Star.
London, England, 1824-05-14 00:00:00

reason for supposing that the results anticipated by tho;
Gentlemen would follow from the total repeal of the
Salt Duties. He then referred to the neat branch of

his subject. Everybody must be struck with the enor-
mous extent to which building was carried in this
country. The tax on windows in houses equal from
their extent to such a burden, increased every day, and
he contended that it would be expedient to exempt small
houses from this tax. In order to enable the House to
do so, he wished to keep up the Salt Tax. He con.
tended that this tax could be shewn to be objectionable.
He wished to keep up the income of the State. The
mode of doing k which was least liable to objection wa,
that which ought to be preferred by that House. He
should, therefore, beg to move, {{That it is expedient
the present rate of duty on Salt should be continued, ill
order to enable his M tjesty's Government to tike off
the duty on windows of houses of the first class in t!,e
next Session of Parliament."
Mr. CARTWRIGHT seconded the m'nion.
The SPEAKER having put the question, several
Members then rose at once, but _

The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER im.
mediately rose amid vies of " Sir Francis Burdett,-
who, with some other Members, had risen.—He had 11
apologise, he said, to the Gentlemen on the usher side
of the House for persisting in his endeavours to present
himself to its attention before them ; but, standing in tf.e
particular situation which he did, as a Minister of 1111
Crown, he was anxious, at this early part of the debate,
to declare, without reserve, the opinion which he held
with regard to the present motion. Honourable also.
bers, he was sure, would do him the jast_.-e to tecollect,
that is the statement which he made to them, at the
commencement of the Session, he had distinctly info: mei
them, that if, in the course of it, there should be a ge-
neral feeling that the cessation of this tax ought not to
take place at the time fixed for. it by law, it would Lot
be a difficult task to find other means of affor,:ing re-
lief to the Public ; but that he w:ls cf opinion that, a;
far as himself and the Government were concerned,
they were pledged—(Greet cheering, and load cries c.
Hear from all sides of the !louse). Ile repeated, that
Ministers were specifically pledged to adhere to the
law as it now stood—(Loud and repealed cheet jag).—
Ile would not go so far as to say that Parliament were
pledged to stand by that law, if it were good that the
law should be repealed; or that the Govert:meut were
bound not to repeal it, if the repeal of it were either
good or useful to the Ile had, therefore, on
formerly addressing the Hou.,e, qualified the pledge
which he had given in this manner—that tl,cte should
be a strong general feeling in favour of this tax I,efaie
he ventured to propose its coutinuance—(Checring).
therefore, any such feeling had been excited, he should
have felt himself at liberty to support the motion of iris
Honourable Friend, the Member for Norfolk ; for he
agreed with his Honourable Friend in thinking tha:
the objections to the continuance of the 2s. duly ca
salt had been very much over-rated. Indeed, it wai
his opinion that the consumer would not be at all bene-
fited by the repeal of it—(fiear, hear). It was hopes.
sible, lie contended, to retain these two shillings o:
duty without retaining the exemptions ((irecr.s).
He was inclined to say, that if any tax on salt were
to be continued, it ought e.ti.er to be much more than
2s. or to be reduced to so low a rate as to d:spense en-
tirely with the exemptions ; for it was out of these ex-
emptions that all the smuggling, perjury, and tirri.:-
ralization arose, which rendered this tax so gene:any
objectionable—(Cheers). Though lie believed, that f
the exemptions were removed, and die duties 100 e:e;,
the produce of the tax, from the greater c•iistimi,t,:i
given to the article taxed, would be as great as it v,r,
at the present, he was not prepared to say that titer:
was no objection to the extinction of these exemptinw.
The Honourable Member for 13,,dinin would, pethap,
tell him that the evil created by these exemptions via,
not compensated by the amount produced by tin;
small tax—a sum which he believed was som,:where
between 200,0001. and 250,000/. The question
he had to put to himself was this—is the advantage
which the public income derives from this tax,
cient to justify me in retaining it against the indisuosi.
,tion of the Howe?—(Cheers)—which certainly was
much greater than he had previously expected—(/;ear).
His Honourable Friend had told them that he antici-
pated many objections to his motion. He had told
them that he reckoned among his opponents not only
the Honourable Members for Shaftesbury, and Bodmin,
and Wareham, but also all the Members connected with
the western counties. This was a decision that there
was no strong feeling in the country in favour of this
tax—(Great cheering). He therefore felt, that after the
pledge which had been given, not to continue this tax,
unless a strong feeling were manifested in its favour.
Government would not be justified in continuing it a
moment longer than the period fixed by law—fin/mew:
Icheering). Thinking that there was no general feeling
in favour of the tax, he had not waited for the expres•
sion of the opinion of the House; but had come fore
ward at the earliest opportunity, to make a suggestion
to his Honourable Friend, which he trusted that he
would not be indisposed to adopt—namely, to with.
draw his present motion—(Great cheering). As his
Honourable Friend had coupled his project with are
other, to which he (the Chancellor of the Exchequer)
could by no means accede, he should have been obliged
to make the same request to him, even if the Househai
been inclined to listen to his proposal about the :at
Duties—(Cheers, and a cry desiring Mr. WO clehouse tc
withdraw his 'notion). If his Honourable Friend wai
not disposed to accede to his suggestion, he must cert.
elude by moving the previous question—(Cheering).
Cries of " question, question," were then raiszd,
mingled with a loud call for " Mr. Wodehouse"
all sides of the Howe. In the midst of them,
Mr. WODEIIOUSE rose. After expressing his as•
tonishment at the observations which had just fallen,
from his Right Hon. Friend, he observed that he thoag!lt
that it would be unfair in him to withdraw his motion.
as in bringing it forward he had made many percun3l
allusions to Hon. Gentlemen, which might, perhaps•
have rendered them anxious to obtain an opportunity Cl
replying to him ; he, however, was willing to wit!:,
draw the motion, if the seconder of it would cans_
to such a measure.
Mr. CARTWRIGHT had no objection to have::
withdrawn, as he had seconded it with a view of a-.cc.-
taining the feelings of the House upon the question.
The SPEAKER then put the question—" Is it your
pleasure that this question be withdrawn ?" and took
sense of the House on it in the usual way. On his as
nouncing that the " Ayes" had it, the House cheered.
SALARIES OF PUBLIC OFFICERS.
Mr. R. MARTIN rose to move a Resolution, of via:
the effect was, " to increase the salaries annexed to
th
Great Officers of State, and to high judicial situations:
the country, so as to render them more adequate to 0