The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-05-07 00:00:00

futprrial Aaartiament.

HOUSE OF •LORDS.-1111oNDLy.

'Lord COLCHESTER wished to know if: the Board of
Directors of the East India Corm any had assigned any
reasons for the recal of-the Governor-General of India,
and if so, what were those reasons ? (Hear.)
The Duke of WELLINGTON sa:d the :Board of Direc-
tors had certainly stated their reasons, Which were not
considered valid by her Majesty's government : nay, fur-
ther, ministers had remonstrated against -the procedure
of the Board of Directors, though at the. same time there
could he no doubt that the Board had acted in a perfectly
legal manner in recalling :the Governor-General. The
Board had that undoubted right conferred upon them in
1784, and it had barn ratified since that time ; but it was
a right which ought to be exercised with discretion. The

present exercise of-power. to sew the least of it, was not
a discreet exercise. (Hear, bear.) He repeated it was
not a discreet exercise of poser to .recal .an officer who
had been in office little more than two years, and who had
given satisfaction—recalling him, too, without making
provision fora successor, in the present critical state of
India. (Hear.) It was the more indiscreet, inasmuch
as the members of the Board, as ahody, had no know-
ledge whatever of the causes which induced the Governor-
General to act as be had thouzlit fit ; it AV ,i 3 indiscreet,
be r'peated, to recal that officer, who had given such sa-
tisfaction. He would illustrate that indiscretion by going
a little further. The Board of Directors, no doubt, fre-
quently issued orders for a recal; but :they had hitherto,
in most c:!ses, attended to the remonstrances of the Go-
vernment,: even with respect :to the present Governor-
General, during the last year they had done so. What,
he would ask, would have become of the great operation
before Gualiar, if his noble friend the 'Governor-General
hid been withdrawn six or eight montlas ago? Conse-
quences of a most dangerous character might have taken
place had the gross indiscretion of the recal been persisted
in, The present recal was the most indiscreet exercise
of power he had ever witnessed during the long period of
time that he had been in power.
Lord BROU.GRAM said, it appeared to him to be a very
anomalous law by which the .Governor-General was com-
pelled to take office,. He was of opinion that ill.onnened
clause in Mr. Pitt's bill of 1789 was intended to be con-
sidered as a dead letter, and, if exercised, only to be so
with the utmost discretion. Whether that had been ,done
on the present occasion he left the house to judge, alter
the strong censure pronounced by the noble duke.
The Marquis of CeAmticARDE expressed his surprise
that the noble duke opposite should pronounce such a
grave cen-ure against the East India Company without
giving noble lords some notice of his intention. The
house could not but suppose that the Board of Directors
had cogent reasons for acting as they had done. He
wished to know if it were the int,lation of ministers to lay
on the table the correspondence which had taken place
between the Board a Control and the East India Com-
pany ?
The Duke of WELLINGTON said there could he no ob-
jection to give all the information possible.

Lord CAsfroELL could not help regretting that the
noble duke bad thought proper to pronounce, on this oc-
casion, such a heavy censure on the din ctors of the East
India Company. The noble duke should be aware that
what fell from him had very great weight; and he was
pure that all who heard and all who would read what had
fallen from him must come to the conclusion that he
strongly condemned the conduct of the East India Direc-
tors. It might turn out that they were to blame, but at
present the censure was altogether premature. Their
lordships were ignorant of the circumstances under which
this recal bad taken place. The noble duke had informed
the house that the directors had accompanied their inti-
mation of the recal with the reasons on which they acted,
but with regard to those reasons the noble duke had been
entirely silent. _ _

The Marquis of LONDONDERRY presented a petition
from the coalowners of the north, against the proposed
tat on coals, for the improvement of the port of London.
Lord WHARNCLIFFE said, with reference to the sub-
ject of a reduction of the duty upon coals, which had been
mentioned in the other house of parliament, he had only
to• remark that the government had not as yet decided
upon carrying out the proposition, and he rather thought
that the government would riot at present be disposed to
deride upon taking such a course.
The Marquis of NORMANDY postponed his motion for
an inquiry into the subject connected with the Board of
Charitable Bequests in Ireland for another week.

HOUSE OF COMMONS.-MONDAY.
THE BUDGET.

On the motion of the CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER
the house then went into a committee of ways and means,
Mr. Greene in the chair.

