The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-07-28 00:00:00

HOUSE OF COMMONS—TIiuRsDA/

The third reading of the Farnham rectory bill was, on the
motion of Sir R. INGLIS, postponed till Monday.
The house having then resolved itself into committee on
the railways bill, Mr. EASTHOPE pressed the postponement
of all legislation until another year should have supplied
more information than the house yet possessed with respect
to these important undertakings.

Mr. HUME doubted the expediency of interfering in the
present year ; but admitted that, as the parties enjoyed
monopolies, there was not here the same objection which
existed against a legislative meddling with undertakings
strictly private.

Sir ROBERT PEEL thought it for the advantage, not only of
the public, but of the proprietors themselves, that the sub-
ject should not be left unsettled till another session.
The committee then proceeded with the bill, clause by
clause. This lasted till a quarter before twelve o'clock.
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL moved the committee on the
bill for rating stock in trade.
On the question that the Speaker should leave the chair,
Mr. GOULBURN objected to the principle of the bill, as
exempting stock in trade, now legally liable to rates. He
said he had received many complaints from occupiers of
pasture lands in the neighbourhood of London, and they
were assessed to rates for the maintenance of, a police very
little benefitting them but mainly useful for the preservation
of stock in trade. The bill would be a great hardship to
many occupiers, not only in parishes where it had hitherto
been customary to rate stock in trade, but in other parishes
also where compromises had been made under the recognised
liability of such stock. He felt that it was desirable to
introduce some general measure which should deal with all
the difficulties of the case ; but he could not assent to one of
partial operation, which suddenly altered the relative position
of parties, and inflicted an especial hardship upon owners of
ecclesiastical tithes. There had been two decisions at law,
one of which gave a benefit to the tithe-owner, while the
other imposed a burden on him. The present bill went to
take away the benefit, yet left the burden unalleviated. When
parliament lately commuted tithe into rent charge, they gave
the tithe owner a distinct pledge that he should not thereby
incur any liability to increase of burden. A tax upon tithe
was a tax upon the wages of the clergyman's labour ; it
formed the only instance in which labour was taxed, and yet
the clergyman was ti :e only party precluded, and very pro-
perly, from increasing his means by any auxiliary profession
br trade. If this bill were pursued, it would at least be fitting
to introduce some deduction in the rate on tithe, correspond-
ing with the benefit of the proposed exemption to stock in
trade. The poor's rate was not now confined to the relief of
the poor ; it embraced a large demand for bridges, for police,
and for a variety of important and expensive objects. If,
then, other classes were to obtain a certain relief from that
heavy impost, a proportionate relief would be extended to
the tithe owner.

The ATTORNEY-GENERAL said that, in the present com-
plicated state of the law, no rate at all could be made against
a litigious parishioner, and that such a condition of affairs
could not be suffered to continue. By the strict law, all
stocks in trade are rateable, but the practical inconvenience
of rating them was such, that they had been omitted in
almost all the parishes of England, and the object of the
present bill was to fix the general usage into a positive law.
There was no distinction between the landlord and the lay
tithe-owner ; and he saw no reason for any distinction be-
tween the lay tithe-owner and the ecclesiastical. He would
oppose any attempt at, such a distinction, and all attempts to
omit coal mines, gas works, and other similar classes of occu-
pied property.
Sir E. WILMOT said, that some bill ought to pass ; but that
there should be a clear definition of what constituted real
property—especially with reference to machinery.
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL said that any attempt to codify
on such a subject would let in a flood of litigation.
Mr. DARBY thought the question ought to be heard in all
its bearings early in the ensuing session. The present bill
ought to be made merely a temporary one. _ _

Mr. WOOD (of Middlesex) ascribed the whole difficulty to
the circular letters of the poor law commissioners.
Mr. P. SCROPk denied that there was any such equity for
the tithe-owners as had been suggested by Mr. Goulburn.
Mr. MUNTZ said, that as a large owner of machinery, he
had been for many years in constant collision with the parish
officers ; and that the law required alteration.
The bill then went through committee.
The Canada clergy reserves bill was reported ; and the
house, at a quarter before two o'clock, proceeded to dispose
of the other orders of the day. It adjourned at two o'clock.