The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1833-04-23 00:00:00

THE LIVERPOOL STAN DARR

the House resolving itself into a Committee of Supply was then
read.

Lord ASHLEY asked whether a copy of the instructions
issued to the labour in factories commission had been prepared;
and if so, when it could be laid before the house ?

Lord ALTHORP said it would be furnished on Monday.
The house then went into a committee of Supply.
FINANCIAL STATENENT.-THE BUDGET.
Lord ALTHORP said that he now rose to call the attention of
the. house to the statement which he had to make respecting the
finances of the country. When the present ministers entered
upon office it was upon the principle and pledge that they would
apply themselves to economy to the utmost of their power, and
he wished, therefore, upon the first occasion of discussing the
finances of the country before a reformed Parliament, to state
the progress which ministers had made towards redeeming that
pledge by effecting a reduction in the expenditure of the country.
The actual number of places which they had abolished since
they had come into office was-1387 (hear); and the total amount
of salaries connected with those places was £231,405. (Cheers.)
From that amount there certainly must be a reduction made
of £38,000 a year, which had been given in the shape of retired
allowances upon the reduction of those places. The amount
of places so abolished up to the present time was £1387. The
average of the salaries of the places so abolished warl:l73 10s. 9d.
In applying himself to the state of the revenue, he would begin
by stating what had been the amount of the income and ex
penditure of the country during the year ending the sth of
April, 18.33. The noble lord then read the following state-
ment:—

INCOME AND EXPENDITURE FOR TUE YEAR ENDING APRIL,
1833.

Income £46,852,650
Expenditure 45,365,507

Surplus Income 1,487,143

EX PEN Dll URE.

Debt
Other charges..

29,225,991
1,859,248

Consolidated Fund.. 30,085,239

SUPPLIES.

Army 7,006,498
Navy
Ordnance. 1,634,817
Miscellaneous .....1.4 2,133,953

£45,365,507
The committee would. recollect that in the estimate_which he
had made to the house during the last session of Parliament, he
had stated the probable excess of income for the ensuing year
over expenditure much lower than it now really proved to be.
He had stated then that he only calculated upon an excess of
income of £BOO,OOO ; he was now, however, happy to say, that
in consequence principally of the reductions in expenditure
which had• been made, the excess of income over expenditure
now amounted to no less than £1,487,143, being an excess of
income considerably more than covering the deficiency for the
preceding year. (Hear, hear.) The deficiency in the preced-
ing year had been £1,240,412, and the surplus of the present
year being £1,487,143, it would be seen that there had been an
actual improvement in the present year above the preceding
year of no less than £2,728,0,,10. The mode in which this had
been effected had not been by arty great increase in the income
of the country, for there had been but a very slight increase in
the income of the country during the last two years ; the in-
come in 1832 being £46,61.8,00, and in 1833 £46,852,650, giv-
ing an excess of income for the year ending April 5, 1833, of
£`235,01)0; but it had been the consequence of the considerable
diminution that had been made in the public expenditure during
that period. The expenditure for the last year consisted in the first
instance of the debt, including the charge for interest upon Ex-
chequer-bills, part of which was not charged upon the consolidated
fund, £28,225,591; of other charges £1,859,248, snaking a total
charge on the consolidated fund of £30,085,239. The other por-
tion of the expenditure arose out of the sums voted fur supplies.
The supplies, as he had already stated, for the year 1833, were
£45,365,507. The supplies and estimates for the ensuing year
had been already laid upon the table of the house, and he
would just state what they were. The noble lord hero read the
following statement of the estimated income and expenditure for
the year ending April, 1834:

ESTIMATED INCOME.

Customs • •

£16,769,621

Excise

16,29,131

Stamps
Taxes • •

6;857,541
5,003,937

Post-office .. .. ..
Miscellaneous • • ..

1,453,900
238,520

£46,852,650
45,365,507

Expenditure .. • •

Estimated Surplus Income

1,487,143

ESTIMATED EXPENDITURE.

Debt
Other Charges

.. £28,325,991
1,974,009

Consolidated Fund •..

• • .. £30,300,000

SUPPLIES..

