House Of Commons, Tuesday...
Mr. AVI, A. TAYLOR presentedl two petitions frors the coal- owners of Sunderland, against any bill for alteration in the present moeof sipig coals. LrL WTIiER presenited aL eiii fromi the taniners of Whitehaven agaist thxe hides ana skin& bill. Sir ROB3kRT WlILLIAMlS presented a similar petition from the tanniers of 1-olywell. Mlr. LOCKHART p resented a petition from the pawnbrokers. of London, pray-ing to be heardl by- counsel against the Equitable Loan Company bill. Also a petition; from the attornties of WVestminster- hal-r on sto 'hhouxse pa-sed the countv courts bill. Sir ZUTAIPH Y'ORKE presented a petition on behalf of' several benefit societies, against that part of t he savings banks bill which prohibited the friendly societies from paying their funds, inito the Biank of England, as provided by the act the 89th of Geo. Ill., pray.. iag that such clause mnight not pass into a law. M'r. H. DRUMl 31OND presented a petition from Stirling, pray- ing for a. free trade (>Scotland) in spirits. Mlr. VESBEY FIl'ZGERALL) presented a petition from the landedI proprietors of the county of Clare, aggainsxt taking off the bouinty on herrings; also a petition from the attornice of Ernis'lltray- ing tobe relieved from the ainnuallicence lutyz Vlr. WVHIT.11ORE presented a petition from the victuallers of Brislgenorth. againist the beer bill. Mr. LITTLE TON presented a petition from certain victuallers Of Staffordshire, to tne samet efI'ec. Mr. for SCOTCHI SPIRITS. Al.MONTEITH presentedI a petitioni from Linlithgow, praying fran equalization of the duties on Scotehsand Irish 7im-. portedi) spirits. Allr. Hi UME observed, that it was very iinaportant to kniow whethier Government mieant to (tio any thing upon the question. Mlr. HERRIES said, tha't there were so many difficulties in the way, of forming a fair, andI at the same time, an operative measure, that lie believed it wortild be impossible to get the thing done in the Psresent session. Ministers, however, were engaged upon the sub. MIr. COKE sai'd a few words, whirlh did niot reach the gallery. PI. . DRUM 5MOND abstained front observation, because he believed Government wvould miake the arrangemeite desired as soon IrilRON'ALD FERGUS!sON hoped it would be miade in the course of the next session. Colonel BAGNWELIL presented a petition fromn Roserea againist negro slavery. Lord ROBERT MANNERS presented two petitions from Lei- cestershire to the same effect. PRIVATE BlIJ!,S. AIr. HUM;E gave notice, that on T'hursday, the ~Oth inist., he would move, as a standing ordler, that no me~mber interested in a private bill sihould vote for suchi bill in committee, if challenged by Ithose wvho opposed it. PAYM1ENT OF PRIZE.MONE1Y. Ailr. HCUMrE presented a petition frodi.certa-in individluals (lega. tees) Iinterested in the paymientof the prize-mioney for PalamRbang, in the East Indies, comiplaining of vexatious and unreasonable de- lay. Thle hon. miembeT said~ that the delay which occurred gene- rally in the r"~ty of prize-mioney was a hardship upon parties, and a disgrae to the country. Palambang had beeni taken in tdie year 1812; and as vet 'threre was noe settlment. For himself, hie had mnade application to the proper offices on the subject, but in) VainI. At the East India-housie he had been sent to tie 'Treasury, aRdatthe Treasur"' he had been sent back to the East India House. The case of Paisaitbang was not at all peculiar. The prize-money tor Egy-pt (otf the year 1800) had only been paid three years since, and in the last Year orlers hati beer, niade for paying inton6 which in the same way had been 17 Years stand;ng. Losrd STA-NLEY warmly supported the petition, andI truisted that sole aRswer would be thouglit necessary by MIinisiers. The lprize atone', of Deccan, ir, the East ladies, was in the same predi. cament wit h that of Palarnbang. Mr. TIERRIES said that thie question was not a question as to the dlistribution of ad)iudgedl prize-money, hut a litigation as to the usanner in whicht cert,ain prize-nioney sIould be disposed of. The case of' thle Palanmbang prize-moniev hadl beeti before~ tite Treasuiry long prior to his (A1r. iserries) becoming conniected with that dle- palrtment : but hiti itmpression (from the recollection he had of thie PaPers1) was, that thtere was certain inthaniationi wantinR to sttbstau. ttate toec rigltt ot the clait'attts, whicth ltose clainianits tneglected to ettpply and thjat inforniation (whicih none but tile claitmants couldI fttrnisht) was of sucli a nature. thiat the Treasury could ioto dtecide without it. Mr. f1U.lUM said, that tf tite htottourable geittlemian would hazve tilt goodt:ess to state clistinctly what informiation was wanited, hewas 'ore the petirhoners would, as far as it might be within their power, inislediatelv and gladly furnish it. He hoped the honourable gen- tlemait would dtirect, the person at the Treasury who had the chiarge of this affair to acquaint the petitioners with the particulars ot wvhat was, required. MrHERRIES said, that thisi had been already miost explicitly done in the official answver. Sir F. BUTRDETTf observed uponi the inpmsice of caUlin ttot persong preferring Claiums, to explain, after the lapse of several ea, what hiad isot been at first required of them. Af'ter a few words from, Air. 11PFRUEs and Lord STAi'LEY, the petition was ordered to be prinited. Ailr. flUME ro~se to presetlit a petition which hiad beeni