"We are so heavily charged by local taxation that we can afford to pay no more." I reply-"If you are unjustly treated, show it, and we will remedy the evil;" but I say it is utterly wrong to try to compensate one unfairness by another unfairness. I repeat my protest against the injustice and inequality to which I have referred. MR. GRIEVE congratulated the Chancellor of the Exchequer on his excellent Budget, and felt grateful to him for proposing to sweep away the last rag of Protection - the 18. duty on corn. While thanking him also for the reduction of 1d. on the income tax, he expressed the opinion that the proposed remission of the duty on fire insurance was one of the most important parts of the financial scheme. yet, by simply adopting a different mode MR. CANDLISH believed they had not had an abler statement or a better Budget than the present since the time when they were favoured with the brilliant financial statements of the right hon. Gentleman now at the head of the Government. Nearly £1,000,000 sterling of taxation was proposed to be remitted on the article of corn, but everybody knew that not only MR. STAPLETON, though thankful would that amount be saved to the work- for what the Chancellor of the Excheing classes, but 18. per quarter also on quer had promised, felt some regret that all the grain grown and consumed in he had not to some extent reduced the this country. He could not see, there- postage charge for newspapers. The subfore, why it should be said that the ject had been before the House, but in Budget had been conceived in the spe- connection with, and subsidiary to, the cial interest of the middle class. The reduction of the postage on circulars, a hon. Member for South Lancashire (Mr. subject respecting which he knew little Cross) had overlooked one important fact and cared less, for he believed no one -namely, that under a normal balance- ever experienced any pleasure at resheet no less a sum than £4,630,000 ceiving circulars through the Post. The would have been available for the re- reduction of the postage on newspapers, duction of taxation this year but for the however, was a matter of universal inextravagant expenditure of hon. Gentle- terest, and it especially interested rural men opposite on the Abyssinian Expedi- districts, where none but the tion. "Oh, oh!"] Why, hon. Gentlemen wealthy afforded themselves the advanopposite knew very well that a more ex-tage of a London newspaper by Post, traordinary miscalculation had never, because the carriage amounted in the perhaps been placed before a represen-case of 1d. paper to 100 per cent, and tative Assembly than the estimate for in the case of d. paper to 200 per cent. the war in Abyssinia, by which the late The Chancellor of the Exchequer would Government had so much misled the not incur a loss by making the reducHouse and the country in the early part tion he asked for. At present 69,000,000 of last year. newspapers passed through the Post, 37,000,000 bearing the official stamp and 32,000,000 bearing the adhesive stamp. The postage amounted to £260,750, so that if the rate were reduced to one-half and there were no increase of newspapers carried the yield would be £130,375. MR. ALDERMAN W. LAWRENCE congratulated the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the Budget he proposed to the House. He found himself with a prospective revenue barely sufficient to meet the expenditure for the year; and most There would, however, undoubtedly be a large increase, probably four-fold. At all events, only a small portion of this £130,000 would be risked, and putting it at one-third the Chancellor of the Exchequer would risk some £50,000, and would most probably find that instead of a loss he would have a large gain. He could not understand the Post Office, which, after all, was only a common carrier, objecting to extend its business on grounds of economy. spirit and so little party spirit in the House of Commons. The country would learn with delight that every allusion to the abolition of the corn duty had been received with applause by the opposite side of the House. It must be remembered that this first-rate Budget of the right hon. Gentleman was the result of a short occupation; but if, as he hoped would be the case, the right hon. Gentleman should continue in Office, he hoped that next year the right hon. MR. MUNTZ, after expressing his Gentleman would then bring forward, if approval of the proposal that the re- not a heroic, a more ambitious Budget venue officers should undertake the col- than the present. With reference to the lection of taxation, instead of the present Income Tax Returns, he was sorry to obcollectors, said, it was most unfair that serve, from the Report just issued by the late Government should be made re- the Department of Inland Revenue, that sponsible, as they had been that even- his own class, the mercantile coming, for the Abyssinian War. If the munity, were sadly demoralized, and honour of the country were to be pre- that many of them