Star.
London, England, 1820-07-05 00:00:00

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the year enJing tha sth arjaiiiirt iing be had lie pax endi t u re, and that at wiz expedient that ihe
kept out the account of •thi Pose-011iner and tine same e oeld .14 continued.
Hawkers and Pedlare dues. notwithstanding which t Sir H. PARNELL was of oP:asiee that the great
they would find that a greater increase Ltd taken' increase in the expense of collecting the Reienue had
place in the Customs than to any other department. I not been satisfactorily 'explained by the last speaker.
The following were the rates per cent.- By reducing the per dentage froin seven to five per
saving of £laoo,ooo the

cent. a
Public. would accrisiin,
Mr. J. SMITH expressed his surprite that ate first
Resolution should be opposed. In Ireland the system
of the Revenue was a job ;as sixteen per cent. was
paid in the net, and 22 per cent, in the gross amount.
Mr. W. SMITH said, that it was within his know-
ledge that a Distributor of Stamps received 33000
or 04000 a year. This person did his duty as well
is any man in the kingdom ; but he wished to know
What any man could do in the distribution of stamps
to entitle him to £4OOO a year ? The Chancellor of
the Exchequer had said, that the Country tlankers'
should not be Receivers of the Land-tax ; but he be-
lieved they were so, The truth was, that the present
Government was one of influence, and it ought not
to be, nor should the country permit it, if he might
be allowed to say so. The Government would not
want that influence, if the People had a proper confi-
dence in that House. No man could believe that the
,fair collection of the lievenue in Ireland could cost.
sixteen per cent. He was, however, in despair that
there was in this country either power or perseve-
rance sufficient to effect the Reform necessary to get
the better of that influence by which alone the pre-
sent Government existed.
Mr. TIERNEY said, that the general feeling of
the Public was, that nothing was to be expected in
that House. He, himself, had been encouraged to
proceed in these details by Mr. Pitt, the greatest
'financier that this country ever saw; hut at last his
exertions in that way became tedious to the House,
nd such would be the fate of every man who endea-
voured in this manner to serve the country. He be-
lieved firmly, that if the Government were fairly to
meet the evils in the face, in order by true economy
and retrenchment, to bring back the country to what
it was formerly, they would have the support of that
House, or, at all events, of the country. No man
could doubt that a great saving could be made in
the money paid for the collection of the Land-tax,
Stamps, Etc. It had been said that the collection of
these taxes had been carried on to the amount of 330
millions, without any loss but £13,000. He would
venture to say that this collection might be made
much cheaper, and with as little risk. He knew
he was speaking in the wrong place about the gene-
ral collection of the Land-tax, the County Membei-s
being better able than he was to give an account of
the profits of the collection of that tax—(Hear, hear).
He was ready to vote for the Resolution, which
stated that the collection of the Land-tax and Stamps
could be done at a much cheaper rate to the Public ;
and•upon that he was ready to take the sense of the
House, unless something 'should occur in the course
of the debate to alter his opinion.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER con-
sidered the Resolutions as useless. It was true that the
Revenue of France was collected easier and cheaper
than that of Ireland, for the principal Revenue of
France was a Land Revenue. He denied that the
..d-tax or the Stamp-duties could be better or
- collected than it now is.
Mr. HUME contended that his calculations were
correct ; add therefore he wished the Right Hon.
"Gentleman to place his own calculations alongside
of them, to shew the House whicb was accurate and
which was not. He did not therefore think that the
Chancellor of the Exchequer was justified in throw-
ing his . (Mr. Hume's) Resolutions overboard. He
trusted the House would on this occasion, manifest
a determination to economise.
The House then divided.—For the Resolutions, 95
—against them, 124—Majority, 29.
THE LATE KING'S WILL.
