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thanks ; and that < feta Oottfttttw S »**** ee < fc «« tt > all the assistance in their power . ' Mr . Collet was requested to supply the secretary ¦ with a quantity of petitions for circulation , and the Committee adjourned to Wednesday evening , ttoe 22 nd of January . Nominations received to fill the vacancy c *«« ed by the resignation of Mr . W . Davis in the Eatecativ-e Committee of th * National Charter Association r—Thornton Hunt , Robert Le Blond , Ruffy Riajey , Thomas Martin Wheeler , Edmund Stallwx > od , Edward Miles , and W . J . Linton . The following from Mr . W . J . Linton occurs ma letter to a friend relative to his nomination , addressed of fellow
from Miteside , Cumberland : —" If any toy - Chartists think I can serve them while I residfe here , and only occasionally visit London , they may elect me to any office they please , and be sure of my attention to it . " j . j * AH persons are requested to vote lor one candidate from the above iist-j-an& r wbere loeaHttt ^ trerbrmedy let them send their votes to the sub-secretary of the locality , who is desired to transmit such votes , with the members voting for each candidate , to the general secretary ; but , where localities do not exist , the votes can be sent by letter , addressed to John Arnott , 14 , Southampton-street , Strand , on or before Wednesday , January 29 . All votes received after that date will be null and void .
Moneys received during the week , £ 12 7 s . Id . Signed , on behalf of the Committee , John Arnott , General Secretary
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METROPOLITAN DELEGATE COUNCIL . At a meeting held at 26 , Golden-lane , City , on the 12 th instant ( Mr . John Arnott in the chair ) , after motions by Messrs . Blake , Bligh , Ferdinandq , and Vickers , it was confirmed that the Council meet weekly as usual . Six shillings were paid to the Council as subscriptions . A vote of thanks was awarded to Mr . E . Stallwood for his past services in this Council . It was then agreed : — " That each member of this Council request of their constituents to form into ttact societies , each member of the same to pay one halfpenny per week for the purpose of raising a fund , this fund to be sent to the executive committee the 1 st of each month , for the purpose of more successfully establishing the circulation of tht Political Tracts . " It was also resolved : — " Thae we , the members of the Metropolitan Delegate Council , are of opinion that the report in the Northern Star of the 11 th instant , relating to the Manchester meeting of the 4 th instant , is not a faithful and bona fide account , and , therefore , we deem it our duty to repudiate the report . " We are also of opinion : — " That the leading article in the Star of the same date ( 11 th instant ) is conceived in a spirit of partiality and injustice , and calculated to produce much injury to the Democratic cause .
Moved by Mr . Ferdinando , and seconded by Mr . Bloomfield : —" That the secretary be authorized to send the reports of this day ' s Council to the Leader and Reynolds' & Newspaper . Mr . H . Bloomfield was duly elected as secretary , owing to Mr . W . A . Fletcher ' s resignation . The best thanks of the Council were given to W . A . Fletcher for Ins past and energetic services as secretary to this Council .
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RAILWAY THRIFT AND RESPONSIBILITY
After three days' patient enquiry into the circumstances connected with the death of Vincent Ladwick , the night inspector at the Ponder ' s-end station , on the -KftBjtern Counties Railway , the jury announced that they had agreed upon a verdict of " Manslaughter" against Ronald Baxter , the driver of the engine of the special train . They accompanied this Verdict with the following censure on the conduct oi the directors' : — " The jury cannot separate without expressing their unanimous
opinion that the duties assigned to the deceased , who was killed during their proper performance , were more multifarious than a person in his station of life , and with his emoluments , could reasonably be expected to perform ; and that greater precautionary mca-» ures , by means of the electric telegraph , might have been adopted . They think it right also to add that the regulations of the Eastern Counties Railway Company appear to require modification , and that punctuality should be more strictly enforced . "
Ladwick was killed by a special train coming in contact with a goods train , which he was removing into a Riding ; and one question for the jury to 'lecide waf « whether the directors had used all tho meaiiH in their power to prepare Lad wick for tho arrival of a special train on the night in question . On this head we have tho following evidence on tho part of the night inspector of tho telcuranh tleimrt-» ueut at SShoreditch : — "At five , minutes to six o ' clock on Wednesday morning 1 received iiiBtructioUH to ' speak ' with all the « taiions between London and Cambridge , informing them inat a special train had loft Khoredilch , and desiring tliem to keep the line clear . 1 tim spoke with Tottenham ; ion minutes elapsed , however , before I could attract their att ention . The next station I communicated wiui wua I oudet ' s-end . It whs then about four miautea