were delinquents. served in that case, there was no alter- He would propose, as a remedy, that the native but war; and if he had been in name of one out of every fifty taxpayers the House at the time, much as he dis- in a given district should be put into a liked war, he should have supported the bag, and that the person whose name Government. England had been pecu- was drawn out should have his affairs liarly fortunate in that war too. Had investigated to the very letter. This Theodore been as wise as he was valiant, would have a wholesome effect on the and retreated to the hills, the war would whole, and on all individuals under have become a protracted one, and pro- schedule D., however bad the state of portionably expensive. But the lesson their morality might be. He invited of the whole transaction was that, how- the Chancellor of the Exchequer's attenever admirable the object of mission- tion to the extra charges on goods aries-and he honoured them as the pio-lodged under bond. A Member of the neers of civilization all over the world -they must distinctly understand that they could not hope for the support of the country, if they chose to insult foreign Kings. European missionaries had denounced Theodore as a heathen, and he naturally insisted on their being more polite, or he would lock them up. If the Queen of Spain or the Emperor of Austria had been the persons insulted, the missionaries would have been locked up, as a matter of course, and England would have said, "Serve them right.' Well, the Abyssinian business had cost the country £10,000,000; and all the return for it was a slight prestige. But for the Abyssinian War, we might have had £10,000,000 to apply in diminution of taxation. He hoped it would be a long time before the House of Commons, or any Government, encouraged the folly of men who, through being more zealous than wise, got us into these difficulties. MR. MACFIE rose to congratulate the country that there was so much public House had stated that his firm had paid £1,000 in one year in these charges. He (Mr. Macfie) would be glad to see something at credit of the British Balance Sheet from the colonies, and would also be pleased that the "free breakfast table" were realized, though ready to relinquish even that, if it were requisite, in order to carry out an earnest scheme for paying off the National Debt, in consonance with declarations to which he had responded in heart when given forth, in former years, by the right hon. Gentleman now the First Lord of the Treasury. THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHĚQUER: I must tender my grateful acknowledgments to both sides of the House for the kind manner in which they have received my proposals, which, of course, will require much consideration, and perhaps some revision. are a few questions to be answered, which I shall briefly reply to. The hon. Member for Hampshire (Mr. SclaterBooth) asked me why I had done nothing for the railways, and said that I could There not be said to have reformed the duties | spoken of it, no doubt, in my Budget on locomotion without beginning with speech for convenience, as being the sum railways. The answer is a very plain which enables me to remit taxes; but it and simple one. The railway question does not do so, except by setting at liberty is one which can be settled only by an other sums of money which enable me arrangement being come to between the to remit taxation. I put it in this way— Government and the railways; it is not Suppose the Indian Government, being all on one side. We have a good deal ashamed of having run up so large a to ask from the railways as well as to bill, should take it into its head to pay give them. I shall be glad to enter into off £3,000,000 of this Abyssinian diffinegotiations with the railway companies culty, should I not then be in a condition on the subject, for I am quite willing to to remit the taxes; and what does it consider the possibility of doing any signify whether the Indian Government thing in reason to relieve them if they pay it, or I obtain it in this way? It is will entertain such propositions as the true, the money will never come again, Government may make with regard to but then the debt will never come again. public convenience, the carrying of letters Then I have been asked to state what and troops, and other matters. It is will be the effect of the repeal of the quite possible that if they take this hint corn duties with regard to other duties, some arrangement may be come to which such as the duty on arrowroot. Of course, may be advantageous to both parties. they will fall with it. This change Of course, the railways form the principal will not only remove the duty on corn, means of locomotion, and could I have but that on fourteen other articles. One regulated the terms of a contract the hon. Gentleman reproached me because I railways would not have been omitted have not taken the duty off currants. I from the Budget. With regard to the should be glad to do so, but there is