STATE OF THE RESTRICTIONS TAXATION. PUBLIC FINANCES-REMOVAL OF ON February 28. This day, the Chancellor of the Exchequer brought forward his Budget for the year. He stated the result of his calculations to be, that there would be a surplus revenue from 1824, of 1,437,7417. ; from 1825, of 443,5287.; from 1826, of 864,6767.; and from 1827, of 1,254,6767., being a total of 4,000,6247. He had, he said, three objects in view in the application of this surplus. The first was to extend our Commerce, by increasing the facility of consumption of foreign produce in this country: the second was, the carrying further the attempts which had been made to put an end to the evil of Smuggling; and the third, the remission of direct Taxes. After several Members had expressed their satisfaction at the statement of the right honourable gentleman, Mr. HUSKISSON said, it was a subject of much congratulation to his right honourable friend, to find the praise bestowed from all sides of the House upon the commercial principles on which he was acting, and upon the reduction of the public burdens which he had at the same time afforded. He was glad to hear the honourable alderman* say, in allusion to the trade in which he was engaged—that of iron -that he had no fear of the foreign competitor. It was certainly not necessary for the British miner that the foreign duties should be upheld; but, nevertheless, they had a tendency to keep a great fluctuation in the marketprice, which interested the manufacturer in a serious degree, and incidentally the shipping interest of the country. It must be recollected, that the superior quality of some foreign iron rendered it essential for the British manufacturer, in the wide range of many of his improvements. He entirely concurred in the propriety of a revision of the whole of their prohibitory duties, for the purpose of Alderman Thompson. rendering them better adapted to the real commercial protection of the country. With respect to the West-Indian interests, it was quite impossible to retain the sugar bounties, which had no other operation than to raise the price, and impose a useless tax on the consumer without benefiting the colonies. The reduction on the coffee duties would, he had no doubt, be found very beneficial. He remem→ bered that when he had been the means of reducing the coffee duty from 28. 4d. a pound to 4d. only, the larger consumption immediately augmented the previous amount of revenue. This would be not only an advantage to the country, but also to the West-Indian interests; who must, besides, sensibly feel the reduction in rum from 10s. 6d. to 8s. He admitted the present extent to which the smuggling traffic in brandy, hollands, and whiskey, was carried; but the committee must see how greatly the reduction in the price of British spirits would repress the contraband trade in hollands and brandy, and give fairer play to the rum and the home trade. Then, as to rum,, an honourable gentleman intimated, that unless the duties on it were lowered to that of British spirits, there would be no consumption of the article. The fact was, that rum had always been at a higher duty, and therefore any argument so founded must fail; while, on the other hand, the duties. on rum had always borne a comparison rather favourable to that article, when considered in reference to other spirits not of British manufacture. The honourable member for Bristol had complained of the remaining effects of the restrictive system. He hoped to give that honourable gentleman and the House a large measure of relief, in regard to the restrictions in our Colonial mercantile policy, before the end of the session. It was not for his right honourable friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, to go into that branch of the subject. But the measures to which he now referred, were equally important in their tendency to forward the general improvement in the financial and mercantile regulations, though they would not come before the House in the shape of questions of taxation. In answer to the observations of the honourable member for Aberdeen, with respect to the reduction of the duties on Tobacco, however he might be disposed to coincide with them, he must remind that honourable member of the caution given, in homely phrase, by his right honourable friend-that "you must not ride a free horse to death." Did the committee, for instance, consider what would be the effect of reducing, as had been proposed, the duties on coals, half the duty on malt, and two-thirds of the duty on tobacco-the last of which amounted to three millions of itself? Must not the country feel deep alarm at a sudden reduction of the revenue to that amount? He concurred in the propriety of reducing the tobacco duties, so that the revenue might be benefited by the increased consumption, to the amount which would be lost by lessening the duties. But the honourable member should remember, that the country only possessed a given power of consumption; and nothing could be so visionary as to suppose that the Government might with safety, at once, and without hesitation, remit all the duties upon every article which had a tendency to encourage smuggling or to check the consumption. He was not insensible to the evils of smuggling. But the Government owed other duties to the public credit and to the general interests of the country, which prevented them from going farther at present. He complimented the honourable alderman to whom he had already alluded, upon the spirit which he had shown, in a case in which his interests were likely to be affected; and hoped that, in the course of the session, when it would be his duty to propose measures which would as greatly affect the interest of other honourable members, he should find, that whether they dealt in tin, or copper, or brass, or any other commodity, they would be all ready to follow the honourable alderman's excellent example, and to rely with the same confidence on the good intentions and wisdom of the Government. LIVERPOOL AND MANCHESTER RAILWAY BILL. March 2. On the order of the day, for the second reading of this Bill, Sir John Newport said, he had nothing whatever to do with any Canal or Rail-road Company; and therefore what he was about to state was perfectly disinterested, and founded on the best view he could form of this measure. In proportion to the increased commerce of the country, it was necessary that increased facilities of conveyance should be provided. It was said, in the present case, that the canal between Liverpool and Manchester afforded sufficient means of conveyance between those two places: but, looking at the enlarged growth of Liverpool, and at its increased commerce, which now embraced every quarter of the globe, he was inclined to think, that, though the existing modes of conveyance might have been adequate a few years ago, such was not now the case. He spoke the sentiments of every commercial body in Ireland, when he said, that an increased conveyance was necessary to enable them to realize the benefits which the Legislature proposed to confer on that country by the Union. As they had united the two islands, he hoped they would set the seal to that great work, by assenting to a measure which would so greatly assist the commercial prosperity of Ireland. Mr. Green maintained, that the plan would seriously interfere with private property, and that, unless where the interests of the whole community were concerned, those of individuals ought to be respected. MR. HUSKISSON said, he perfectly agreed in the sentiment, that the legislature ought not to sanction the invasion of private property, without being satisfied that the case was one of imperious necessity. On this occasion, if he looked only to the interests of private individuals—if he looked only to the interests of those whose fortunes were connected with the Canals between Liverpool and Manchester-if he consulted only his own private feelings-he should be rather inclined to oppose the second reading of this bill; but, like the right honourable baronet, he stood there unconnected with any Railway Company, or any Canal Company. He stood there as a public man, considering what was best for the public interest; and he would state the reasons why he did not feel himself called on to oppose this measure. He did not support it as Railway opposed to Canal. He had no preference, except that which was connected with increased facility, despatch, and economy, in removing merchandise from one place to another. He did not support this measure, because it was likely to be profitable to those by whom it had been projected. It was nothing to him whether they had embarked their money in it for profit or for loss. But he would say, that those who had subscribed to it seemed to have a higher object in view, than the mere accumulation of wealth through this channel. They were not, perhaps, likely to obtain very high profits; but they would certainly render a great commercial benefit to the country. The subscribers were the bankers, merchants, traders, and manufacturers of Liverpool and Manchester. They had agreed, that no person should hold more than ten shares each; and if honourable gentlemen would consider what amount of interest could be realized from so small a number of shares, they would readily perceive that the profit could not be an object. It was the great interest of the trading community, and not the profits that might be derived from the shares, which had mainly actuated those individuals to call for this Railway. He had seen the parties; and, recollecting the immense tolls and dues. which were already levied on the commerce of this country, |