The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER rose and said,—
He thought it desirable to avail himself of this opportunity
of bringing under the consideration of the house the view
of the financial condition of the country which the house
is entitled to expect, and which it must be anxious to re-
ceive at the bands of her Majesty's government. He was
happy—and he was sure those hon. gentlemen who differed
from his views would be happy also—that the views which
he had entertained of a speedy revival of industry and
commercial enterprise had been realised, and that the
alarming forebodings which were indulged in had turned
out to be groundless. He called the attention of the house
to 'the situation in which they stood when this question
wat last before them, touching more particularly on the
China opium debt. The balance sheet showed on one side
£2,000,000 to have been received from the East India
Company and the China opium claim. The estimate he
had made of the public income during the course of last
year, has undoubtedly been very greatly exceeded. The
amount that had been received from the Customs is
£21,426,000, instead of the £19.000,000 at which he had
estimated it. This included £350,000 arising from the
duties on grain and wines, the importations of both of
which were considerably greater than was expected. The
duty on sugar had increased £200,000 and upon tea
£300,000. There was an augmentation also in the duties
on cotton wool, amounting to £200,000, an indication of
increased activity in the manufacturing districts. He es-
timated the excise revenue at £13,000,000, and the amount
it yielded was 12,900,000. The taxes estimated at
£4.200,000, produced 4,192.000. The increase from the
Post-office, be was happy to announce, exceeded anticipa-
tion, 'the receipts were £628,000. The revenue from the
Crpwn lands, estimated at 130,000, produced 1-17,000.
The miscellaneous estimates were £870,000, the receipts
were £803,000. The total of the estimates on these
several items were £50,150,000, and they had produced
£52.138,840, being an increase of £2,700,000 beyond his
calculations. The army expenditure last year was
£6,188,000, being a reduction of £500,000 ! Taking the
sums together he had calculated on a surplus of £700,000,
but it had from the causes shown, and £650,000 less
being required for the navy, produced a surplus of
£4,165,000. (Loud cheering). At the close of
last year there was a deficiency of £2,400,000.
He however believed that deficiency to be rather appar-
ent than real, and recommended to the House to make no
provision for the payment of that deficiency—not to raise
means by loan for the purpose of getting rid of it, but
that it should be defrayed out of the surplus of future
years, as circumstances, from time to time, might alto,/;
and he was happy to be able to announce to the House
that the deficiency for 1843, which amounted altogether to
£2,749,000, bad been cleared off and discharged out of
the produce of the revenue of the present year, and after
the discharge of the debt incurred in the course of last
year, it will enable us to present to the public a surplus of
£1,400,000 on the Ist of April last passed.—(Cheers.)
So far then as the past year was concerned he believed the
House would agree with him that his statement was sa-
tisfactory. He would proceed to consider the estimates
and prospects for the year on which they had entered.
Mr. COLLETT (Athlone.)—What is the amount of the
property-tax ?
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER.—XS,3IS,OOO,
which is somewhat larger than the estimate he had made
last,year, in consequence (as we understood) of there be-
ing a larger return from Scotland than he had anticipated.
Now, in making the, estimate for the year on which
they had entered, he would adhere to the rule he bad laid
laid down for himself on a former occasion, that of not
being betrayed into too sanguine expectations, which the
future would not bear out. He therefore contented him-
self with taking the Customs at little more than the amount
they had actually produced last year, viz., £21,500,000.
£BOO,OOO of which was derived from corn; and as the
state of the harvest in this country was not yet ascer-
tained, he thought it prudent to estimate the Customs at
no more than they had produced last year, viz.,
£21,500,000. He also estimated the Excise as in the year
gone by, at £13,000,000. He took the Stamps at
£7,000,000, the Assessed Taxes at £4,200,000, and the
Property Tax at £5,100,000. To these he added the Post-
office at £600,000 only, and, for this reason, the revenue
of the Post-office made some little progress in the course
of last year, and he doubted not that in the coarse of next
year it would make a certain progress also. The Crown
lands he would take at £130,000, and the miscellaneous
estimates at £250,000. making a total of £51,790,000.
With regard to the National debt the payment for the last
year was £29,300,000—f0r the present, £27,697,000.—
(Cries of " Hear, hear.") The deficiency of what must
be paid in the present year,ascompared with last, amounted
to £1,400,000; but the House must not be led into the
delusion that that is the real decrease. The real diminu-
tion of the debt, in the present year, was one-half of the
benefit deriveable from the Three-and. a-Half per cents.,
being £313,000. The charges for the year on account of
the debt and consolidated fund amounted to £3,097,000.
This included the Exchequer-bills, and the interest there-
on. The estimate for the army amounted to £6,616,000.
The estimate of the navy to £6,250,000 instead of
£6,380,000, as in the preceding year ; and, in this expen-
diture, provision had been made for the great national
works. The ordnance to a sum of £1,842,000, and the
miscellaneous estimates, he calculated would amount to
somewhere about £3,000,000.
He then alluded to the beneficial working of the reduc-
tion of the Three-and-a-Half per cents. The amount of
dissentients in England amounted to £60,994, and in Ire-
land to £13,280. He then alluded to the position of Go-
vernment with the South Sea Co. and the payment of the
grant by the sth George 111., for which a fund had been
sunk which now produced about £300,000 ; and there was
a deficit of £239,000, for which the public were paying
£11,860 a year. He recommended an arrangement with
the company. The total expenditure of the year for the
ordinary service is £17,700,000, and for the extraordinarySo that,
service £816,000, making a total of £18.546,000.
if that tom were added to the debt,whiclywas £30,097,170,
the total expenditure of the year would be £48,643.170. It
tirt be deducted from the gross amount of the revenue, that
is £51,790,000, it would leave an apparent surplus (subject
to the reductions which he had before alluded to) of
£3,146,000, but if allowances were made for that portion
of the debt which will be due next year. that will leave
the surplus £2,376,000. (14 Hear, hear," and cheers.) ,
The bon. gentleman then
,referred to the inconLl tax;