Army .. .. • • .. .C 6,673,251
Navy .. .. .. 4,658,635
Ordnance .. • • .. •• 1,455;•2`23
Miscellaneous .. .. 1,835,110

£44,922;219
The house was aware of the views which he had always enter-
tained and expressed with regard to a surplus. He had stated
them on many occasions; he had frequently stated his opinion,
an opinion in which he hoped the house would concur, that it
would be more desirabler to take off taxes, than to keep up a
large amount of surplus, in order to pay off some portion or the
debt. He had already stated the surplus for the ensuing year
at £1,487,143 Now, with respect to reduction, he certainly
thought, upon the principles upon which he had always acted,
that with such a surplus in our hands a reduction of taxes might
be effected (hear) ; but he was at the same time quite aware
that the reduction of taxes which he should have to propose
could not possibly be the same that he had heard gentlemen
speak of in that house, and that he had heard mentioned as
likely out of doors. He thought that a reduction of taxes to a
far less extent would, if properly applied, be productive of some
considerable relief to the country. Before he went further, he
thought it necessary for him to apply himself to those taxes
which had been proposed for reduction as pressing much upon
the people of this country, and which he was afraid would be
still likely to press much upon them, as he could not consent
to their reduction. The first tax of that description to which he
felt it necessary to allude was the tax upon malt. Its amount
for the last year had been £4,825,128. A total reduction, there-
fore, of the malt-duty, without the substitution of some other
tax in its place, would certainly be quite inconsistent with the
state of the revenue. Looking, therefore, at this tax in a finan-
cial point of view, is appeared to be a tax that did not interfere
with the consumption of the article, and looking. at it on the
other hand, as it affected the
.producer, it appeared that the
producer was net deprived by it as far as- he (Lord Althorp)
could ascertain, of a fair price for his commodity as compared
with the prices of other grain. For these reasons he had arrived
at a conclusion which might, no doubt, be a very unpopular one,
(and certainly.the duties which a Chancellor of the. Exchequer
had to perform on the subject of taxation were often calculated
to expose him to much unpopularity), but he did think, looking
at this tax in all the points of view that he had mentioned, that
the malt-tax was one that ought not to be reduced.—
The next tax to which he was about to allude was one, certainly,
with regard to which lie entertained very great doubt, the stamp
duties upon newspapers. With respect to that tax lie (Lord.
Althorp) had already frequently stated his opinion. He thought
it a bad tax. (Hear, hear.) He thought it a tax productive
of much evil,, because he considered the effect of it to be unfor-
tunately to give a monopoly to persons who did not care about
evading the law. It gave them a monopoly of cheap publica-
tions, by which means they were placed in the hands of very
disreputable persons. The question, then; he took to be
this, whether in the present distressed state of the conn/tY.
the taking off a tax that produced £441,000 a year, and
the taking off of which could not be urged as calculated to
give immediate relief to any class in the community, was the
best thing that could under existing circumstances be done.—
( Hear, hear.) He saw that his hon. friend opposite was taking
notes on this occasion. He (Lord Althorp) did not mean to say
that the repeal of this tax would not give relief to a certain ex-
tent, but generally. speaking it could not be called a tax the taking
off of which would afford relief to the distress of the country.—
He had certainly, in different discussions during the present
session, intimated—it might have been imprudent on his part
to have done so—but he had intimated what, indeed, was. his
real intention at the time, namely, his intention to take off this
tax, but subsequent consideration had made him doubt the pro-
pricty of doing so, and he wished to state the matter as he had
dime, frankly and fairly to the house. (Hear.) Ile did not
think that it would be necessary for him to apply himself to any
other tax at the present part of this discussion. The first tax
to which he wished to call the attention of the committee, and
with a resolution for the reduction of which he should have to
conClude, was one of very trifling amount—it was the tax upon
tiles: The whole of that tax amounted to only £37,000 a year.
The next tax to which he should wish to apply himself was one
the whole amount received on which was not very large; at

