The Sun.
London, England, 1845-07-15 00:00:00

COAL DUTY-PORT OF LONDON.

On the motion that the House go into Committee on this
Bill,

Mr. HUME wished to 'ask whether it was competent for
the Noble Lord to go into Committee on this Bill. as it had
the character of neither a public or a private Bill P
The SPEAKER replied that the Noble Lord was perfectly
entitled to go into Committee ; for though the title eipressly
referred to the port of London, it in reality affected the whole
country.
Mr. HUME said that it was certainly stated in the Bill that
it referred to the port of London alone, and he could not,
therefore, understand how, under this title,- the amendments
could be proposed.
The SPEAKER said, that as the amendments of course
partook of the customary character of the Bill, there could be
no objection to the consideration of them.
Mr. HUTT said, that as the Government had no objection,
he would then move the amendment of which he had givers
notice :—" That it be an instruction to the Committee that
they have power to provide that all duties now levied or to be
levied, by virtue of this Bill, on coals brought within the
liberties of the City of London, coastwise, or by inland navi-
gation, shall likewise be levied on coals brought within the
same district by railway or by any other mode of conve}ance'
The amendment was agreed to.
The Home then went into Committee, and after the firit
clause had been agreed to,

The Earl of LINCOLN moved a series of amendments,
the first of vhich prorosed to provide a fund for Opening
of pour and densely poiAilated thstticts of the meiropolis, or
fur kreping spaces in its immediate viciriity. Others vete for
the duty on other tracts of conveyance than the
Thames. 'I he clause for providing fur the inipri,vements seas
as follows:—" And be it enacted, that from and at' er the said
31st day of December, 1845, the said duty of one penny
per ton on coals, cinders, and culin su imposed and extended
as aforesaid, shall from time to time when and as received be
laid out or invested in the purchase of stock in some of the
public . stocks or funds, or upon Government or real securities,
at interest. in the names of the Commissioners for the time
being of her Majesty's 'Woods, Forests, Land Revenue
Works, and Buildings, to an account to be entituled, The
Metropclis Improvement Fund Account ;' and the said Com-
missioners shall from time to time lay out or invest the yearly
dividends or interest of the stocks, fends, and securities, so to
be purchased in their names on the account aforesaid, in like
manner for the purpose of accumulation in the meantime, and
until the said fund shall be required for and appropriated be
Parliament to the execution of improvements in the metropolis.h
A Committee had been appointed in 1826, and the evidence
before that Committee, in conjunction with the results of the
Committee of 1826, would be now of admirable service in the
discussions of this Bill. The object of this clause was to secure
to the community a participation in the general benefits which
would result from the employment of the accumulated fund le
improving the different parts of the metropolis. lie thought
the amendments he proposed would answer all the purposes
Honourable Members opposite had in view, and that they
would meet the objections which Honourable Alembers had
raised against the Bill. To meet the objections of which he
had heard, he had prepared a clause which he believed would
be sufficient to satisfy the Honourable Gentlemen who were
opposed to this measure on the grounds which had been
alleged.

