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166 &(* ILiafrir* [Saturday,
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PARLIAMENT OF THE WEEK. Sir Charles Wood...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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166 &(* Iliafrir* [Saturday,
166 &(* ILiafrir * [ Saturday ,
Parliament Of The Week. Sir Charles Wood...
PARLIAMENT OF THE WEEK . Sir Charles Wood made his financial statement for the year ending April 5 , 1852 , on Monday evening . His reason for bringing it before the House at so early a period was that the financial scheme of the year depended on the renewal of the income tax . If that were refused , then it was necessary that the gentleman who succeeded him as Chancellor of the Exchequer should have as much time as possible to prepare his financial scheme . This attempt at a joke was received with laughter . In his statement last
year he has estimated the income of the year ending April 5 , 1851 , at £ 52 , 585 , 000 , whereas its actual amount would exceed £ 52 , 656 , 000 . The estimated expenditure for 1850-1 ( the present financial year ) had been £ 50 , 785 , 000 , but they had managed to effect several reductions . That the probable expenditure up to April 5 , 1851 , would be only £ 50 , 134 , 000 , showing a reduction of expenditure to the extent of £ 641 , 676 , and giving a probable net surplus on the 5 th of April of £ 2 , 521 , 000 . The income for the year 1851-2 will be rather less in amount . The various items he estimated at the following rate : — Customs £ 20 , 400 , 000 Excise 14 , 000 , 000 Stamps 6 , 310 , 000 Taxes 4 , 348 , 000 Property tax 5 , 380 , 000 Post-office 830 , 000 Crown Lands 160 , 000 Miscellaneous 262 , 000 Old stores , & c 450 , 000 £ 52 , 140 , 000 The total expenditure for next financial year he estimates rather higher than the actual expenditure of the year ending April 5 , 1851 . In the army , navy , and ordnance estimates there will be a reduction of about a quarter of a million , but no reduction of force , Government being of opinion that " in the present unsettled state of the Continent it -would not be consistent with the best interests of the country to reduce our naval or military force . " The Yar i ° items of expenditure for the year are as follow : — Charge for the Funded Debt , including annuities £ 27 , 688 , 000 Interest of Exchequer bills 404 , 000 Civil List and other charges 2 , 600 , 000 Army , including Commissariat 6 , 593 , 945 Navy „ 6 , 537 , 055 Ordnmce ~ „ . 2 , 424 , 171 Miscellaneous , including census 4 , 000 , 000 £ 50 , 247 , 171 Estimated surplus 1 , 892 , 829 This will be the surplus if the House vote the renewal of the income tax and the continuance of the stamp duties in Ireland . Should they refuse to renew these two imposts , which produce £ 5 , 500 , 000 a-year , the surplus of £ 1 , 892 , 000 will be converted into a deficiency of £ 3 , 610 , 000 . In the year ending April 5 , 1852 , the deficiency would not be so great . Half of the income tax , amounting to £ 2 , 700 , 000 , is receivable this year , and , taking that into account , the deficit would only be £ 910 , 000 , but in all future years the deficiency would be what he had stated , unions the revenue improved , or the expenditure were diminished , or some other new taxes were imposed in lieu of those now before them . He would not enter into any discussion of the income tax farther than to say that , alter having read all the debates that had taken place since the income tax was first proposed by Mr . Pitt , and many of the publications on the Bame subject , he had come > o the conclusion that the best plan which could be devised was to levy a uniform rate on all kinds of income alike . Supposing , then , that the House should agree to continue the tax for the next three years , the next question was what to do with the surplus . Some gentlemen thought that was not enough . They wanted what they culled " a general revision of tuxation . " Hut waa the House agreed aa to what bhould be done in that case . The Protectionists wanted to transfer taxation from property to articles of consumption , while the financial reformers would take precisely the opposite course . They were told by Mr . Cobdenthat it would bo much wiser to make a great reduction of taxation , umlrun the riak of letting the revenue improve afterwurda . He did not approve of that scheme , It might have been proper to make a great change in our commercial system , in 1842 , but the country could not do " with a revolution every y «; ir . ' In reference to a remark of Mr . Cobden'n , that the nuiplu . 4 whh not no much owing to reduction < if expenditure iih to improvement in the income , owing to general prosperity , he ( Sir Charles Wood ) » aui , if they would compare the expenditure of 1847 for the army , navy , and ortlnunce with that of 1850 for those three departments , they would find that a reduction of £ 3 , 000 , 000 hud tuken place . He then went on to consider how the surplus should be disposed of . The ilrtit thing to bo attended to wns the National Debt . Last your wo paid off £ 2 , 800 , 000 , and he thought we should be ublo to puy off nearly ua large a sum in tho ensuing year . Next ho proposes *