a long little in his hands, and whichi lie had been now tirged eitlter to present himself or to hand to some otlier member. Although it w:as with, sonie reluctance that he now Offered it to thie attention of the house, he did so because lie thought it was his duty. It was fromn the Edinburghi i'recthirukers' Society, who stated their opinion, that all laws tending to repress the f'ree sliscussion of religious questions w.ere pernicious to society, and prayed the repeal of titose laws. The petition further complainied, that certain books, their property-, bad l)een seized by the police-officers of Edinburgh, and wvere detained from- the'tn. Many of these books were such as might be procured in all booksellers' "hops ;it was true there were also atnong themn Pa;ne's Ag-e of Reason, and Palnter's Principles of lVature, but he submitte~d that the mere possession even of such books eould not jastify the vioIent seizure which had been made. The Inquiisitionl in Spain, as re-established by Ferdinand V II., dlid no more than s;ei7ze the books contained in the hiidex Expus'gator-ius, whierever they could find them ; and he hoped it would never be said that Englandl and Spaini were alike intolerant on such a sub- ject. Te petitioners stated, moreover, that they believed it was not by te operation of the law, but by the forbear-ance of the law authoitis, that they were new protected 1froii prosecution, and the prayed ithe house to provide a t emedy for their case. The LRD ADVOCATrE, in reply, said'tlhat the hon. inem- her had been very much atisinformred as to the fhacts at the case he had stated. AIlr. H USIEJ said he supposed if the Lord A4vocate were able to Con1tradict the statement, he would do so. As, however, he didI not think lit, he (;)Ir. Homne) was entitled to assume that it was unsa- swerabie..-.The petition was then ordered to be printed. M1r. COKE presented a petition from Dies, Norfolk, against the duoty on sea-borne coals. A~Ir. FLEM1 I NG presentled a petition from the growers of corn at Warehiam. against the warehoused wheat bill. Sir F. BURDETT presented several petitions fro-nt t'he inlhabit. ants of W1estminster, in faveur of the oil gas hill. Alir. WIYVILL presented a petition from the brewers of' York, against the beer bitll.-Ordeled to be printed. CORN TRADE. Air. CURTEIs mnoved for a return of she several prisons who had made returns to the corn ittspectors of British corn sold dulring the six weeks, previous to the 1st of MNay, 1824: also a copy of arny letter written by the Board of Trade on the subject of frauds in the retrtrns, with the answers thereto. AT. ELLICE took that opportuniity of giviag notice, thathes shojuld, when the subject of' the warehoused corn bill came next before the house, move that a quantity, of Caneadian corn, o nti onr under bond, should be exempt- edfrm its operation. rhere were trom 40,000 to 50,000 quarters of corn of that description which were at this mom-enit ad. missible ; it had been here for three years past, and if the Canadian growers were note to be called upon to pay a duty, tIse burden wottil( be perfectly intolerable. It would not niow be ptroper to state the grounds upon which they were entitled to this exemption;- but he wens sore that when lits came to do so, he sheuldl induce the hotise to eonsent to his proposition wvith scarcely a dissentienit voice..-The re- turns were then ordereti. S. ~ DERRY CATHEDRAL. Sir .J. NEFWPORT rose for the purpose of asking the riglithon. baronet (Sir 0. Hill) wlsether he was aware of the existence of cer. sin legal 'docunsents, evidencing the fact that lands in the tieigh. bourhoot ofp thie Decry cathedral had been formerly ap'propriated to IL %o,; idi o whether those documnents were now in Ihis sirGEORGE HIL 'in reply to the question put to him by the right honourable baronet (Sir J.Newport), felt it slue to his own else- racter, to the sincere respect he entertained for the house, and not lessl hlis duty to hifs constittuents, the citizens of Derry, to answer the rig4ht honourable member's qttestion clearly, explicit-ly, and without reserve. He had brought a bill inito Parliament onl the petition of thie Bishop and Dean of Derry, and the parishioners of the parish ini which the cathedral of Decry is situated; tlte grounds of tli'stpro. ceedhing- were, that no fund, except a-ssessment by vestry, exsc'se for the support of that cathedral. Of tliis fact he had been assured lie urged this reason to tie liouse for proposing the bill to create a permanent fund. lie had not anticipated the successful opposition wisich had been made to the second reading of' the bill ; and in ordler to be prepared to satisfy the conmmittee upon the bill that no fund at present existed, he had dlirected searches to be made in Ireland, to ascertain whether there was any record of land, tithe. or other pro- perty hiaving at any timne been granted for the support of the Decry cathedral. Subsequxent to the rejection of the bill, he received in- tormation whichi induced Ihim to believe that funds at one peeled had eitdfrtssuprt of that cathedraL. He had comitnunicated tha inormtio tohisrightItlonourable friend the Secretary, of State Fr Irln,t h ihop, Dean, andI chief Magi strate of' Derrv, andhdtestscto to be assuredl by the Secretary for Irelan'd, tha th stbjzt houd b Fllyinvstgated, withi a view to doing justce o al patie. H mus ad, tat he was quite cotifident, not onl tht eeryfaclit