The Sun.
London, England, 1829-01-10 00:00:00

,
come the unty on paper, the duty on advertise-
ments,and the stamp duty !—for all are eventu-
all charged on. the public, and ultimately paid by
it I Neither of the parties, in fact, have the
slightest-pretence for putting forward claims of
this nature ; for were the doctrine, that the more
any one pays to the Government, the more does
he benefit the State, allowed, the State itself,
as being the greatest consumer of commodities
of any body corporate, politic, or individual in
the kingdom, and, in consequence, the greatest
payer of duties of all kinds, would come in for the
first, and by 1,..7 the largest, portion of patriotism ;
though every one, who can distinguish his right
hand from his left, knows, that the less the Go-
vernment consumes, the better it is, both for
the country and for the State. To have done
however, with this silly dispute, we would
fain hope, that in the course of the next
Session of Parliament, the Chancellor of the
Exchequer would turn his attention to the po-
licy of reducing both the stamp and the adver-
tisement duty. Both are heavy taxes, by far
the heaviest, indeed, in this or in any other
country, and a great bar both to the increase of
trade and the increase of knowledge. Out of
every paper that we publish the Government re •
ceives no less a sum than 75 per cent.; and out
of every advertisement to which we give inser-
tion, More than half the amount of the sum paid
for it. Vain as the matter is, the public is
not generally aware of it; and the conse-
quence is, that no general petition has ever
been presented to the Legislature against such
grievous taxation, and no reduction in it
taken place, since the close of the war. On
financial grounds, only, however, we would fain
hope, that the present Chancellor of the Exche-
quer would consent to a reduction of the duty ;
for in taxation, there is no calculation more er-
roneous than that two and two make four, and
we are fully convinced that were the duty on
stamps and advertisements to he reduced one-
half, or even more, not only the public, but the
Government, would be a great gainer—the for-
mer in being able to purchase more newspapers,
and to give greater publicity to commercial
transactions, and the latter in receiving, per-
haps, four-fold the amount of revenue which
comes into the Treasury under the present sys-
tem.—Morning Advertiser.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.

MANS[ON-HOUSE.

MUSIC LICENSES GRANTED BY THE KING'S SER-
GEANT TRCSfrETEß.—Yesterday, his Majesty's De-
puty-Sergeant Trumpeter waited upon the Lord
Mayor for the purpose of correcting an inaccuracy
which had been made in a statement to his Lord-
ship, on the subject of a fee which the King's Ser-
geant Trumpeter had received time immemorial,
from the licensed victuallers of the kingdom. The
error was calculated to do him considerable preju-
dice, inasmuch as the persons who were in the habit
of paying the fee. might suppose, upon seeing the
Recount, all over the empire, that more was demanded
than the patentee was authorised to receive. It had
been mentioned by the applicant to his Lordship, on
behalf of the publicans, that the fee amounted to two
guineas upon each license by the King's Sergeant
Trumpeter; whereas, under no circumstances did it
exceed 255. per annum.
The LORD MAYOR considered that it was of very
little importance whether the demand was two
guineas or twenty-five shillings. There was, in his
opinion, just as much reason for granting the first as
the second sum, and he was surprised that the
Licensed Victuallers ever consented to pay a far-
thing. Of what service, asked his Lordship, was
the King's Trumpeter's License ?
The Deputy said that it was issued under the im-
pression that it would protect the Licensed Vic-
tuallers, or other persons, who should have music
in their houses, from penalties, and of course from
the annoyance of informers.
The LORD MAYOR—" Protect ! That is im-
possible. The King's Trumpeter's License is of
no more use to a Licensed Victualler than this piece
of paper."
The Deputy was not prepared to enter into the
merits of the case, but his principal was, he believed,
occupied in making the necessary inquiries into the
nature and extent of the powers communicated to
him by his patent. He merely attended for the
purpose of showing that, upon occasions of applica-
tion to him for a licence, he never charged more than
he was justified in demanding.
The LORD MAYOR—But 1 say you are not justi-
fied in making any dematel. As I was aware that
this was a subject which interested a very extensive
part of the community, I looked into the 25th of
George 11. sec. 2, cap. 36,. which treats of those li-
censes. Listen to this, and tell me to what your
authority amounts :—" And whereas the multitude.
of places of entertainment for the lower sort of people
is another great cause of thefts and robberies, as they
are thereby tempted to spend their small substances
in riotous pleasures, and in consequence are put on
unlawful methods of supplying their wants, and re-
newing their pleasures; in order, therefore, to pre-
vent the said temptation to thefts and robberies,
and to correct, as far as may be, the habit of idle-
ness which is become too general over the whole
kingdom, and is productive of much mischief and
inconvenience, be it enacted by the authority afore-
said, that from and after the Ist of December, 1752,
any house, room, garden, or place, kept for publie
dancing, music, or other public entertainment of
the like kind, in the City of London and West-
minster, or within twenty miles thereof, without
a licence had for that purpose from last pre-
ceding Michaelmas Quarter Sessions of the Peace,
to be holden for the county, city, riding, li-
berty or division, in which such house, &c. or
place is situated (who are hereby authorised and
empowered to grant such licenses as they in their
discretion shall think proper), signified under the
hands and seals of four or more of the Justices there
assembled, shall be deemed a disorderly house or
place; and every such licence shall be signed and
sealed by the said Justices in open Court, and after-
wards be publicly lead by the Clerk of the Peace,
together with the names subscribing the same; and
no such licence shall be granted at any adjourned Ses-
sions, nor shall any fee or reward be taken for any
such licence; and it shall and may be lawful for any
constable, or other person authorized by warrant, to
enter such house or place, and to seize every person
who shall be found therein, in order to be dealt with
according to law ; and every person keeping such
house or place,,without such license, shall forfeit the
sum of 1001. to such person as will sue for the same,
and be otherwise punishable as the law directs in
cases of disorderly houses." Now does the King's
trumpeter's licence set aside this Act ? If it be of
authority, this Act is a dead letter.
The Deputy said that the patent was some bus-
dreds of years old, and the fee was an ancient custom
preserved up to the present time.
The LORD MAYOR asked what the terms of the
patent were ?—The Deputy had not the patent
about him, but it ran nearly as had been before de-
scribed to his Lordship. It privileged " beating,
blowing, and sounding.'
The LORD MAYOR—WeII, I decidedly think that
the King's trumpeter is by no means justified ; any
person here has just as much power in that respect.
The Deputy said that in consequence of the fact
of his Lordship having questioned the right of the
King's Sergeant Trumpeter to issue the licence, that
officer had determined to consult some eminent law
authority, and would be decided by the opinion of
such legal person..
The LORD MAYOR advised him by all means to
do so .as speedily as possible, and requested to know
what were the duties of the King's Trumpeter.
- :hat he claimed to nlav before