL—Let them. suppose what effect the
introduction of the corn free of duty would have on the
holder of the other million quarters. Supposing corn
to be at 565. a quarter,
.the remainder of the bonded
wheat would be entitled to be introduced at 16s. duty.
Suddenly they would thus pour into the market one mil-
lion quarters of corn in January, when there might be
no great demand, and the consequence would be that.
they would immediately depress the price of wheat.
It would probably depress the price to 505., and raise
the duty to 20s. ; and how the Hon. Gentleman could
propose the measure he had done as a mitigation of the
sliding scale lie could not understand. What would be
the position of the United States under such a preposi-
tion ? The Hon. Member said he wished to give facili-
ties to 'trade with the United States ; his proposal would
have the opposite effect to that, becruse the nearer ports
under it would have the advantage of the more distant.
The proposition-of the Hon. Member that there must be
a necessity for the introduction of a certain quantity of
corn free of duty was vicious in the extreme. He could
not understand in what manner the Hon. Gentleman's
proposal could benefit trade ; lie thought it would greatly
cripploit, and aggravate whatever evils there existed in
the sliding scale. For these reasons, he could not give
his assent to the proposal of the lion. Gentleman:
Mr. HASTIE said it was quite evident from the man-
ner in manner in which the Right Hon. Baronet had
explained his views of what he (Mr. Hastie) had said,
that the Right Hon. Baronet did not precisely under-
stand what he meant as to there being at any one parti-
cular period two million quarters of corn imported. No
such thing could arise. For instance, the whole quan-
tity impor:ed this year did not exceed 700,000 quarters.
Sir R. PiEL would beg leave to ask for an explana-
tion from the Hon. Gentleman. Suppose there was no
corn in bond, and that the 31st of December had ar-
rived without any quantity being imported, according to
the Hon. Gentleman's proposition the two million quar-
ters should then be imported free of duty. Surely that
would be giving an immense advantage to the nearer
countries over the more distant--an advantage of which
the more remote countries must be altogether deprived.
Mr. HASTE, after a few observations, said he would
not press his motion on the House.
The motion was then withdrawn.
The. Report was received and a Bill ordered to be
brought in.

VAN DIEMEN'S LAND BILL.
The Order of the Day having been read for the third
reading of this Bill.
Mr. MURPHY complained that this measure was
likely in its present form to operate injuriously to ii
client of his of • the name of Hackett, a distiller, in Vail
Diemen's Land, He
.hoped that the Act would not be
made retropective so as to deprive his client of any com-
pensation to which he might be entitled.
. Lord STANLEY said that what had been stated by
the Hon. Gentleman formed :no ground for objecting to
the passing of the Bill. The Hon. Gentleman had not
in all probability had so much correspondence on the
question as it had been his fortune to have, and he should
be happy to show it him in the records of the Colonial-
office. - He could assure him that these boxes (striking
the boX on the table, could not contain the letters that
had passed on the. subject. The peculiar claims of
Mr.,Hackett arose from Sir John Franklyn (not Sir G.
Arthur) having a short time ago prohibited distilling in
in Van Diemen's Land. Mr. Hackett claimed and, ob-
tained compensation for a distillery he had set Up; he
was dissatisfied with the amount of that compensation,
and it was upon that loss, not upon the question which
was the subject of this Bill, that Mr. Hackett had en-
tered into his voluminous correspondence with the Colo-
nial-office. Previous, to 1829, all public duties were levied
by proclamation from the Governors, and levied correctly.
In 1829, an Act was passed for levying these duties, by
order of the Government in Council ; but from 1829 to
1834, the duties were from error still levied by pro-
clamation from the Governor in the usual - Way.'
1834 this error was discovered, and an Act was passed
for giving legality to those irregular orders from 1629