wold e gvento the inquiry by the Bishop and Den butthe mst zeaous asistaCe. Sir JON NEWvRT the gavenotice that he should to-mor- row ovetarcopes o th doumet aluded to. LEATHER TAX. General GASCOYNE rose for the purpose of suggesting to the honourable niember for Wareham the propriety of postponing his motion relative to the hides and skins' regulations bill. The evi- dence which had been recently given before a committee of that house convinced him of the expediency of such a course at present. Mr. CALCRAFT assured the honourable member that he held in his haud evidence which was quite as strong in favour of the total repeal of the tax on leather as any that coulti have been given before any conimittee that had ever sat. He was therefore compelled to persevere in his intention of bringing before the house the miotion of which he had given notice, and with which he now proceeded. His object was to move for the repeal of all the duties on leather; and to give amole tine for its takitg effect, so as that no drawback shoald be necessary, anid that no inconvenience should be felt by persons who might be will- ing to commeisce the trade oftanners and curriers. He should there. fore fix the repeal to take place from July, 1828; and in doing so he rather followed a proceeding, the moderation of which coul not e objected to, than adopted that course which his own feeling on the subject would induce him to prefer. It appeared to him, that in the whole lst of taxation, there was none more defective in 'rinciple, or tnore injurious in application, than this upon leather. It' principle was to Pievent Men following at the game tinme two trades which the interest of the comifilnitv required should be united .1ts inexpediency would be best Proved bythe fact, that no tax returned so liftle to the Exchequer2 comspared with the sums which it took out of the pockets of he ubic.Owstgeo~th retrctinswhich its collection rendered aecesar, i prducd oly O0,00l; wile more than three times tha amuntwasrecivd fom he eope.It had not even that quaitywhih ws ugedsomtimS a anexcuse for keeping up-. namly,tha itmigt b inreaed o a tomeet aiiy future exigen- des f te Sate Ithad eendouleddurng the war; and the ef- fect of tswa,that the pFroduce was Immediately diminished; and it was aprn,that if it had been continued, it must hiave ruinedl the trade It wstherefore reduced to three halfpVence per pound, anld thlis tax was now kept up on an article of such general constimp- tdon, that no snan could stir on foot, or on horsebickc, or in any way, without making use of it. It was clear that it could never be ex- tended beyond its present amount; aud he could not conceive upon whiat principle the Chanacellor of the Exchequer, who was on all oc- casions disposed to take a more liberal view of sutbjects than the house had been accustomed to in gentlemen who hiad occupied hiis office before hiim (hear), could defend this uselessand oppressive tax. But how did it happen thatt itsi efflectwas to take so much nmore meoney out of the pockets of the people than it produced to the revenue ? it was because mnen were not pennitted to carry oni the trade of a tanner and a cturrier together. The tanner was not al- lowed to touch a skip, excepting for the purpose of tanning it. lie believed that it was stated in evidence, thlat in the process of tan2ning leathnee inthis countr,y, no less aquantity than 6,000,0001lb. were wasted. It could not be expected that thietanners wouldsaufl'cr that loss. 'Wha, then, didI pay' for it ? The public. (I Hear.) In this and inothierways thepuiblic paid to the extent of 900,0061., whilst the revenuie was not benefitted to the extent of 300,0001. fie ask-ed whether this was a course of taxation in whichi Parliament, or the Chrancellor of the Exchequer, who entertained suchi enlightened views on other subjects, ou ht to persevere ? One would suppose. that the circumstance which he hadjust mentioned was in itself suffi- cient to procure the condemtsation of the tax. He was really suy-, prised thiat the right hionourable gentleman wvas not ashamed of' pur- suling a course whicllhad been pointed, out In the unenilightened times of Richard Iir. and James I. Instead of being followed, the exam-! pie.ought. tO be s,couted. Hle did tiot mean to say that the tax itsel f was imposed in the time of Richard II. It was nor imposed, until lthe reign of Queen Anne, but the regulations concerninig tan- ners, cordwainers, &c.. were first thought of in thxe enlightened pe- riod to which he hiad alluded. In congidering this subject, it was imPossible to overlook Ireland. Thle amnount of the tax raised in IrelaLndl upon leather did not exceed A sum of be- tweets thirty and ferty, thousand pounds. H~e was perfectly aware that' his proposition would not inieet, on thse present ocain ith the support whiich it mierited. Why~ was this BecusWmny people itaid they could see no benefit whkich wouild re- sult from taking off the tax because, when its amaount was reducedl on a former occasion, ithe puKbic did not. get awy thinlg cheaper than! they did before. Every friend whom he met sai'd to hint, " Wlill you ensure a fall intilte prime of leather if you succeed in procitring a repeal of' the tax ?" Hlis reply was, that he wouldt do no suchi thing, beranse the reduction oif price did not depend so muc'h etii the repeal of the tax, as on the repeal of the restrictions upon) tie trade. But it was his