to repeal the window tax altogether , but in place of it he wishes to impose a new tax of the following nature : —All new houses to pay at the rate of Is . in the pound on their annual value ; if occupied as shops , public-houses , or farmhouses , only 9 d , in the pound-All houses of the annual value of £ 20 and upwards , now paying window tax , to pay two-thirds of the amount now paid as window tax . All not paying window tax , but of the annual value of £ 20 or upwards , to pay two-thirds of the lowest window taxviz ., 12 s . All now paying window tax , but not of the annual value of £ 20 , to be entirely exempt . By this new tax he expects to raise £ 1 , 155 , 000 , which would
leave him a balance of £ 1 , 189 , 000 , available for other reductions . That sum he means to dispose of in reducing the duty on foreign and colonial coffee—as well as on chicory , and every other itaot used or mixed with coffee—to a uniform dutyxpf 3 d ^ jier pound . This reduction will cost £ l 76 , MJ 0 r The duty on foreign timber he proposes to reduce to onehalf its present amount . That will cost £ 286 , 000 . The duty on clover , grass , and other agricultural seeds he would reduce to Is . per cwt ., by which he would surrender £ 30 , 000 . He also proposes to charge a portion of the expenses of pauper lunatics throughout the
CJnited Kingdom upon the consolidated fund , to the amount of £ 150 , 000 . Under the Sugar Act there will be a reduction of the duty on sugar in July of about £ 330 , 000 ; but this will be made up , and the total loss of revenue through reductions he did not calculate at more than £ 1 , 280 , 000 . Deducting this from the surplus , there would remain £ 612 , 000 ; but half of the present window duty would be receivable next year , which would make the surplus for that year £ 962 , 000 , the permanent surplus in future years being £ 612 , 000 . Sir Charles concluded by moving that the income tax and the stamp duties in Ireland be further continued for a time to be limited ..
At the suggestion of Mr . Herries , it was agreed that the motion should be discussed on Friday evening . Some twenty or thirty members then followed with their several criticisms on the budget , which did not seem to find favour with any class . Mr . Hume was very much disappointed with the Chancellor of the Exchequer ' s statement : — " The question for the consideration of the House was , whether the country was satisfied with the expenditure of £ 54 , 000 , 000 . £ 50 , 000 , 000 , it was stated , but then no notice was takt n of the expense of collection , which was more than £ 3 , 000 , 000 . Was that question to be included in the forthcoming discussion ? Were they to take into consideration what might be the effect of a reduction in our military and civil establishments ? He should have expected that the judicial establishments and the members of the Government would have come
forward and have made a sacrifice , with a view to see whether they could not have dispensed with a renewal of the income tax ; or , if not , whether they could not have repealed some other tax . For hia own . part , he would rather remove the soap tax , the paper tax , and all those taxes which impeded the industry of the people , or interfered with trade , than the income tax . He could not believe that the country gentlemen would long allow the continuance of such large and expensive establishments , and he had expected greater reductions by the Government in our army , navy , and ordnance estimates . He ,
therefore , trusted that the House would agree to the repeal of the window tax , without substituting a house tax in its place . He approved of reducing the differential duty upon coffee , and this feature of the budget had his cordial concurrence . He could not concur with the right honourable gentleman in applying nny portion of the surplus to the payment of the national debt . ( ' , oh / ' ) It would be much better to take the duty off paper , the increased manufacture of which , not only for home but foreign consumption , would give employment to thousands . The right honourable gentleman boasted of having purchased £ 2 , 300 , 000 of the debt .
, ' ' " The Cha . nchlt . oh of the Exchequbk : I said th £ would be the amount paid off up to October , 1851 . * ' Mr . Hume : This debt had b < en funded at 86 , and the Chancellor of the Exchequer would redeem it at 96 , which would be a loss to the country of nearly £ 250 , 000 . This was ' not a time to throw away that Burn in operations upon the Stock Exchange . How much better it would have been to take off the duty upon noap than to buy up £ 1 , 200 , 000 Three per Cents . " Tho only way in which they could pay off the national debt was by converting it into terminable annuities . Mr . Nkwdeoatk , Sir Jouh Tvukbix , and other county members expressed strong uiH « ati . sfaction with the scheme . Tho proposed house duty seemed to meet with universal disapprobation .
