The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-04-26 00:00:00

THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD, TUESDAY, 26, 1853.

To be '-',0173 or 'lst.

TO be LET, a splendid FAMILY MANSION, near
New Brighton, containing Entrance-hall, 10 feet wide.
Three Entertaining-rooms, Fourteen Bedrooms, Hot and Cold
Bath, Kitchen on Ground Floor, Butler's Pantry, &c., Coach-
house and Stable, good Garden and Pleasure Grounds. Rent
moderate.

Also, a splendid HOUSE and SHOP, on south side of Bold-
street, with a private door; also, a back door in Wood-street,
with Fixtures complete. Immediate possession may be had.
Further particulars may be had on application to Wm.
WILLIAMS, Estate Agent, 47, Ranelagh-street, Liverpool.

TO be LET, a recently-erected VILLA-RESI-
DENCE, situate in Sandown-park, Wavertree, containing
Dining and Drawing-rooms, Kitchen, Scullery, Butler's Pan-
try, Larder (on ground floor,) Six Bedrooms, Dressing-room,
Hot, Cold, and Shower-Laths; W. C.'s and excellent Wine and
other Cellars.

The above may be bad with or without a Two-stalled Stable,
Harness-room, and Carriage-house.
Also, a Semi-detached VILLA, possessing similar accommo-
dation.

For particulars apply to Mr. C. SHERLOCK, Architect, 22,
King-street, Liverpool.

QUEEN'S PARK, CHESTER,

THIS picturesque, finely-elevated, and extensive
ESTATE, situate on the south side of the RIVER DEE,
and immediately adjoining the City, with which a close com-
munication has-been lately established by the erection of one
of DREDGE'S PATENT SUSPENSION BRIDGES; is within easy
reach by either River or Road of the magnificent Park and
Estate of the Marquis of Westminster (EATON HALL) and the
delightful Village of ECCLESTON. Queen's Park commands
extensive views of the surrounding country, including the
range of the Welsh Mountains, Beeston Castle, and the Peck-
forton Hills; and, on the other side, of the Dee Banks, City
Walls, the Cathedral, and Castle. This Estate is remarkable
for the salubrity of its atmosphere and its many advantages,
having a substratum of Red Sandstone; its extensive river
frontage giving facilities for fishing, boating, &c. ; and being
within ten minutes' walk of the Cathedral ; and as the Chester
General Railway Station is within fifteen minutes' walk, LI-
VERPOOL is distant only an hour's journey from Queen's Park.
The Properly has been recently laid out in BUILDING LOTS
for the erection of VILLA RESIDENCES, and will be sold either
on Chief Rent or entirely Freehold ; Lithographic Plans of
which, or further particulars, may be obtained on application
to Mr. HITCHEN, in the Park, at Chester; Messrs. ATKIN-
SON, SAUNDERS, and ATKINSON, Solicitors, Norfclk-street, or
Messrs. GOLDSMITHS, Architects, Bond-street, Manchester;
and Mr. H. SUMNER, Architect, Colquitt-street, Liverpool.

minish the inequalities ; but this is no reason why
a portion of the surplus anticipated might not have
been devoted to a rateable diminution at the present
time, instead of waiting two years to save a penny
in the pound. He spoke with much warmth of
the good which had been done by MR. PITT'S
Income Tax ; but we must remember that we are
now in a state of peace, and the event of war might
render such a fax necessary as an additional source
of revenue, which, under present circumstances, is
forestalled. His proposal to reduce the limit of
exemption to £lOO at a reduced rate, is less objec-
tionable in principle, though it will multiply op-
ponents to the measure. On the whole, the per-
sistence in retaining this tax strengthens the charge
against the party at present in office, that their
policy is to throw the burden of taxation upon the
higher classes, for the benefit of those who consti-
tute the majority of their political supporters. We
may remark, however, that its extension to Ireland,
while adding but little to its productivenesss, will
increase the hostility of the Irish members, who
are sufficiently numerous to turn the scale against
the present Ministers.
The net item in the Budget to be submitted for
Parliamentary approval, supposing the first to be
acceded to, is the proposal to impose a LEGACY'
DUTY upon successions to real property. There
is no doubt something exceedingly plausible in the
apparent fairness of putting all descriptions of pro-
perty upon an equality in this respect; but there
are circumstances which render them widely diffe-
rent,,and considering the vast amount of entailed
property enjoyed by members of the legislature, it