opinion, that by remioving the restrictions with the tax, a reduction of the price of the article would be effect- ed. (Hear.) On a formier occasion, wheni the Chancellor of the Exchiequer repealed thie tax to the extent of thiree lhalt'oence per p'ound, he left the restrictions in force, which pi eventeel the public from deriving any benefit from the reduction, because the restric- Lions were more costly than theL tax. This was precisely the caseI with thec silk trade. The othier day the righit honou'rablc gen. i aiemani had remnitted pare of the duties on silk. But had the price uf %ilk f'allen in cotisequvnce ? No, it had not. The price of the raw article, it wyas true, usade1c periencedi somne reduction, but tnot that of the imanufactured goods. This was in consequncDe of the continuance of the resitrictions upon the trade. His opinion was, that if the tax upon leather wvere to be repealed, and tLhe restrictions upon tradle removedl, gentleinen would soon procure their boots, shoes, sadldles, aod harness, at a mnuch lower price than that which thiey at present paid for those ar- ridles. He begge leave to read to thie house the evidence whic!h had een ivenbefore a counimittee inm 1816), by Alrl. Lue Foss, a tan- nrograreutatioti. Thiat gentleman heeing asked in what way he tough thetax and testrictions operatedl to thie disadvantage of the anne andthe public, andi to whiat extent-," answered, that if' theretritinswere remouved, lie was sure that the tanners would be: able to prevent iuuch of thie loss whichi was annuallv sustainced in the preparation of skcins ; he estimated thie wteight of leamher which was annually prepared,at 4l8,Otll,000 lb., niore thain 24,000,000 lb. of whiichi wvere used for dressing ptirposes, and one-quarter of' that quanitity, or 6,000,00l0,was tot,ally lost either to tIme puiblicor the tanner. M1r.Le Foss estiusated thelvalue oftheleather tax thus lost, tube equalto the whiole of the reveniue which the Exchequer at that timne (1816) derived fromi the tax. ( fa. t shiould be recollected, that at time time Mr. Le FossA gave his evidence, the tax was doubile its~ presenit amnount. Ml r. ILe Foss wassasked whether he ladl calculated the value of the lea. thier at the costprice, and he teplied thathle had.Hieidnta- ~colnfir.med by that of ma,nyothierwitnesses,. lHe(Mr. Calcraft) wa aiware that the tanners8 who had ott a former occasion given hiim their support, were-now -inclined to discoutntenance his present appli. cation. He (lid not, liowever, care a farthing about the support of; the tanners or currier% : itideed, hie would rathier want it tharn have it. The tarnnWapproved of the reductiomi of dJie tax before, because they thought that they would beiiefit by it. So, indeed, they- did; but theY found( that it rendered them obnoxiouis to competition from) small capitlists The anner nowhougt that if thle existing restrir- tons whch eretheproecton f geatcapita)ists. were removed, theywoul be xposd tosucha poetfI combitiatior. a-s wntild in.- fallblyredce he ric of he oomodh tothepubic. Of thlat theywer afrid,and athr thn tat soul hapen,heywere coni- temit to carry on their trade with the resrctos butteir necks. He did niot thin), it was necessary to trouble thie house further upon a question which appeared to himi to be of so Simple antue anid he therefore concluded with moving, that " leave 1beiginveatil us bringI in a bill to repeal the duties on leatherfrouii anti after the lEie ol'July, 'VIr. CURTEBIS secomided thte mnotion in a short speechi, whiic, nit account of the situation in which the hon. memnber stood, was heard very Indistinctly in the gallerv. We' understood the lion. miieniber to suggest, that ttime Chancell6r of the Exchequer might supply t[im dleficienicy which would arise from the repeal of the leather-tax, by increasing the duty on tanners' licences to 50I.; or by, placing an ad- ditional duty on all articlesimiported intoBEngland from foreign con- tries and employed in the manufacture of leather. Mlr. LEY'CESTER supported the mnotion. Hle considered ithe tax objectionable, inasmuch as it drove awa'e foteign ttade from!t Engandby mpoingrestrictions which prevenited all econoivi the anuactre f te article. The injurious eff'ect of the tax was strongly illustrated by a fact whichl hadl occurred in a town with which lie was connected. Somne timne ago, three tanners in gooid bu- sines., resided thiere. Only one lived thiere at present, with unim-. pro ved custom the two others were gone to America, to avoid setar- vatioti in this country. Another objection to the tax wais, thiat itI conveyed vastly less into the Exchequer than it tor,k from tie pockets of the people. The tax aLIS pressed pculiarlv upon ,that class of peonIs whlichI Ought to be pecul'ialy 5-cepeed. The labourer who followAed the plough,, and wore thick shoes, paid a higher duty than the gcntletnan. He was of opinion that the re Peal Of the tax would reconcile the farmers to clheap corn, and pave the way for a diminution of the importation dluty which the manu- facturing population looked forward to with such anxiety. If lie were asked how he would proposke to suipply the deficiency, %hich would be occasioned by' the repeal of the tax, hie wouldI say, take the amount fromi the siinking fund. But miniisters mizht find aiiother rescwurce for supplying tht deficiency. Let them adopt such a sv,- tern of conciliation towards, I relandI as would eniable themn