pftfct si * o ' clock . I continued calling for ten minutes , aad , finding no attention was paid me , I tailed at Walthatn , and there also no reply was given for some time . There are some intermediate stations , Lea - bridge , Water-line , Marsh-lane , and Cheshunt . Each ha p a telegraphic communication , but it was of no use calling them , as they are supposed to be shut up after dark . " * By the . Coroner : lie had known instances tvhtsfe he had been unable to get attention at the stations . " No attention was paid to the telegraphic warning at Ponder '* - end , because the inspector at that station was unable to attend to it . It appeared , on enquiry , that Ladwick was the only person left in charge
of th « station between the hours of nine at right and seven in the morning ; and that the whole business of shunting trains , managing the signals , attending to the gates of a level crossing , and receiving ( or despatching ) telegraphic messages , devolved exclusively on him . The inevitable result of such parsimonious conduct on the part of railway directors is that the lives of travellers and also those of ~ their own servants are placed in continual jeopardy . Mr . Richardson , the superinten " dent of the line , contended that the accident was owing to neglect of a certain rule , according to which , " when the main line is to be used for shunting , hand and percussion signals are to be placed at a distance of at least 600 yards before the obstruction is
attempted ; " and , he added , " if the deceased had adopted that precaution before he allowed the truck to be passed on to the down line , the probability was that he would not have lost his life . " But this was a rule which could not be followed for this simple reason , that Ladwick , owing to his multifarious duties , had not time to run 600 yards with percussion signals , and back again , whenever a train or carriage was to be shunted . It was not the man's carelessness , therefore , which caused the fatal accident . " The real blame , " as the Morning Chronicle justly remarks , " lies with the wretched parsimony which-accumulates incompatible duties on a single functionary , and which expects three or four pounds ' worth of Weekly labour and vigilance for 22 s '
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THE TAXES ON KNOWLEDGE . The following is the correspondence between the Newspaper Stamp Abolition Committee and the Postmaster-General , to which we have adverted elsewhere : — the Newspaper stamp abolition committee to the postmaster-general . My Lord , —It is not usual for a body of persons united together for the purpose of obtaining a change in the laws , to presume to address an Executive department . But in the course of our enquiries as to the actual working of the stamp duty on newspapers we havebecome aware of the irregularities committed by the Board of Inland Revenue , and as these irregularities involve the question of the free transmission of newspapers through the Post-office , we feel authorized to depart from usage so far as to memorialize your lordship on the subject . It can scarcely be necessary to inform your lordship that the 3 and 4 Victoria , cap . 96 , permits , but does not enjoin , the Postmaster-General to transmit post free all stamped newspapers , but does not authorize the transmission at a less rate than the letter rate of any printed papersnotnewspapers , except petitions and parliamentary papers .
It will probably bo within your lordship ' s recollection that when the newspaper stamp was reduced to one penny , the retention of that penny was justified by the Chancellor of the Exchequer , on the ground of its being an equivalent for free postage . The newspaper act requires that every copy of a newspaper should be stamped , whether intended to go by post or not . Whether it is right that a newspaper not intended for postal circulation should pay postage is a question into which w « do not wish at . this moment to enter ;
but it is manifest that nil should be treated alike , and that if one class of publications is required to stamp every copy , all should be subject to the qame restriction . But a practice is grown up at the Board of Iulaud Revenue of registering publications as newspapers for the purpose of obtaining for them the benefit of free pontage , and of allowing those copies , which nre not sent by post , to circulate unstamped . Against this manifest injustice three newspaper proprietors have protested , and the following correspondence has taken place between them and the Commissioners of Inland Rcvenuo : — - Leader Office , 10 , Oriino-nouit , Fleet-street , July 3 , 1 H . W . TO TIIK HONOURABLE TUB O ( lM MISSION 1 ! RH Ol- INI . ANI ) H « VKN 1 IK , T 11 K MEMORIAL OK TIIK UN I > H 11 SIUM Kl ) , Showeth , —That your memorialist is editor and one of the proprietors of a registered newspaper entitled thu Leader . That ., according to a return mtidc to tho House of Commons . on the lj ) t . h of February last , fifty-one registered newspapers are permitted to stamp only u portion of their iinprcHsiOn . Of thenn many are according to the schedule in the ( 5 and 7 William IV ., cap . 7 <> .
