The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-04-30 00:00:00

DUTY ON RAW COTTON.

On Tuesday last, at the instance of Mr. Dennistoun,
M.P., a deputation from the council of the borough of
Manchester—including the mayor, several aldermen, and
the town-clerk—and another from the associated spinners
of Lancashire, another from Scotland, &c., accompanied
by Mr. Mark Phillips, M:P., Lord Francis Egerton,
M.P., Mr. Milner Gibson, M.P., Mr. J. Wilson Patten,
M.P., Mr. Joseph Brotherton, M.P., Mr. Thos. Houlds-
worth, M.P., Mr. Richard Cobden, M.P., Mr. Richard
Walker, M.P., Hr. John Ireland Blackburne, M.P., and
others, had a long interview with Sir R. Peel, to urge on
the government the repeal of the duty on cotton.
Mr. Dennistoun, M.P. for Glasgow, drew the attention
of the premier to an elaborate statement ogg, the bearings
of the cotton duty, which had been drawn up and circula-
ted by his constituents, shewing, amongst other things,
that our export trade in cotton goods was 86 per cent. of
the whole manufacture.
Mr. Thomas Aehton stated that the tax bore very hea-
vily upon the trade; that it could not be otherwise when
a concern like his own paid £4,000 a year upon the cotton
he consumed ; and, as a large portion of the cotton was
again exported, it was felt to be a serious impediment to
our successful competition with foreigners, especially the
Americans, who were meeting us now alniost everywhere.
Mr. H. Ashworth said the tax was a duty upon indus-
try, and bore heavily upon the operative class in the cot-
ton trade, who worked five days every week for the foreign
market, and in competition with the labourers of other
countries who paid no such tax ; therefore, by the repeal
of this tax, some £600,000 or £700,000 a year would at
once be added to the fund from which our profits and
wages were derived. With regard to the manner in which
so large a sum would ultimately be divided, he could ap-
peal to all who had studied such subjects, whether every
increase of the funds for the payment of profits and wages
did not eventually, either directly or indirectly, find its
way to the working class ; and it mattered not whether
this was done by extending employments or increasing the
wages of those already employed, the working class would
ever get the full benefit of it. The remission of the tax
would afford a wide and salutary field for employment.
Mr. Peter Dixon, of Carlisle, corroborated these views,
and said, that it the cotton duty were remitted, he intend-
ed at once to raise the wages of all his hand-loom weavers.
Mr. M. Phillips, M.P. adverted to the fact, that this
tax affected the working class the most seriously, not only
because the tax affected his earnings, but because his
clothing, being chiefly cotton, paid heavily to the tax,
whilst the lady who wore a light dress, paid very little.
Sir R. Peel said, he did not know in what way others
might be ready to view this question ; possibly some in-
quire whether the repeal of this duty would aid, rather
than otherwise, the advantages of America, and confer
only a questionable benefit upon this country. It was
well known that we were dependent on the States for a
large portion of the supplies of our cotton, and it became
a consideration in what way the price there would be
affected by the repeal of the duty here.
Mr. Phillips and Mr. Ewart entered into a conversation
with the premier, on the advantages to this country of re-
peal of the duty, in making Liverpool a mart for the cot-
ton of Europe, and thus aiding our shipping and mercan-
tile interest., .
Sir R. Peel remarked, that they would not expect from
him any definite answer on the subject; that a revenue
must be provided, and the income tax was a tax which the
country would have to consider, &c., concluding with a
promise to submit the subject to the consideration of his
colleagues.
Mr. H. Ashworth said the question was not the price
the American 'planter got for his cotton, for he could
charge all alike, not excepting his own home manufac-
tures. _ _

deputation complained, that after having manufac-
tured the cotton, they had charges to pay which no other
manufacturers did pay, namely, 5-16ths of a penny per lb.
of cotton duty, and 2-16ths of a penny more for the duty
upon the waste of cotton in process of manufacture, and
these two sums of 7-16ths formed a large item in the cost
of production, and was a great burthen and disadvantage
to a body of men whose industry was restricted by time
bills, and who had recently been dispossessed by parlia-
ment of the advantages which they possessed in superior-
ity of machinery—an advantage which they bad acquired
by long experience and persevering industry.—The depu-
tations then retired.
We may add, that they were received, and treated
throughout the interview, with the greatest courtesy and
kindness of manner by the premier.
The above is condensed from the columns of the Man-
chester Guardian, which paper adds, that the memorial
to Sir R. Peel on the subject, which was unanimously
agreed to at a meeting of merchants, spinners, and manu-
facturers, on the same day that the interview took place,
was transmitted that evening to Sir R. Peel, and would
tend to confirm the statements and opinions expressed by
the 'members of the deputations.