to carry Ion the Governmient there on a less expensive scale. He would have -theni redluce the number of bayonets ini that coaintry, whbich were not only ha but ex ensive. ThCHA,CEL of the EXCHEQUER said,thiat thiegen.! itieman who had seconded the motion of the honearable member! for Wareham helil out some tempting baits whichl he thought it likely that he (thie Chancellor of the Exchequer) would snap at but he was afraid that the hon. mnember would be disap_ pointed. He did not think that aniy of the sutbstitutes whichl the hon. niember had proposed for the leather-tax could be adopted. The hon. mnerrber seemed to be inclined w do as miuci prejudice in one way as, he conceeived that he was doing good in another. The hon. memaber had advised him to raise the duty ott tanners' licences to 6111. lfheshould do so, thieproduce wouldaonly be 17.5,0001., whichl was not half the amounit of the loss which the revenue would sustain~ front the repeal of the leather-tax. In order to cover the deficiency, therefore, he muse raise the duty on licences to 1001. But that wottld defeat the object which thec hionourable gentleiman hash iii1 view, by preventing small capitaliats from competing with the large IO'nes, who, it appe-ared, were, in, consequence of souse new lights which thecy had obtained, unwilling that the existing tax should be repealed, Ile was likewise little disposed to agree withi the hionour- Iable seconder as to the propriety of imposing highier duties thami those at pesen exstin onforegn ark nd ther articles importedi for the purpse f bingemplyedin annng.Such a moeasure would hercon- which he would, following the example of the hon. mover stte lils objections verv shortly. Since lie had come into his pireet office he had repealid taxes to the amount of four millions and ahalf, In considering the various taxes which it was advisable to repeal, that upon leather could not escape his attention. if Parliamenst should proceed to the extent to which he thought it desirable, it shouild pro- ceed in the ye eal of taixes either dlirect or affectiing conrumirption or trade : he hbltno hesitation in say-ing, that he thouight the tax upon leather was one which oughit to be reimitted. Hle objected to else tax not so much for its amount, as because it couild not be levied at all unless it were accompanied with the restrictions to which the hon. mover hadi alluded. (Hear.) But were there not in oulr systemn of taxation a great number of articles which were li- able, to thiLs objection-.that thieir value was trifling as compared wtvith the enormnous duties to which they were subjected ? This wats a state of things which, for political as well as finanicial consideta- tions, ought to claim the attention of Parliamenit more than the tax in question. The house had heard a great deal this session about the English distilleries. They had been told that whatever good had beetn efected in some parts of the country by the recent alteration in the duties on the distillery system, had been noore titan coun- terbalanced by the smuggling which was carried on on the borders of England and Scotland. The smutggling was owing to the high dutv wllichl was paid on the article in Etigland, as compare(d rwith its`value. There were two or three other articles which were enerraously taxed. Tobacco. for instance, the tax upon which was 4s. per pound, whilst the cost of the article was only 3d. Titus, the tax amounted to 300 per cent. on the price. lVhilst such duties as those which he- had mentioned existed, he should think that he would be acting very improvWiently, if he had 350,0001. to spare and applied it to the'remission of the leather tax. He would rather remit duties which led to smuggling. There were moral considerations connected with the existence of other duties which were of higher importance than the effect of the restrictions upon the leather-trade. lie had frequently heard the honourable rmover urge the necessity of repealing the tax upon coals. Balancing that tax against the tax on leather, he thought he was not going too far when he declared that he was douotful as to which tax ought to be first repealed. Though he did not mean to defend the tax as good-it would be preposterous ifho did-though he did not deny the inconveniences and embarrassments which inevitably re- sulted from its continuance, he thought it would be impolitic in the house to pledge itself to thxe repeal of the tax next session, for the reasons which he had stated. The hloitourable member seemed much surprised and somewhat displeased, that they should have to apply these restrictions to Ireland; but it became absolutely necessary to apply to Ireland the same regula- tions which existed in England: he was certainly sorry for that ab- solute necessity which called for their extension ; but it must be so, as long as they had the tax to continue-he was driven to it, by the shameful evasions which occurred in Ireland, and by the bad leather which the tanner at present was under the necessity of making. It was not unworthy of remark, that in Ireland, where these restrictions cld not exist, the amount of revenue was very mnuch diminished and the article considerablv deteriorated in quality. He admittet that this was in some degree owinig to the necesity imposed upon the tanner, of making his work more rapidly than would be re- qurdunder an improved system. Still, whatever unpleasant e=fct these restrictions