fully liable to Htamp duty as the Leader , particularly I ' uneh , the Freeholder ^ and the Household Narrative . That your ineniorinlim engaged In tins enterprise ol founding a new journal ,, in the knowledge that mush iiumunitieH were allowed , and had no wish to abate advuntagcH enjoyed by others , although under the . strict rules of competition the distinction be considered unfair . That the suspension of the Potit-oflino duties on Sunday , however , ban materially altered the position of hiw jouriuil . The free trauamifliioii which has been given in return for the penny stamp ia now in part withdrawn , and in that
respect the Saturday edition of a newspaper is placed literally on a level with the unstamped publications so far as disadvantages go , while news journals differ materially from other periodicals in the medium of circulation , never passing tfcroogb . booksellers as such ; your honourable board will , therefore , perceive tite injustice of maintaining the tax . Your memorialist , therefore , requests tbat your honourable board will , as a matter of right and justice , place the Leader on the same footing as Punch , the Alhmeeum , the Freeholder , and the Household Narrative , by allowing it to stamp only its country edition , and to circulate unstamped in London . Thornton Hunt . to the honourable the commissioners of inland revenue . The memorial of Charles Bray , of Coventry , showeth , That your memorialist is proprietor of a registered newspaper , called the Coventry Herald . That , according to a return made to the House of Commons on the 19 th of-February last , fifty-one registered newspapers are permitted to stamp only a portion of their impression . That your memorialist , being obliged to stamp every Copy of his impression , is thus exposed to unfair competition . Your memorialist , therefore , requests that your honourable board will issue a general order , permitting all registered newspapers to share in the privilege now confined to a favoured number . A similar letter was 6 ent by Mr . Thomas Allan , of the Caledonian Mercury . The following were the answers : — ¦ Inland Revenue , Somerset-house , London , July 24 , 1850 . Sir , —I have laid before the board your memorial , in which you observe that , according to a return made to the House of Commons , certain registered newspapers are permitted to stamp only a portion of their impression , and requesting that that privilege be extended to all registered newspapers . In reply , I am directed to inform you that you are mistaken in supposing that any permission is granted by this board in the cases referred to or any other . The papers you allude to are not newspapers , though registered as such , and the publishers could not be prosecuted for printing a portion , or the whole of their copies , without stamps , to which penalties the publisher of a newspaper , properly so called , would be subject . I am , Sir , your obedient servant , Thomas Keogii . Mr . Thomas Allan—Mr . Charles Bray . Inland Revenue , Somerset-house , August 29 , 18 ) 0 . Sir , —The board have had before them your letter of the 3 rd ultimo , requesting that the publication , called the Leader , may be placed on the same footing as the other papers mentioned by you , and that the country edition only may be required to be stamped . In reply , I am directed to state that your application is totally inadmissible . I am to add , that there is no analogy between your publication and those to which you refer . I am , Sir , your obedient servant , Mr . Thornton Hunt . Thomas Keogh . To these replies the following rejoinder was sent : — TO THE HONOURABLE THE COMMISSIONERS OV INLAND HKVKNUE . Gentlemen , —We , the undersigned newspaper proprietors , having severally memorialized your honourable board for the purpose of obtaining authority to issue a portion of our impressions unstamped , and having received in reply two minutes of your honourable board , dated respectively the ' 24 th of July and the 2 'Jth of August last , take the liberty of requesting , for reasons hereinafter specified , that our former demands may be reconsidered . We conceive that many of the fifty-one registered publications mentioned in the Parliamentary return of tho li ) tu of February last , are to all intents newspapers in virtue of their contents , as they contain not only comments but statements of passing occurrences of a . gem-rah and political nature . But we would respectfully urge that a newspaper is such in virtue of its registration . An opposite interpretation of the Post-oflice act . is » clinked by a minute of your honourable board , dated May >)() , 1850 , in reply to a letter from Mr . Scholcneld , M P . for Birmingham , on the subject of the threatened prosecution of the Freeholder . It is said : ' " A portion of each publication is printed on stamps , and another without stumps , to which latter proceeding the board object , considering that both in respect of its registration and its contents , it is subject to the newspaper duty . " In this extract the very doctrine is laid down on which our memorials were framed , viz ., that a newspaper is sucli in virtue of its registration . We are inclined to believe that tho relaxation towards those periodicals which were originally put forth as unstamped publications , is productive of considerable augmentation to the revenue , as the publications would not otherwise be B « nt by post at all . We are far from complaining , therefore , of the relaxation granted to the fiftyone publications , which appears to be justified by many conuiderutiotiM . But on the grounds furnished by your own honourable board , it is seen that no distinction cognizable by the law exint , a between those publications and our own , which are still denied the mum : indulgence . We therefore urge a revision of our claims , und pray that we may be heard by our ugent before your honourable board . Thornton Hunt , editor anil proprietor of the Leader 10 , Crane-court , Fleet-street . CilAUi . EH Bray , proprietor of the Coventry Herald and Observer , Coventry . Thoman Am . an , proprietor of the Caledonian Mercury , Edinburgh .
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Jah . 18 , 1851 . ] «** . »«*«* . ^ 3
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Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 18, 1851, page 53, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1866/page/5/
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