is doubtful how it may be received. In the case of
personal property there is something tangible and
comparatively lightly burdened, whereas broad

acres are subject to nuinciuurs licavy ulnugvo talus
which they cannot escape, and may have nothing
more than themselves out of which to pay the tax.
Mr. GLADSTONE proposes to spread the payment

of the duty over eight half-yearly instalments ; but
in many cases it must be over unproductive pro-
perty, such as large parks, heaths, and such places,
and in case of repeated successions would accumu-
late very heavily. Not long since, an Earl was
succeeded by four sons in succession, and in this

case five duties would have to be paid,—an amount
approaching at least to confiscation ; and in many
cases where all the personal property is left to
younger children, the real estate would be
diminished by every succession. Under this head
Mr. GLADSTONE relies for an addition of two
millions to the revenue; and indeed it forms the

partially succumbs to this vote, by proposing a
reduction from £l2 in London, and £8 in the
country, to £9 for the former and £6 for the latter.
This is so far well, but he goes a step farther, and
reduces the stamp on articles of apprenticeship from
£l2O to £BO. If there were any lack of attorneys,
we could comprehend the wisdotn of this step, but
when it is notorious that more men enter the pro-
fession than can find an honourable maintenance in
it, the wiser course would have been to have in-
cluded this latter item in the list of his additional
sources of Revenue.

The ADVERTISEMENT DUTY forms another of
the CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER'S partial
surrenders to the popular voice. It was only four
days before the Financial Statement was made that
a majority of the House of Commons voted for the
total repeal of this duty, involving as it did a loss of
only £lBO,OOO. Mr. GLADSTONE proposes to re-
tain sixpence out of the present duty of is. Gd.,
thereby withholding all the grace and half the benefit
of the boon for the paltry balance of £60,000. He,
however, goes further, and makes the singular pro-
position!to exempt from stamp duty all Supplements
to newspapers containing only advertisements.
There can be no doubt of the object of this con-
cession, as The Times is almost the only paper be-
nefited by it, and the price of the boon has been paid
in unscrupulous advocacy of the present Ministry,
and fulsome adulation of the matchless talents of Mr.
GLADSTONE, as the ablest financier of this or any
other age. We have said that The Times will be
solely benefited ; for though it is true that other
papers may publish similar supplements, few people
will pay to have their advertisements inserted in a
supplement which, containing no news, will very
seldom be read; and, like The Times supplement,
be very often not delivered with the paper which it
professes to accompany.

Among the other reductions on Stamps is that
on policies of LIFE ASSURANCE, which was a very
minor grievance; whereas the duty on fire in-
surances, which in most cases is two hundred per
cent, on the premium, is left untouched. In treat-
ing on this subject, Mr. GLADSTONE threw out a
suggestion that the Government might undertake

the business of LIFE ASSURANCE, in the same
manner that they now grant Life Annuities—a sug-
gestion that is worthy of consideration. Ile also
proposed an abatement of the Stamps on the Inden-
tures of Apprenticeship, without premium, from
to 2s. 6d., and the duty on Hackney Carriages from
Is. sd. to Is. per day. A more important alteration,
however, is that on Receipt Stamps, which, from
the present scale varying from 3d. to 10s. on sums
of £5 and upwards, is to be altered to the uniform
rate of one penny on sums of £2 and upwards.
The strangest part of the proposal is that of paying
the duty by affixing a penny postage label to the
receipt, by which a door will be open to general
fraud. In every case the stamp, if used, may be
detached from the receipt, and at any time, when
proof of the receipt is required, the affixing of a
penny stamp would render it a valid instrument, so
that in a majority of cases the duty on the receipt
would not be paid.

In dealing with the ASSESSED TAXES, the
CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER seems resolved
to make some little compensation to the higher
classes, for retaining on them the burden of direct
taxation. He proposes a reduction on male
servants, carriages, horses, hair-powder, and armo-
rial bearings, all of which, as being among the
luxuries of the great, may be considered fair
subjects for taxation; and increases the duty on
dogs, which will more generally fall on the lower
classes. In this respect, therefore, he will gain
nothing of popular favour, though it is to be done
at a loss to the revenue of no less than £290,000.

There is also to be a further loss of £54,000, from
an alteration in the post-horse duties, substituting
licenses for horses and carriages in lieu of tax on
mileage. In some respects this is more defensible,
as involving the employment of many industrious
persons, although the tax is paid by a class above
them.