would have, it was quite clear they could not make the trade worse than it had previously been. Not thnat hie thotught these restrictions to be good in principle, but as thle only practicable mode of securing the payment of the tax, n this he had distinctly toldt the curriers who heal called uponbhim.! The question between hinti aid the hon. mover was shortly this-- Ought, orouglit'not, this tax to exist ? He would say yes, so long as, the bu,rdens of the country required'lt ;and he would add, that werelI he emipowrered to reduice thie general aimouint of taxation, this was not the tax he shiould prefer beginining with :there were several others whiich, in hi's opinion, were entitled to a preference, in the scale of reduction. For these reasonshe was under the necessity of~ opposi.ng the hon. memnber's motion. I"r ALTHORP had a variety off objections to the continu- ance of this tax, and particularly on account of the restrictions with which it was admitted it mnust of necessity be connected. Their object in legislation now ouight to be to clear away thiose im- pediments to trade. If they tlid so its this instanee, h was convinced the price of leathier would fall, andI the public have the full benefit of toie reduiction. It was truie that the price rose after the last partial reduction of the tax h ut it would he found that it merely ros in consequtence of the rise of the raw material just at that time.s WVithi ref'erence to the prospective operation of his hon. frierid's motion, he agreed with the tight hon. gentleman, that gene- rally it was not prudent ir one session to pledge themselves to a par- ticular line of action in the next : hut tliit case was, he thought, an e.xception to thegen.erairuile, onaccount ofthe great alteration whiich the reduction would mnake in the trade, and the desirable object of giving the parties interested a fair notice of the intentions of the le- gislature. Sir JtOtHN NEWVJPORT enitirely concurred in the propriety and niecessity of the repeal of this tax, which drew from- the pockets of the people a sum so mnuch larger thafn it paid into the Exchequer. Withi reference to wvhat had falleii from the right hon. gentleman, respecting the extenision to Ireland of these restrictions; he beggedl of himn to consider what hadi been the progress of theI leather-taxI hitherto in that country. Before the union, when the population of frelaind was comiparatively small, the tax piroducedI 51,0001., whiilst sinte the Ofilon, wit h an irmmlensely increasing poptilation, anid a cons-iderable coniversioni of tlhe coin'try from pasturage! to tillage, consequently a touchi larger consumption of leather, thie duty had diminishiled. In fact, it had fallen exactly in ithe proportion that the population atigmetited. Andl during this progressive redcfin tiequality of the article became worse and worse. Be- lieving thie tax to be a Tmost banleful one, and most useless to the revenue, he should vote for itS rePeal. .tlrAI.L. MABERIIAYsaid titat lie liaed uniiforiily, opposed what was ralledt the sinking fund, believinig it to be mostprejutdicial to the' interests of the country. So long, thierefore, as, it was, permitted to stand, he shouldI be the advocate of a reductioni of taxation to its aimotint. But witliout even touching this sinking fund, there was a inode of giv-ing relief fromi this tax, withoutt touchting the present amount of revenue: and that was by acceding to the rmotioti of his hon. relaLtion for putting the tax upon beer on nmalt; that transposi.- tion would just save the amiount whiich this tax coveredl. witout dimninishiing the expenditure of ithe Government. (hfear.) There wast a special claim for reducing this tax-it was a Lax upon a niecessary,: and all taxes upon necessaries were declared to be bad by the ablest potlitical econontiists : they tenidetd to raiseI the prioc of labour, to dIininishi profit, and expel c-apital to seek em. ployment in thrido countries. Besides this special claim, this tax particuarl otnde against one of tue first mAxims of taxation fur ittokfomte pockets of tue public thiree times the amount wfiich it provided for tite Treasury: the tax, in fact, produced only i 300,0001. to the state, whilst it took 9000.0001. fromi the pockets of the people. It was said Ithar the trade dl tanininig was a monopoly, and that the taniners would out inito their own pockets as they, had I done before, the aniount of thie proposed reductioni. ihe denied thatI sutch an argument was capable of demonstration ; and at all events he ha,d reatson to believe, that if' there existed this rionopoly, its scale of profit could not be wirat was insinuated ; for he 'could prove that at this mnoment, when eapital was seeking so miany than.I niels to get vent, there were several tan-yards unenmplo'yed. In Lon- doin lie knew th'ere were four unoccupied. one of which was equal in ,i7e to it or 9 of ordinary, cap~acity. In Bristol and the vicinity, for 20 miiles, there wvere 37 osni-vard.