an Civil Service, my estimate is not irre- obstacle in the way. The state of the concileable with that previously sub-case is this-Currants are subject to an mitted to the House, and the Secretary export duty in Greece; they are the subto the Treasury will to-morrow, on go-ject of monopoly, and if I were to take ing into Committee, explain the matter off the duty in England they would put in more detail. I did not intend to ex-it on in Greece, we should lose revenue, haust the subject, but I showed plainly that the increase in the estimate is accounted for by causes over which the Government have no control. I have been asked whether I propose that people shall be taxed in respect of the period that will elapse between the months of April and January, and whether a man who marries in April will be taxed for his establishment? I say, if he marries in April and if his matrimonial speculation turns out unfortunate, and he hangs himself on the 29th of December, there will be no tax upon his establishment. That will be a period of remissions, of compensation for the change from paying taxes at the end to paying them at the beginning of the year. It has been pressed upon me by the hon. Member for South Lancashire (Mr. Cross) and others that I am doing an improvident thing because, on the strength of the money I receive by this single operation, I remit permanent taxation, and that objection would be conclusive if it were well-founded; but I think it is not well founded, because the question is as to the appropriation of that money. I have and we should not be a bit nearer a free We would be content to collect it as it has hitherto been received. Again I thank the House for the manner in which my statement has been received. MR. HUNT wished to know whether the loss on the income tax was a real loss to the revenue, and also what was the estimated amount of the balances in the Exchequer at the end of next year? MR. STANSFELD replied, that the deficit of £82,000 on the calculation of the income tax was, as far as he knew, only a postponement, and was estimated in the revenue for next year. With reference to the question of the balances, he thought the right hon. Gentleman was under an entire misapprehension. His right hon. Friend said that after deducting the advance of the Bank of England there would remain a balance of £2,775,000, but if the balance was carried on to the end of the year there would be £2,000,000 to be advanced out of Ways and Means. This, with the surplus anticipated in the Budget, would bring the balance up to £5,317,000. Question put "That, towards raising the Supply granted to Her Majesty, the Duty of Customs now charged on Tea shall continue to be levied and charged on and after the 1st day of August 1869 until the 1st day of August 1870, on the importation thereof into Great Britain and Ireland: viz. s. d. Tea the lb. 0 6 THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER said, he understood that there would be no objection to the Resolutions. MR. HUNT said, it was most unusual to take any Resolution the same evening as the Budget was proposed, but he had no objection to the Resolution with regard to tea. He wished to know when the whole of the Resolutions would be before the House in print? CONTAGIOUS DISEASES (ANIMALS) SECOND READING. Order for Second Reading read. Motion made, and Question proposed, time."-Mr. W. E. Forster.) "That the Bill be now read a second MR. E. EGERTON said, he felt it to be his duty not to allow the present stage of the measure to pass without, in the interests of his constituents in Cheshire, calling attention to its provisions. The case of Cheshire was one of peculiar hardship, and it had suffered much from previous legislation on the subject of the cattle plague. The county contained 487 townships, 406 of which had been seriously affected by the dis ease. 35,000 head of cattle had been killed there before the passing of the Compensation Act in 1866, and he contended that, inasmuch as those cattle were slaughtered for the public advantage, it was not fair that the loss of them should fall upon that particular locality, but should be made chargeable to the country at large. He, under those circumstances, felt bound to tell the right hon. Gentleman the Vice-President of the Council frankly that, when the details of the Bill came on for conTHE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHE- sideration in Committee, a demand would QUER said, he would not press the be made by himself and those who took Resolutions, and asked whether there the same view of the question for the would be any objection to take the Re-insertion of a clause making it obligasolution on which the Bill was founded in reference to the transfer of the collection of the assessed taxes? MR. HUNT said, he did not object to that course being taken. Motion agreed to. (1.) Resolved, That, towards raising the Supply granted to Her Majesty, the Duty of Customs now charged on Tea shall continue to be levied tory on the country at