the same time, however, he was of opinion that a reduction. to ei
certain extent of this tax would afford considerable relief. It
was a tax respecting newspapers; it was the tax upon adver-
tisements. (Hear.) He believed that that tax, as it at present'
stood, was extremely injurious to the interests of the trading
community, and that considerable benefit would accrue t) the
productive classes by its removal. At present, as the committee
was aware, the duty was 3s. 6d. upon each advertisement, how:-
ever often inserted. It was plain that such a tax as that must
be attended by this consequence, that it must be a great check
on the insertion of advertisements in the papers ; that it mutt,
therefore, operate greatly to the injury of the diferent trading
portions of the community, and that it would. be a very groat
benefit to them were such a tax considerably reduced. (Hear.)
He proposed to reduce the tax upon all adyertisementsesn their
first insertion from 3s. fid. to 25.; on their second insertiew
from 2s. to Is. 6c1., and on all future insertions to Is. '1 he com-
mittee would see that the effect of this. plan would be, that it
would risk little, if any amount of revenue, while it would give
the public and the trading portion of the community an encou-
ragement to repeat their advertisements, which they-did not now
possess. He calculated the loss at one-half of the present amount
of the duty. The whole annual revenue from advertisements at
present amounted to £150,000. The next tax to which he should
direct the attention of the committee was one which, when they
were altering and reducing taxes, it was most desirable should
be altered and reduced; he alluded to the tax-upon- maiiue. in-
surances. (Hear, hear.) He thought that without any large
sacrifice of the revenue this tax might be altered and reduced
such a manner as to give great accommodation to the shipping
interest, and to the trade of the country generally. The ins,
sent rate of duty on the coasting trade was Is. 3d. per cent.,
where the premium did not exceed 205., and 2s. 6d. per cent.
where the premium exceeded 20s. Upon the foreign trade the
duty was 2s 6d. per cent. where the premium did not exceed Ms,
and ss. per cent. where the premium exceeded 20s. The nett
amount of this tax, which he now proposed to alter and reduce,
was .4-;2'20,000. In the year 1815 the gross amount of this W.
(certainly from various causes it was large in that year) wag
1.:452,000, whereas, as ho had already stated; no reduction hav-
ing been made in the tax since, the gross amount of it now was
only £220;000. It must, he feared, be admitted, under such cir-
cuinstances, that the effect of this tax upon policies-of marine
insurance had been to drive them entirely out of the country.
(Hear, hear.) The proposition which he would have to make
to the committee on this subject would be, as far as he had been
able to ascertain, acceptable to the parties concerned. It had not
been proposed by them to alter the tax upon the policies: upon
the coasting trade. His
.proposition therefore was; that upon
the policies of insurance in the foreign trade the duty should for
the future stand thus :—Premium not exceeding 155., Is. 64.
duty; ditto, ditto 305., 2s. 6d.; ditto above 305., ss. Ile be=
bored, from all he had heard, that this arrangernent. would. sa-
tisfy the parties concerned, though of course toey would be bet-
ter pleased if the duty were taken off altogether, but the reduc-
tion now proposed to be made would fall upon those policies of
insurance which particularly required .reliel. He calculated the
reduction of the revenue in this instance at £lOO,OOO. He pro-
posed this reduction with great pleasure, as he was sure it would
be very beneficial to the shipping interest of the country, and
because it would tend to relieve a portion of-the trade -era
laboured under great distress. The next class of taxes to which
he would advert was- the assessed taxes. (Hear.) _ Now with_
respect to those taxes,_ !the pressure that had -been made upon
the house and upon his Majesty's goyernment was for the total
repeal of the house and window taxes. The total repeal •Cf
those taxes would amount to a reduction of revenue to the
amount of £2,594,600. He confessed that, however he might
wish to accommodate and relieYe the inhabitants of towns,, and
the productive population there, he should not feel himself jus-
tilled in sacrificing the whole surplus revenue on the present
occasion for that object. He had endeavoured- to- consider
whether some mode might not be adopted by which the pro-
ductive classes amongst the town population might be relieved
in some degree froniAlie pressure of this tax, while it should
fall upon the other portion of the .population,—namely, those
who did not belong to the productive classes. What he meant
was this—whether some arrangement might not be made by
which shopkeepers could be relieved from
.this duty,, -while
houses that had not shops attached to them should remain
chargeable as at present. (Hear.) The committee was pro-
bably aware that according. to. the present law regarding the
window tax, there was au allowance made by which three win-
dows were struck off from each house to. which no shop was
attached. It was upon that principle he now proposed to pro-
ceed, for the purpose of affording relief to houses with shops
attached to them. He did not mean to take off the duty on all
the windows of a houst in which were a shop and store-rooms.
Ile would let the relief be in proportion to the number of win-,