<, I or which were UIIOCCLIpieti. In Manchester otie-third was unaoccupied. Of 4.5 in thle county of WVar. wick, 23 were emr,rv. This, lie thought, showed that the tratle was niot so protitable as somie genitlemnii thought. At all events, the tax was sou bad and soi imnpolitic. that he shouldI vote for its repeal. Sir NICHOLA,S COLJTH URT said, thaut he should vote for thie repeal ot' this tea,, pafticrularly as it was intended to extend to Irelatud the restrictiuns whichl were fouiid so injuirious in England,' andI generally becauise of tliedesire hie felt to hiave slut comnniodity as clheap as possible for she people of' his own coutntry. lilr. IIABERLY entirely coiticided in the reasons tirged for the reps-a1, -and tbought, the ta-x was oine manoifestly injurious to she public, lie was particularly anxious to base all lthese restrictions abolished. SNir. JORN MlARTIN defended thie sinking funid, to the miaini. tenance of whichl lie thought Parliament stood pledged in honour. 'le entirely approved ott she measures taken by his Mlajesty's Go- vernminent in rtle reduction of taxes, arid could nLot there7fore vote for the motioni before the house. Sir J. YORKE taid that he entered the house preparedl to vote aggainst the moin but he had changed his minti during time debate. All the speakers were in fact at rthe other side, and for tIme repeal. (A lauigh.) His right lion. frieiid (the Chiancellor of the Excheq'uer) had compared leather with tobacco; lie rnu~t complain of the comparison of an article wliceh they all wanted, and miust all use, writhi onie like tobacco, which was a poison to the stomach, the lungs -nd thec nlasal organs. (A laugh.) The wliole leathier-tax ought, hei- no%sw to be taken off. WVhat hiad been done wheni the partal edutiot tok 1iace Tae oe class in trade for instance, withwho the wee al coversnt-e mieant schoolmasters. (A laug.) Lt an genlema whohadhis son at Etoni, Harrow, or Wesminter sa, i a racionl prt f his bill was taken r,ff' by the partal edutio oftaxe: nr ahittheprie was still the same. Seeng,theefoe,-hat out of U0,00.pi by the people, otils- I .0,14.weit inothe Treasury, it wstm,ethought, to take o ff suhatx (Hecar, hear.) Sr.ROBINSON supported the motion. believitig the tax to be cii impolitic one. li ih ooml 11lt. CANNING thouglht the treatmenit ofhsrgtonuae frieRd, ithe Chanzcellor of the Exchequer, teas a little unfair in shie cours of this debate. The ust- of taxationi was, he nssist say, rather a lhard one. He was, according to tie reason- ing of' some gentlemen, bound to maintain no tax of which htd mutnt leray to show he was perfectly enatnoured, and which biad in itself sonmething peculiarly amiable to recominend it. (A laugh.) Gentlemen who were so ve ry acute and fanciful in their criticisns, ought surely to recollect, that it was the duty of his right lion, friend to examine into all the institutions of the country, and its gneral finances-to take a general view of the condition of the peoplce,and of the burdenis whicih thie exigencies of the country .rhe- qulired; and to apportion tliem under such com-Prehensive heads as scented most expetlientE for the public good. He was called upon to do this at thataart of ,the session vwhen he made his general finanscial statement in ~at lhouse, and theni so subm-it himnself' to their judgrsient. It was hardly fair, when they had recognized-so far, at least, recognized-his right hoin. friend'n planl, to meet it this way in tietail, to break it into parts, for thie purpose of cutting the whiole asunder. They, had begun with the wrndow-Otax,-thcn with the hiouse-tax,.-tben the as.sessed taxes,-afterwards came the coal tax,- niow the leather. Surely thxis was rather a Isard measute. after the genral crtanl no th fnalaprovl,to which he had alluded. Sure~,i a arg reenu wee t beraied,it ouight not to be so rigid. ly xpete tht echparicuartaxmut be snown to be the best andpurstwayofraiin a aricuarsumn of money. His right hontirblefrendhadfailysai, tatwhen the time arrived when liecoud rduc th amuntoh axaio, he would hasten to thie work of reduction, but that he thiought there were other taxes which mnore particularly called for previous diminution. Hiis honourable friend (Sir J. Yorke), who had so suddenly beconie a coiivert during the de- bate, partly from his horror of' tobacco, and partly fromn his love of cheap teaching (a laugh), seemed to thiink that the Chancellor of the Exchequer had compared the leather-sax to the tobacco-dutes, fiom sonie pr-edilection lfor the price of the latter. (A laugh.) He could assure liis hon. friend, t-hat if that were hiis imipression, he had done wrotig in piroroising his vote, forhe believed histight lion. friend to be quite uinpolluted, stomnach and hulngI, fromi tlhe sin of tobacco, wrhichi liad so shocked his hon. firiend.7 (A 1aug11. The other argunisent of his honoarable frietid was equally singsular: he said, that the partial reduction of' the leathier tax hiad not lowered the price of tuition at Eton and Westmainster; and from thence lie inferred, that if the whole tax were reduced, then educa- tion, wouldI prosper. He (M r. Canning) really, lost the corollary of his hon. friend's argument, and was at a loss for sonie timie to com- prebend his meaning ; but hse thought lie had now caught it. Hiis hon. friend was an advocate foir the wide diffu&ion of edtiteation; and Parliam-ent, seconding the voice of the country, had of late years been appointing commissions and comnsittees to carry into effect so generally desirable an object; but lie now saw that in all their pro. ceedings,numerous and lbrosate were,tliey had overlooked the mneanis whjicht his honourable frienid thoughit were miost desirable to to attaiti thie wished-for end-they had in all their motions confinedl themselves to the contents of books, instead of applying themselves to the binding. (Rienewved laughter.) But to