It was indispensable, considering the party from
which it emanated, that the Budget should in some
way be identified with the system known as Free-
trade policy, and accordingly Mr. GLADSTONE,
following the example of his former leader, the late
Sir ROBERT PEEL, has constructed a new tariff of
Customs' duties, reducing those on many articles of
ordinary consumption, such as Apples, Butter,
Cheese, Cocoa, Eggs, Nuts, Oranges, Lemons, and
Raisins, to the extent, on the aggregate, of
£262,000. In addition to this, he proposes to
reduce the duty on a list of 133 minor articles, such
as Beer, Books, Chicory, Clocks, Confectionery,
Foreign Fruits ; Plate, Cotton, Linen, Silk, and
Woollen Manufactures; Perfumery, Manufactured
Tobacco, &c., at a loss of £70,000. He also pro-
poses a further loss of £53,000, by abolishing the
duty on 123 other articles, including Hemp Cables,
Gins, Fish, Poultry, Furniture Woods, Painters,
Colours, Dutch Clinkers, Spirits of Turpentine,
Rose-water, &c.

It will thus be seen that the Taxes proposed to
he levied consist of additional Property and Income
Tax, £590,000; Legacy Duty on Real Property,
£2,000,000; Irish and Scutch Spirits, £436,000;
and Licenses, £113,000 ; being a total of £3,139,000.
The proposed reductions are—Soap-tax, £1,126,000;
Stamps and Advertisement Duty, £420,000 ; As-
sessed Taxes, £344,000; Tea Duty, £366,000, and
ultimately £1,634,000; other Customs' duties,
£385,000, which, with £40,000, estimated from a
reduction of Colonial Postage to a uniform rate of
6d., makes a total of £2,681,000 ; so that, instead
of a reduction, there is an actual increase of taxa-
tion to the extent of £458,000. If, hoWever, we
take the reduction of Tea Duty for the second year,
which is estimated at a further loss of £510,000,
the whole reduction will be only £52,000; so that
Mr. GL:►DSTO\E has in reality displayed more
ingenuity in shifting the public burdens than in

relieving the community from their pressure. It is
true that the proposed imposition of Legacy Duty
on succession to real property will not be as pro-
ductive as the sum estimated for several years to
come, against which may be set the progressive
reduction of the Tea Duty; but then, on the
other hand, no allowance is made for the dimi-
nished interest on Exchequer Bills, and the con-
templated reduction of interest on the Three
per Cents. We can, therefore, only arrive
at the conclusion that the supposed surplus
of revenue is skilfully retained for probable con-
tingencies of increased estimates of expenditure ;
while the public are ingeniously made to believe, by
a clever scheme of adding here and taking off there,
that they have afforded them a sensible relief from
taxation. We cannot deny Mr. GLADSTONE the
character of an able financier; but before we un-
hesitatingly approve of his Budget, we must b e
convinced that his plan of robbing Peter to pay
Paul is the most judicious that could be adopted.

We have thus given a brief but impartial review
of Mr. GLADSTONE'S Financial Statement, which
occupied the attention of the House of Commons for
five hours on Monday last week ; but, as usual on such

occasions, was left until a future opportunity before
receiving the fiat of approval. We are told by The
Times that it has met with general approval in the
City, but we are also told by the same authority that
the Funds declined in value, and have not since re-
covered the depression. Indeel it is clear that appre-
hensions are already entertained as to its success;
and it is said that a meeting of Ministerial
supporters has been held in Chesham Place,
and resort had to the old threat of dissolu.

tion in case of rejection ; while the Ministerial
evening paper, The Globe, has significantly
avowed that the Budget is not of itself a suf-

ficient ground upon which to appeal to the

country. It is char that the whole fabric rests
upon the renewal and extension of the Income Tax
and the Legacy Duty on real property, both of
doubtful character, and only to be justified by strong
necessity. The former, it will be remembered, was

levied expressly for a temporary purpose, and has
now existed eleven years. Mr. GLADSTONE has
admitted the inequalities and injustice of it, and
expressly avowed his inability to improve it. In
proposing, therefore, its renewal for seven years
more, he has endeavoured to hold out a hope of
its extinction at the end of that period, but in doing
so he has drawn largely on future probabilities :
he has presumed that every duty now reduced will

have regained its former productiveness ; and he
has anticipated the falling in of the Long Annuities,
which, with more prudence, should hwe been de-
voted to the partial reduction of the National Debt.
These are points of serious consideration before
accepting the scheme as a whole, and we have
done our duty in placing them impartially before
the public.