dews go used. For instance, suppose a house had 15 windows,
and 5 of them were the windows of shop or show-rooms, those
5 would not be charged; the house would be charged with only
10 windows. The same principle would be applied to the house
duty. in such cases. Thus, where one-third of the. windows
were not charged as belonging to the shop, there
.should be
a proportionate reduction of the house duty. By this means
he hoped that, an effective relief would be given to the shop-
keepers. He estimated that the loss to the revenue hee these re-
ductions of house and window duties would be' £lOO,OOO.
The committee was aware that great complaints had been made
of the duty imposed on taxed carts ; this, in consequence of the
changes made in the duty on carts last year, had fallen with
severity on some which it had not been designed to affect.
Now, to relieve these, he would propose that all carts which
now paid a duty of 30s. should henceforward be duty free.—
This, he estimated, would be a loss to the revenue of about
£30,000. He also proposed to take off the tax now paid for shop-
men, warehousemen, cellarmen, and porters; this he estimated.
at £45,000. He would also take off other taxes which pressed
on persons engaged in- trade and agriculture. He would. in.the
firfit instance remove the duty paid on commercial travellers or
riders; this would amount to but a small sum—L-1,500. He
would also reduce the tax on clerks, book-keepers, -.or office-
keepers, amounting in all to £55,001 He would likewise take-
off the duties on stewards, bailiffs, overseers, managers,. or
clerks under them. This would amount to £9,5001. Making
the whole reduction, under the head of assessed taxes, £244,000.
The next reduction which he should propose was one to which
he considered himself pledged, as at the time it was imposed he
admitted that it was erroneous in principle; he alluded to, the
duty imposed on raw cotton in 1831. NVheu ha proposed to
take off the additional duty on raw cotton, he, must observe,
that he did so, not from having observed any bad effects, as to
consumption, from its existence ; but the committee should con-
sider how dangerous it was in principle to tax the raw material
of an article in which we had to compete with foreigners in its-
sale in its manufactured state. The danger might be dormant,
and not apparent until it was too late to apply the remedy. Foreign
manufacturers were getting markets for their goods, and if they
succeeded we should not be in time to remedy the evil. He
would not put the raw cotton on a better footing than it was in
1831, before the additional duty was laid on. fie would take
off that duty, and make the remaining duty fixed, instead of
being "ad valorem." The duty before that was three-eighths
of a penny per pound; he had added two-eighths, making the
whole five-eighths. The amount of the whole was about.
£626,000. He proposed to take off £300,000., or nearly the
half; and as from what he had seen of its effects he did not
calculate on any increased consumption from this reduction,
he estimated the real loss to the revenue at the full sum of.
£300,000., the duty being taken at a fixed instead of an "ad
valorem," to which'he understood that no objection existed on
the part of those concerned. Ile would now come to a tax on
which it was roost desirable that a - reduction should take
place—he meant the tax on the article of soap (hear, hear),—a.
reduction on which would make a considerable return to the re-
venue. The amount of the duty on soap in the past year was
£1,186,000. He would propose to reduce the duty to half. ( Hear.)
That would make an apparent loss to the revenue of L 593,000,
but he did not estimate the .actual loss at more than half that
sum, or about £363,000. The difference between the nominal
and the actual loss would be made up, first by the removal of
the drawback hitherto allowed on the exportation of the article,
which was about £lOO,OOO, and the rest by the increased con-
sumption, and by the cessation of the illicit manufacture. The'
duty at-present was 28s. per cwt. The expense at which the
illicit manufacturer could make it was 12s. per, cwt. He thus
had an advantage of 16s . per cwt. By reducing the duty one
half lie expected that the temptation to the illicit trader would
he altogether removed, as it could scarcely be worth his while
to undergo all the risk of engaging in the trade fur an advantage
of only 2s. 4w cwt. 'faking this, with the increased consump-
tion and the-drawback; he did not exaggerate when he estimated
that the loss to the revenue from the reduction of half the duty
would not exceed £300,000. He had now stated all the items
of taxation on which he proposed a reduction, and he had en-
deavoured to select those the diminution of which would afford
the greatest relief to .the productive classes. (Here several.
members rose and left the house.) He was aware that many
gentlemen would feel displeased that the proposed reductions
did not go to a greater extent, or that several other heads of
taxation had not been included in the reductions; but he though
I that none could deny that those which he•had selected. would
afford a great relief to those classes who most required it-
' _ _

Mr. O'CONNELL wished to know whether the reduction of the
advertisement duty was to extend to Ireland ? The noble lord
had proposed the reduction of the duties in England from 3s.
to '2s., but in Ireland every advertisement paid 2s. 6d. Wet.
that scale to continue?

(Continued to pagc 313.)