which had produced in 1842, £5,100,000, and that this
tax was imposed with the double object of supplying, dur-
ing an interval, the previous deficiency of the regular re-
venue-of the country, and for giving time for certain re-
pealed duties to recover, so as to bees productive as be-
tore the reduction was effected. As -this question is in-
teresting and important, we will give the Chancellor's
own words upon it. " The income tax was submit ed by
my right lion. friend to the house, and he stated his opi-
nion that if this tax were continued for, five years, it would
have the effect which he anticipated. (Cries of " Three
years.") My right hon. friend took it for a shorter pe-
riod. My right hon. friend indeed took it for a shorter
period—for three years—and he .did ~so on this ground,
that if at the expiration of thatperiod.the result which he
had anticipated to occur atthe end of five years should
not occur; then the housewould have an opportunity of
considering whether they would continue that impost for
the same period, or whether they would take another
mode of supplying any deficiency which might exist. I
have no hesitation in saying that, at the present moment,
I cannot form any estimate of what those,reductions may
be. When I look at the list of articles in the tariff on
which reductions of duty took place, and at the increased
consumption which has taken place of those—when I find
that only on five has consumption decreased, while on all
the rest consumption has increased—J. must say, I enter-
tain, very sanguine feelings as to the ultimate success of
the experiment. But the house will be good enough to
bear in mind that in some main articles—timber, I will
especially mention—on which a reduction of the duty has
taken place, that reduction did not come into operation
until the middle of last year. The experiment, therefore,
in these instances, has not had a fair trial ; and I am not
therefore, prepared to say what course ought hereafter to
be pursued in respect of them. In the course of the next
year the property-tax must necessarily come under
the consideration of the house, and it will be for
it to say what course it would pursue with respect
to the continuance or discontinuance of that impost."
The hon. gentleman then went on to state the reasons
which had induced him to refuse to consent to any large
reduction of taxation. He proposed, however, to effect
some reductions, arid the first was to remove the distinc-
tive duty between flint and bottle glass, the former paying
a duty of 2d., and the latter of three farthings. This al-
teration is to take place on the sth July, and will only
cause a reduction of £45,000 a year. He also proposed
to repeal the duty on vinegar, which produced last year
£23,000. He wished for this reduction, because manu-
facturers would be much benefited by its repeal, and also
because it was an article so generally in use by the public.
lie would however allow one year for the dealer to get rid
,of the stock on hand. The next reduction was an import-
ant one—on marine assurance. "The present rate of
duty," said the hon. gentleman, " is as follows :—For
every £lOO, where the premium does not exceed 15s. per
cent., the duty levied amounts to Is. 3d. per cent: where
the premium exceeds 155., but does not exceed 305., the
duty is 2s. 6d. per cent,; and where it exceeds 305., the
duty amounts to ss. per cent, This presses unduly upon
small insurances. I therefore propose to reduce the duty
and to vary the rates according to the following scale.
For every £lOO insurance, in which the premium does not
exceed 10s., I propose to levy a duty of 3d. instead
of Is. 3d, ; where the premium does exceed 10s.,
but does not exceed 205., a duty of 6d. instead of
ls. 3d. ; and in some cases 2s. 6d., as at present
where the premium exceeds 20s, but does not exceed 30s.
a duty of Is. ; where it exceeds 30s. but does not exceed
40s. a duty of 2s. ; where it exceeds 40s. but does not
exceed 50s. a duty of 3s. ; where it exceeds 50s. but does