, A debute , or , rather , a conversation on agricultural diHtroKB , uinuMod tho Houce of Lord * on Tuesday . It whh generally expected that Lord Stanley intended to make a speech on the subject , but , m he probably did not know very well what to say , he merely presented a petition from South Devon , complaining of agricultural distress , und praying for u revision of the tariff , the navigation laws , and tho currency , and then walked out of the House , leaving the Eaki . of Hakdwickk to make out as good ii grievance uh possible . The noble earl did his bent to make out a «« " « . He told his audience that there whn ho anneml > ly in the world which knew so w « 11 the condition of th «
] i people , us they did . In proof of this , he gav « them the result of Inn invoMtigatioiiR . In CunibridgcHhirc , the county with which he was most immediately
connected , the small owners and occupiers , and m manyinstances the large occupiers , were in extreme alarm and in a state approaching to destitution , while the labourers were out of employment . , To show how the distress waa operating , he referred to the difficulty in disposing of land : — - "He could state , that having constantly entered the market fpr the purchase of small allotments of land as against the humbler classes of society , he had never been able to effect a purchase , being outbid by them ; indeed , in their anxiety to secure allotments , they were ready to pay most exorbitant prices . He had a letter from Ely the other day which showed a very different state of Th is
things . His correspondent said : — ' ere one strong fact , which I can adduce in reference to this place , to snow the depression in the condition of land ; and that is , that we cannot effect sales of it at all , whether for the investment of capital or in small parcels . I have had several properties to try and dispose of for the last four or five months , and could not meet with a single bidding . I have had recently two purchases made , which ought to have been completed at Michaelmas last ; the property being out on mortgage and the parties unable to procure a loan , the purchase now necessarily remains over . Not less than thirteen small lots were tried last week , and not one of them sold ; but two years since not one of them would have remained unsold . ' ( Hear , hear ) . "
They had heard a good deal about a decrease in the pauperism of the country . He had written to the cleiks of the various unions in Cambridgeshire , and from the returns received he found that pauperism was rapidly increasing . They were told by the Times to grow fruit and vegetables . Was there ever such rubbish ? When any of their lordships were from home and let the produce of their gardens be sold , what had they ever got for it ? Then they were told to grow flax , but it would take a long time to learn the process , and in the meantime the farmer would be ruined . But it
was absurd to tell them to grow something else , when they could not get growing what they pleased . They were not allowed to grow tobacco , and great obstacles were thrown in the way of the cultivation of barley . Ministers pretended to carry out the principles of Free Trade , but , if they continued to do so , it would be impossible for them to get a revenue . For example , there was a tax on foreign butter and cheese . Now , why should they not give some relief to the suffering agriculturist by allowing him to eat butter and cheese free of duty . Earl Granville admitted that the Free Traders had been wrong in
some of their prophecies , and especially in their prediction that rents would not fall . But they had been quite correct in the main . They had said that the repeal of the Corn-laws would , without any ultimate disadvantage to the landowners a « d occupiers , increase the commerce of the country and the welfare and prosperity of the mass of the people , and with one exception that prophecy had proved true . They had been told of an increase in pauperism in Cambridgeshire , but it was only one of the lew exceptions to the general rule . There were six counties—Cambridge , Hereford , Lincoln , Monmouth , Salop , and Rutland , in which an aggregate increase of 1723 paupers had taken place last year . B"t let them rethe whole of
member that the decrease upon England und Wales was 69 , 000 . Ah regards the general condition of the labourers , there were two facts worth mentioning . At Chelsea Hospital the number of applications to be admitted inpensioners has wonderfully decreased of late , from which he inferred that persons receiving a fixed income are enabled to live more comfortably out of the hospital than hitherto , owing to the cheapness of provisions . Tho chief commisfioner of police had also stated to him that morning that he had never , within his recollection , seen the working clusaeaso happy or so well-disposed . Before sitting down he asked in a very pointed manner what course the Protectionists mean to take ?
" In another place , one gentleman , high in the confidence of the party opposite , had postponed sine die the announcement of his policy , while others had stated that it was necessary immediately to return to Proteotion . Now , he thought that the noble lord opposite ( Lord Stanley ) , who , Irom hia great ability and experience , waa undoubtedly to be regarded as the leader of that groat party , was bound to state what his views were upon this question , and whether the agricultural interest were to look for a speedy recurrence to Protection , or to the removal of the local burdens on land ; ami , if to tho latter , he thought tho noble lord should give them Home sort of a sketch of the mode in which tlu-y were to be removed . "
The Duko of Rujhmoni > did not think it was tho duty of the opposition to tell what mea « ure » they wanted , " their biiHincps being to object to what whh wrong . " It was absurd to quote tho Poor-law returns to prove that there wan no au » icultural distress . " Tho farmers wcro employing double , and treble , and quadruple tho number of men they required , in their endeavour * *« ' keep them out of the workhouse . " He warned tliom not to turn muuaeH of men out of work . There never hud been moro desperate burglaries committed than of late , and " political agitution out of doors was looked upon by many u » u sure means of obtaining justice from an unwilling Ooveinnnnt . " Lord Wodkiiouhi' waa rathor Heepticul us to the existence of great agricultural dibtrenB , at leant among the labourers . In Norfolk , with which he wan
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 22, 1851, page 2, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_22021851/page/2/
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