Mr. HUME observed, that, by the old law of the
land the King could not make any will, as his suc-
cessor was the rightful heir to all his property. But
by the Act of 1800 his Majesty was empowered to
bequeath his private property, or such property as
might have been purchased by the produce of the
privy purse, or other private funds. According to
the previously existing law, all the property of the
King devolved upon his successor, but by the Statute
of 1800 the exception was established, where a will
was made under the sign manual. If, however, it
appeared that a will was net made under the sign
manual, that will was not valid; and should such be
the case in this instance, the property of his late Ma-
jesty reverted to the present King. It would be re-
collected that the will of George I. in favour of the
Duchess of Kendal, was set aside by George IL upori
the highest legal authority. Here the Honourable
Member adverted to the regulations, made upon the
appointment of the Regency, to provide for the care
of the King's private property, under the superin-
tendence of Commissioners, who were responsible to
the Queen and the Regent, observing that the Royal
woods and forests were held not to be at all under
the management of these Commissioners—(Hear!)—
In the preamble to the Act of 1800, the King was
I listed to be possessed of property in the Funds, as
well as of certain lands and tenements, and he now
wished to know how that property had been disposed
of? If there was no will, Ministers had not done
their duty if they had not appropriated the late
King's property to the use of the Public. It was, in-
deed, incumbent upon them, in such case, to take
possession of that property immediately upon the de-
mho of the Crown: for they were as much entitled
to do so, as he himself should be to take possession,
saheir at law, of his father's personal property,..untilJ
111111 i *n less some will were brought forward to bort
Isis claim. Ministers had manifested an unwillingt+
ness to state, whether the late King had made any
will or not, or if not, how his Majesty's private pro-
perty had been disposed of, and therefore he felt it.
'necessary to Submit the motion with which. he meant
to conclude. It was said that his Majesty had, ac-
cording to the Act of 1800, made a will, by which
he divided his property among his sons who were
then living. This property was stated to amount
to a million--(Hear, hear from Lord Castlereagh).
He was aware that this property was said by some
not to exceed £200,000. - But if it really amounted
to a million, it. 'night be concluded that each of the
Princes had succeeded to £206.000, and this was
point upon which be submitted the House ought to b
informed, before theprovisioes proposed for the
duttior
branches of the Royal .family should be as to.

• /And tied hr
Customs. Xxciae. Stampia sewed Thu&
In England,C9 3 $ I 3 19 7 I 2 10 ell I 3 IS 4
Scotland 16 9 Of 7 410 317 1 519 4
Ireland 16 13 Eti If 9 11e 11 S sd) 16 19 10 ,
And the average of the total Revenue in each county,
in England, £5. 17s. 10d.; in Scotland, £9. 6s. I Id.;
and m Ireland, £l5. Bs. I lid. The only way in
which he could account for the greater increase
in the Customs• was by this circumstance : The
Customs were under the controul of the Trea-
sury, while the Excise was partly under Commis:.
%foliar'. Though there Itad•been an excess for the
last year on the Excise, yet the excess had.been more
on the Customs. The reason was obvious. In the.
Excise, preferment was given-according to seniority,
while in the Customs it depended on interest, and not
merit. In the city of Aberdeen, which he represented,
the situation of landing surveyor became vacant, and
instead of, being bestowed ott the next in seniority, it
had been given to a young man from-Edinburgh, to-
tally ignorant of the duties of the office. The place
was worth £2OOO a-year. A reductioriought to be
made in the Customs equal to that in the Excise. The
next point to which he should call the attention of
the House was that of Superannuation. In 1810, the.
amount of superannuation had only been £lo,2ep.
