Star.
London, England, 1831-09-02 00:00:00

FRIDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 2, 1831.

It is said that his Lordship has no Intention of
bringing forward his proposed alteration in the
newspaper duties this session, which looks very
like as if he had abandoned the thing altogether.
Perhaps his Lordship, having thrown overboard
every other " new arrangement," of his ever-
memorable budget, has determined, without any
regard to the abstract propriety or non-propriety
of the measure, to abandon this one also, in order
to make his own self condemnation as a financier
more striking and complete.
Be this as it may, both the public and newspaper
proprietors have a right to demur to this 'instates-
man-like proceedure. If Government are suffered
Ito proceed without remonstrance in the vacillating
course which, judging from the past they seem to
have chalked out for themselves, they may go on
1 making changes in the relations of every species
of property in the country, until commerce is
ruined altogether.
There never was a time which more urgently
required a reduction of the stamp and advertise-
ment duties than the present. Independently of
the natural thirst for information which is the
consequence of the extensive diffusion of educa-
tion among all classes, the stirring and deeply
momentous events daily occurring throughout Eu-
rope, whet the appetite for newspaper informa-
tion to au extraordinary degree. In consequence
of the high price of newspapers, arising from the
exorbitant duties, this intense anxiety for informa-
-1 tion can only be partially gratified : it is so only
in the case of those in easy circumstances : the
lower classes are in a great measure debarred from
the knowledge they are so desirous to obtain. To
keep men in ignorance who are hungering and
thirsting for knowledge, is at once cruel and im-
politic; and it is an expedient which we had
thought no Whig Government would have resorted
to. Lord Brougham used to talked to excess about
the " Schoolmaster :" he is the principal pillar
which supports the present Cabinet; where is
his consistency in perpetuating these heavy taxes
on knowledge ?
As regards the advertisement duties, they are a
positive incubus on trade and commerce. Adver-
tising is the life and soul of commerce. Let the
stubborn fact speak to this point, that all those
publishers, medicine venders, blacking makers, &c.
&c. who have once commenced the system of ad-
vertising, are sure to continue it. But for adver-
tising,—and they will not hesitate to admit as
much—there are many of our most eminent
houses which could not carry on business at all.
—The oppressive duties, however, exacted by
our Government restrict the practice of adver-
tising to a comparatively few houses. Those
whose capital is limited can scarcely attempt it at
all. Two evils of vast magnitude to the public
ensue ; first, a few individuals enjoy a compara-
tive monopoly of every branch of business, and
consequently charge enonnous profits; and, se-
condly, from want of free competition, there is
not a tithe of that employment for artisans and
labourers which there would otherwise be.

The trade and commerce of this country are at
this moment in an unusually languishing state ;
and a wise and patriotic Government would not he-
sitate a moment at the adoption of so unexception-
able an expedient to improve it, as a modification
of the fiscal regulations by which it is fettered,—
even were the revenue to suffer somewhat from
the step. But it can be proved beyond all doubt
or denial, that so far from losing by the proposed
reduction of duties, it would gain to a very consi-
derable extent. The proposition is indeed a self- "
evident one. In every case where an article is
held to be indispensable—and newspapers are un-
deniably so—the use or consumption of that article
will be increased in proportion to the reduction
made in its price ; in many cases, and we doubt
not it would be so in this one, the consumption
proves greater than the reduction made. For
example, in instances where there are a dozen
individuals about one daily paper at present, half
a dozen would suffice ; so that in a circle where
only one paper circulated before, two would cir-
culate under the new regime. Persons again, who
have only a three times a week paper would be
induced to take in one daily ; and those who had
only one weekly Journal would become subscribers
to two. We do not, of course, say that this would
be the case in every instance ; but we hold it would
be so to an extent which would at least compensate,
and more than compensate, the revenue for the de-
falcation which a short sighted financier would ap-
' prebend from the proposed reduction. But if an
appeal to stubborn facts be demanded in proof of
our position, we at once point to the prodigious cir-
culation which the American newspapers have, not
certainly from any superior talent embarked in
them, but solely from their comparative cheapness.
Again, as to the advertisement duties, we hold
that a modification of them is, if possible, still more
imperiously called for than even a reduction of the
stamp duties, and that the measure, so far from di-
minishing the revenue would materially swell it.
The proposed reduction was to be, that, instead
of 3s. 6d. duty on every advertisement indis-
criminately, whether long or short, all the ad-
vertisements
exceeding a hundred and twenty
words should be subject to a tax of 24. 6d.
while those under that number would be only
charged one shilling. Perhaps a majority of ad-
vertisements would be so condensed in the wording
as not to subject the advertiser to more than one
shilling duty. For these last advertisements, in-
stead of (is. 6d. which is the present charge, how-
ever short, the proprietors of newspapers would be
satisfied with 3s. 6d. which is a reduction to the
extent of nearly ouo half. The obvious conse
quences would be, that thousands who had
never before dreamed of advertising, in conse-
quence of the high charges, would have recourse to
it then. And those who had before contented them-
selves with one insertion, would order two or

rftl CE SEVENPENCE.

three, perhaps more, under the cheaper arrange-
ment. A number of mercantile and manufactu-
ring houses would commence a regular system of
advertising in all the resrectable Journals in the
kingdom. Publishers and booksellers alone would,
in such a VISE', advertise so extensively as to afford
of themselves no inconsiderable revenue to govern-
ment. A vast increase, too, would also take place
in the advertisements, subject to a duty of 2s 6d ;
for proprietors of newspapers would be enabled,
in consequence of the modification, to make a very
considerable reduction in their charges on long