The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1839-02-26 00:00:00

TAXES ON INTERNAL COMMUNICATION.

Mr. GILLON proceeded to bring forward the motion of
which he had given notice. The first class with which he in-
tended to deal, was the assessed taxes ; the second, the duty
on the hire of carriages ; third, mileage duty on stage
coaches ; fourth, their license duty ; fifth, the assessed taxes
on coach guards ; sixth, the duty on draught horses. The
gross amount he thought he should be able to reduce, was
£823,828. The next point was with reference to the modes
of conveyance that were not taxed, or at least not equally
taxed. As hon. members must be aware, a new power of
conveyance had arisen, and was fostered by being lightly
taxed. He alluded to steam, which in the shape of railroads
or steam-boats, conveyed persons from place to place in
large numbers, and yet that species of communication was
only taxed at about one-eighth of a penny a mile, while that
upon other modes of conveyance, by stage coaches, was three
times that amount. As an instance of that, he would advert
to what had taken place on the London and Greenwich Rail-
way, in the year 1836 that railway had carried no less than
1,200,000 passengers, and all the duty that they had paid,
agreeable to their composition, was £4OO, while the stage coach
proprietors had paid upwards of £6OOO. In consequence of
this state of things, numerous petitions had been presented
complaining of the grievances under which the petitioners
laboured, and praying the house to adopt some means for
their relief, stating that unless they did so it would be impos-
sible for them to compete with the railroads and other means
of communication. One of the great coach proprietors,
who had been examined before the committee to which he
had referred, had stated that unless some alteration was
made, the stage coach business would be entirely put an end
to. The hon. gentleman proceeded to read much of the
documentary evidence from the report of the committee on
this subject, of last year, and stated that it was his convic-
tion, if a preference should be given to any mode of commu-
nication between one place and another, that preference
should be given in favour of such communication as had
animal power for its principle. When railroads would be
crossing this country in all points, and the old roads had
fallen into decay, the public would be completely at the mercy
of the shareholders of such speculations. One of the great
advantages which railroads possessed, he was ready to admit,
was the speed and cheapness by which they enable a person
to go to any particular place ; but this only so far as it was
from point to point. If one had to go in a cross direction
they were of no use. He would wish to see the taxes taken
off, he confessed, altogether ; but if that was not feasible he
thought they ought to be equalised in such a manner that the
railroad proprietors alone should not enjoy a monopoly at
the public expense. What he intended at present moving
was, that the whole house should resolve itself into a com-
mittee, for the purpose of considering this matter.,
Mr. HINDLEY seconded the motion.

The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER declared that it
was his intention in the course of the present year, to intro-
duce a bill to correct many of the inconveniences to which
his honourable friend had adverted. The existing inequality
of taxation onght not to be continued ; as soon as the finan-
cial accounts of the year permitted, he should introduce a
bill on this subject. The right honourable gentleman, how-
ever, hinted that the inconvenience would be corrected, not
by taking off duties, but by the imposition of additional du-
ties on railroads and steam-boats.

Mr. WARBURTON hoped that all persons interested in
railroads and steam-boats would take the alarm. The hon.
gentleman contended, that it was of the greatest benefit to
the revenue to provide for the public the cheapest means of
communication ; and if they placed new taxes on railroads
they would interfere with the people taking fresh air, and
cause a diminution of that revenue which was now increasing.
The increase of steam communication had added to the re-
venue, and yet the post-horse duty had not diminished.
Mr. HUME had not understood the right honourable gen-
tleman to have talked of any new duty ; and he for one thought
there should be a reduction rather than an increase.

Mr. EASTHOPE observed that a heavy tax was laid upon,
and had already been paid by many, railroads, whilst no re-
turn had been made to the proprietors on their outlay ; and
if, before the capital invested was allowed to produce anything
like a fair return, the taxes upon those undertakings were to
be increased, they should at least be immediately told so.
He hoped that there would be no disturbance of the large
and important interests engaged in providing railway com-
munication ; but if there was such an intention, he trusted
that the house would not be a day longer without receiving a
specific notice from the Chancellor of the Exchequer of his,
intentions.

Sir ROBERT PEEL feared that they could do nothing for
the postmasters by equalization, for if they took off one-half
penny a mile from the post-horse duty, and charged one
penny a mile on roalroads, they would not bring both classes
to the same state. The right hon. baronet pointed out the
advantage of railroads to those whose capital consisted in
labour, by enabling them cheaply and quickly to transfer
their labour from one place to another. He laboured to im-
press the house with the importance of railroads in abridging
labour, and increasing the wealth of the country, and by
consequence, the revenue.
The motion was withdrawn.