But after the Act of the 51st of the late King, it had
Increased, in 1817, to £61,335, in 1818, to £76,200,
and in 1819, to more than £BO,OOO. The reason of
that increase was obvious, as superannuation added to
the patronage of Ministers. That increase had not been
confined to the Customs, but extended to all the
departments, under the controul of the Treasury.—
The Revenue in Scotland and Ireland was collected
at different rates from that of England, and that
mode of collection should be done away. While he
was upon the subject of . the Revenue, he must ob-
serve, that the Post-Office was one of the best con-
ducted of all the Public Departments. He should
next proceed to the Office of Receiver-General ; and
on that subject two questions would arise, one of
which related to the expense'to the Public, and the
other to the patronage of Ministers. In that Depart-
ment there were 95 Distributors. of Stamps, and 68
Receivers-General in •England and Wales ; and hit
Resolution would go to state, that the duty might
be done at a much less expense. The salaries of
these Officers amounted to from £40,000 to £50,000,
and the total amount of the balances was about
£344,000, while the whole of the duty was discharged
by deputy. While the Receivers-General kept the
balances for a quarter in their hands,.in the Customs
and Excise it was paid weekly into the Treasury. In
London, the taxes of a large district bad been col-
lected without any pcundage, and the Individual
thought himself sufficiently rerninlerated by the use
of the balances. In the Post Horse Duty the Public
had never lost a shilling, and a similar course to that
adopted in the case of that duty should betaken with
respect td the other branches of the Revenue. The
per center should be taken away, and a salary be
allowed. In the case of ten Distributors of Stamps,
there had Been a deficiency of 1:390,000, and the ar-
rears for the present year amounted to £115,000.—
The next Resolution would refer to the Distributors
of Stamps, some of wldm had balances in their hands
to the amount of £190,000. At the places where
Stamps were sold, the Public were made to pay at
the rate of 7% per cent. In 1818, in Aberdeen,
£4455 had been paid as poundage to the Distributors
of Stamps, while the duty might be done for a quar-
ter of the sum. He hoped no objection would be
made to the Resolutions being entered cm the Jour-
nals, to -chew the opinion of the House. His first
Resolution was—" That in order to hasten relief to
the country, it was expedient that a minute enquiry
should be made into the whole of the Public Expen-
diture, and the utmost vigilance be directed to the
management of the Revenue."
Mr. LUSHINGTON stated, that the Honourable
Gentleman, in adverting to the expenses of 1796, had
omitted to take into the account the department of
the Post-Office, and that omission would consequently
materially affect the result. The year 11197 would
have afforded a better standard of comparison, as it
had the same items of expense as the year 1890. At
that time the salaries were small, and the emolu-
ments arose principally from fees. At that time,
there was no superannuation, and those diversities
made it difficult to institute a comparison between
the different periods noticed by the Honourable Gen-
tleman. He- (Mr. Hume) had made a mistake as to
the per tentage, which was only £5. 13s. 84.—[Mr.
RUMS here stated, that he had taken the account
from the documents on the table.]—Mt. Lossurro-,
TON proceeded, and said that the Honourable Gentle-.
.man had taken the wrong line of figures, and that'
had been the cause of the mistake. He (Mr. Hume)
should have compared years when the state of the
country was similar; but instead of that, he bad com-
pared a time of peace with ene of war—(Near, heart)
The years 1817 and 1818 formed the proper time of
comparison with the present year ; and the Revenue
and the Expenditure of the present year were far more
favourable than that of the three preceding. The
third Resolution might be adopted, though he should
move that the others be negatived ; and in their room
he should propose three of his own. The amount of
the reduction for the present year had been much
more than £59,000. There was no ground for com-
paring the mode of collecting the Revenue in Eng-
land, with that practised in Scotland and Ireland.—
Out of £330,000,000, arising from the collection of
the Stamps, from the year 1790, the arrear was
only £130,000, and of that £lB,OOO only was a des-
perate debt. A demand was made each Quarter for
the balances in the bands of the Receiver-General,
and the poundage was 14s. 2d. Though in the case
of the Distributors of Stamps the duty was done by,
deputy, et Government looked only to the princi-
pal. The Superannuation had increased greatly
since 1810, when a salary had been given in lieu of
fees. But that had been attended with benefit to the
Public, as men in the prime of life had been substi-
tuted for aged and infirm. Tile Honourable Mem-,
ber concluded by stating, that he should move two,
Resolutions, declaratory of the state of the Revenue
in 1818 and 1819 ; and a third, statinl, that a minute.
inquiry had been made into every lrancb of the Nib,