not exceed 60s. a duty of 4s. ; and where it is above 60s.
a duty sf ss. I calculate that during the course of the
present year the diminution of revenue consequent upon
this reduction will amount to £lOO,OOO. But I calculate
that during the course of the following two years after the
change shall have been effected, there will be a sensible
increase in the disposition of foreigners to come to this
country to effect their insurances, and that the country
will reap the advantage even if no advantage should be
derived by the revenue in consequence of this reduction."
He proposed the reduction of the duty on currants from
225. to 155., in consequence of the great consumption of
the article by the lower orders. The duty on foreign
coffee he proposed to reduce from Bd. to 6d., and he in-
tended to increase the duty on chicory root, which had
been mixed with coffee to a great extent. The last article
in which he intended to propose any alteration was wool,
and he proposed to take off this tax altogether. That
duty produced last year about £lOO,OOO. The total
proposed reductions would amount, in round numbers,
to £400,000. The hon. gentleman then said he was de-
sirous of placing before the public the determination of
government with respect to the article of sugar. (Hear,
hear.) He said that the treaty which enabled Brazil
to bring slave-grown sugar into this country would
expire in November next, and be intended, in mov-
ing the sugar duties, to recommend to the house,
that from and after November next the duty upon sugar
produced in those countries which are exempt from the
taint of the slave-trade—that do not raise sugar by means
of slave labour—shall be reduced from their present
amount. By this means we shall throw open, under certain
regulations, to countries eastward of the Cape of Good
Hope, a valuable trade, and shall most especially encour-
age the growing commerce with China, with which country,
hitherto, our relations have been extremely confined.
In thus speaking of countries eastward of the Cape of
Good Hope, I must impress upon the house that I
refer only to such with which we have relations, and
wherein the sugar is not raised by means of slavery. Sir,
the differential duty which I shall propose to this house to
be imposed on sugars from countries free from the tarnish
of slavery.will be lOs per cwt.—that whereas British co-
lonial sugars pay a duty of 24s per cwt., the sugar from
the countries I refer tp shall pay 34s per cwt. lam quite
aware it may" be said that although the treaty with
Brazil is brought to a conclusion there is a treaty
with America, which contains a similar clause to the
other, entitles Ametica to the rights extended by us to
the most favoured nation. Nothing can be further from
my intention than to infririge the' letter.of any enactment
existing with that or any other country. but I think that
when we take the discussion on the sugar duties I shall
be able to show that the sugar produced in the southern
states of North America is not calculated to be brought
into competition with the sugar, the produce of free la-
bour, I have now been speaking of. It would have been
desirable to place the reduction of the duty on colonial su-
gar on a solid and permament foundation; but it is obvious
that till November next it will be utterly impossible to setup-
on any principle of that description, for the doing so would
paralyseall the trade in the interior. I think that the better
course will be to admit foreign sugar at a discriminating
duty, and continue it till that period shall arrive when the
sugar duties come again under consideration. In doing
this, far be it from me to entertain any ill feeling toward
those countries whose sugar will remain excluded. 1 think
the reduction we have made in the coffee of those coun-
tries proves sufficiently that no such feeling animates the
Government. The hon. gentleman, at the close of his
luminous address, was loudly cheered ; and was congratu-
lated even by Mr. Hume, on his clear and satisfactory
statement.
The house shortly after adjourned.