Mr. WILLIAMS objected to the continuance of a tax upon
the poorest population of the metropolis, and upon all the in-
habitants of the Vale of Thames, for improvements width
would add to the value of all the household property in London.
—( Hear, hear.) The tax was one as oppressive upon the
working classes as a tax upon bread.
Mr. BRIGHT—We have all that to pay.—( A laugh. )
Mr. WILLIAMS thought that the tax uFn coals was one
pressing upon a inost important necessary of life, and that
it ought not to be imposed upon those who were the least able
to bear it, and that too to give an increased value to the pro-
petty of the wealthy.—(Hear.) He was by no means opposed
to the improvements, but he thought they ought to be effected
at the expense of those who would be the greatest gainers by
them.—( Hear, hear.) Why was not a tax laid upon houses
for the purpose ?—( Hear, hear.) The city of London had
sufficient resources to effect all the improvements that were
needed. But within the last two years upwards of a million of
money had been raised for the benefit of the city by means of
this oppressive tax upon the poor.—( Hear.) He would offer
all the opposition in his power to the continuance of the tax.
Mr. HUME said the Noble Lord at the head of the Woods
and Forests had rested his case upon the reports of the sana-
tory commission, and upon the admitted facts detailed in those
reports, as to the want of ventilation and cleanliness in the
habitations of the poor in the metropolis, and the imperfect
drainage of the districts which were chiefly inhabited by the
poor. But, surely, it was not the best means of relieving the
poor from those acknowledged sufferings and privations, to in-
crease the price of an article of necessity almost equal to the
necessity of food, and quite equal to that of clot ' Hear. )
The proprietors of the districts which would be benefited by
the improvements ought to be taxed for the expense of making
those improvements.—( Hear, hear.) Besides, he did not like
to leave a "nest egg " of 12,000/. in the hands of the Board
of Woods and Forests to be made use of when they thought
proper to find an occasion.—(Hear, and laughter.)
Air. 'MASI ERNIAN, who wzs very indistinctly heard,
would give every opposition in his power to the continuance of
the tax. -
Lord LINCOLN was surprised at the opposition of the Hon.
Member for London. Fur he himself had been assured by an
lion. Member connected with the City—(A laugh)—that if
the tax were taken off, no one would be benefited but the coal
dealers—( Hear, and a laugh)—and that it would be a pity that
so much money should be lust to the public, whilst there re-
mained so great a necessity for improvement in the
streets of the metropolis— (Hear, hear )—a,ri lastes to be_
in the dwellings of the poor, who would be tch, s. rd
The Noble
nefit by any small reduction in the tax upon oat,
s
that
tdh continued
not bs
eye so?
whatiri luiesehthads
penny
yd dutyhi on coals
IsF,,Hoeunldd y;
yet he (Lord Lincoln)
liadbeforehi advocated a duty inia document,d byy u
which
it appeared that his Hon. Friend had
the same
‘v,
forarticlelr,fto theth sole purposes e anwu,unr setoofs andlS Te(oHet Hear,
of ther,lie)c—ityanodf
for what'
London.—( flear, hear.) Well, then, he ( Lord Lincoln) next
found that his Honourable Friend and another Honour.
able Member of that house, who was an Alderman of the
of the Corporation of London, had said at a public meeting-.
that this tax would be of no benefit to the city of London,
yet, when it came to a vote it was found that there were four to
three against the motion of the Hon. Member.—( Hear, hear.)
Then, a short time before the question came to be discussed
before that House, his ( Lord Lincoln's) Hon. Friend asked
him what proportion of this tax would be devoted to benefiting
the city of London, and he (Lord Lincoln) told him the City
would benefit by it to nearly the amount of a million and a half
sterling pet annum, and that heretofore very material benefits
had been conferred, from the same tax, upon W'hitechapel and
Lambeth, and other districts; and, therefore, on those grounds
alone, and without having any recourse to what might be called
a subterfuge, he would support this measure.
After a few words, in explanation, from Mr. MAS.
T ERMAN, _ _ _

Lord HOWICK said it appeared to him that the cnly cases.
tion for the House to consider in reference to this tax was,
whether it was one which a majority of the Pouse would deem
beneficial, or the contrary, to the purposes for which it had been
hitherto applied.—(Hear hear.) And hero he would beg
leave to say that it did appear to him that there never was a tax
which he con2eived was more opposed to justice or corn.
mon sense than this, as a tax levied for purposes
of finance.—(Hear, hear.) Now, what was the real question
they had to consider ? It was this : they were going, to cop.
eider whether it was necessary to continue the levy of a tax
upon the valley cf the Thames for the transit of coals along tut
banks, which coals were intended for she use, in a great part,
for the consumption of the poorer classes of the community.—
( Hear, hear.) Now, he knew something of the part of the
country over which these coals were carried for consumption,
and he begged to tell the Right Hon. Baronet opposite, and the