large to pay the compensation for a loss which was incurred for the general good, instead of throwing it upon the locality itself. He would only add that upwards of 400 Petitions had been presented on the subject from different parts of Cheshire, and he trusted some means would be found of alleviating the grievance of which they so justly complained. MR. J. B. SMITH considered the | to exempt places like Manchester, which Act of 1866 the most extraordinary Act had a court of quarter sessions, from that ever was perpetrated, and regretted the cattle rate, while all municipal bothat similar unjust principles had been roughs were placed on the same footing embodied in the present Bill. The right as the agricultural districts, and were hon. Gentleman the President of the made to pay for the compulsory slaughter Board of Trade (Mr. Bright), when the of cattle in the county to prevent the Bill of 1866 was brought in, objected to spread of the contagious disease to their the course then proposed as very unwise, cattle. The injustice of such a law will because it was legislating for a panic, be seen from the fact that Salford, which and "There was," he said, "hardly any- had only five cows, had to pay £1,985 thing more absurd and pernicious than as its share of the county compensation, a panic." The House might form some while Manchester, which had a court of idea of that panic when they were told quarter session, paid only £7 for the that the Bill was passed in the course loss of a cow in that city; Preston, with of four days, and that it laid down dif- two cows, paid to the county £1,195; ferent principles with regard to compen- Halifax, having no cattle, paid £876; sation for cattle compulsorily slaughtered and Oldham, with one cow, paid £1,227. in England and Scotland. The principle The towns which had no cows should for England was that no borough should surely be excepted from rates for staybe exempt from contributing to com- ing the spread of disease; for the inpensation unless it had a court of habitants there suffered enough in the quarter sessions, while in Scotland all increased price paid for their meat, boroughs or towns were exempted from butter, and milk. But there was no inpayment of compensation for cattle com- justice to equal that inflicted on Cheshire. pulsorily slaughtered. About a fort- The Bill enacted that, wherever the cattle night after the passing of the English plague broke out, the area for the payand Scotch Act, a Cattle Diseases Bill ment of compensation for cattle comwas brought in for Ireland which differed pulsorily slaughtered should be the altogether from the former, and enacted county. Now, Cheshire had suffered that compensation for cattle compulsorily more than any other county. It lost slaughtered should be levied on all the 37,000 cattle before the Bill passed, and Poor Law Unions-this change was at got no compensation for these, and then once a recognition of the unjust prin- 35,000 cattle were compulsorily slaughciple of the previous English Bill. tered for whose benefit? For the benefit of those who had healthy cattle in other parts of the country, and who, in consequence of the disease being thus stopped, saved their cattle and were able to get a higher price for them. Yet those persons had never paid a farthing. This was what he complained of. The borough which he represented (Stockport) had three cows, and would have to pay something like £30,000 as its share of the county rate. case of the grossest injustice, not to be paralleled in any civilized country in the world. If such a case had occurred in Turkey, we should have said—“What can you expect in a country where life and property are at the disposal of a despot?" He complained that the unjust and objectionable portions of the existing law were embraced in the present Bill, and, while he consented to the second reading of the Bill, he claimed the right farther to discuss it and to propose such alterations as appeared to him to meet the justice of the case. The right hon. Baronet the Member for Morpeth (Sir George Grey) in his speech in introducing the Cattle Diseases Bill for England, in 1866, said "The speech from the Throne deeply affects the interests of the people of this country, and when I speak of the interests of the people of this country I do not mean the interests of one class or another but the interests of the whole community." No doubt the right hon. Baronet intended to legislate in the spirit of this declaration, because the Bill he brought in made no distinction between England and Scotland, the boroughs in both countries being exempted from contributing to the compensation for any cattle compulsorily slaughtered except in their own boroughs; but, strange to say, in the legislative panic which then existed, a clause was smuggled in at the last moment without previous notice altering the definition of the term borough in England and confining its meaning to a town having a court of quarter session. The effect of this alteration was That was a |