speak seriously: the house hiad resolved to reserve what was called the siinking-fund, or surplus inicoiRse of thje country, in a particular nsanner; they ought to be prepared to resicind that resolution, before they tampered with the nseans which were appropriated to the exigencies of the state. This motiots wvas at all events premature, and as such would not, lie trusted, be sanctioned by the house. Mr. CALORAIFT replied. The house then divided, wheti there appeared- Ayes, 55 Noes, 711 Maliority, 16. BANKS IN IRELANID. On our re-admission into the gallery, we found3 Mr. DAWSON addressing the house, hut in so low a tone of voice as to be almost inaudible. Xire understood him to move for leave to bring in a bill s o remove the restrictions which at present prevent the formnation of joint stock banking companies in Ireland. The want of such com- panies was felt by almost aLl the large towns ef Ireland, and un- fortunately, liad never been supplied by any arrangements ol the Bank of Ireland. He was sure the hosise would see the inconve- nience which this system necessarily created, when he informed it, that ir consequence of the Bank of Ireland having refused to dis- count the bills of any merchant iwho did not reside in Dublin. or possess an agent residing in Dublini, it was impossible for merchants at a distance from that metropolis to obtain discount for their bills at a less rate of interest than 7 per cent The formation of such joint stock companies as he contemplated in his bill would ob- viate two evils under which Ireland laboured-first, tite want of ca- pital; and tben, the want of employment, arising out of that %vant of capital. The hon. member then took a review of the laws a'fect- ing banking establishments in Ireland, and pointed out the clauses in them which he wished to repeal. ie informed the house that he liad no intention of interfering with the charter of the Bank ef Ire- lsad, but that his cnief object wa's to repeal the 29th of Oeorge IL, chap. 16, which obliged the name of every partner of a bank to be menitioned on its news, andprohibited bankers from trading as genera] merchants. He conCluded by moving for leave to bring in a bill te amenid time laws relating to banking establishmen-s in Ireland. The CEANCIE LLoRof the EXCHEQIIEIt assured the houst that the subject on which his hon. ftriend hat just addressc(tl the housi had nIot escaped the notice of Government. On the contrary, i had been for some tinse under its most serious consideration He had received sonle time ego a request fromn the merchants o Belfast to allow the formation of ajoiiit stock banking company i! their town. The first titing he did upon receiving it was, to reter i to the law-officers of the Crown, to leterisiine howv far any proosi tions for an alteration in the existing state of the lavw respectin banking establishments in Ireland would affect the contract whic exilsted between the public and the Bank of Irelanel. lie was ne prepared to assert that many of the objects which his honourabS fdend recoinmended to the adoption of the house were not altaim a'ele withoutt a breach of that contract; 'but as hie could n~ot vet tenl what the opinion of the law-officers might be on the point which he had referred to them, he could not give more than a Itmiitel consezt to the proposition of hishon'ourable friend. Indeed, if the lavr-of- ficera slhould report that, to accde to it would hte against the .public faith pledjfed to the M of,-Ireland, he should be.:obl igpd to~give it his most decided opposition. Under thes dircuinsuncsieehe would not oppose the bringing iiiofthebillI thOugh hC raight perhaps. be obliged at some future periodto oppos.e it. He thoughtitneeesay. to say so much upon the subject, lest it shiould be supposed tha,t the measure itself had not attractedlhis attention. So far was tbat fromi being the case, that he was not reluctant to introduce a mieasure of this kind himnself to the house, if the lawv officers should reportta it could be done without a breach of public faith. ta Alr. V. FITZGERALD did not think the population of Ireland to be so concuirrent and unanimous in favour of this measure as his honourable friend hiad represented it to be. He knew thlat in Manur parts of Ireland there were great objections to establibhmerts of this naturc, in consequence of the resuilts vrhich had flown fromn eats. blishmnents somewhat similar to themn not having been, al. together beneficial. Indeed, in the Su and '.Vest Of Ireland, these establishmentg, instead of being either able or willing to advacecapital upon new speculations, had iswallowed up th greater profhecapital which had been acquired by old and sucer,fia c.cm erial specuators. He declared himself to be incompetenh from want of information, to pronouncec definitively upon the merits of thu. measure Iandl he thought that the session was at presnt too far ad- vanced to enabIe him to obtain from Ireland that information in which he was deficient. Colonel TRENC f expressed hiimself to be friendly to the Object of thi, bill. Though it was a little irregular, he would talce that o~potunry f corecinga mirepesetation which had gone abroad respctig wat hd flle fro hi ona former night. A, right hon. entlean hd quoed te exaple f a Air. Strictland, 'whoma he sate tobea Irih lndhlde asan example worthy the iji.. taton frh oherlanholer ofIrean. Hebhadrisen tocomtninicate to the house a point of which he was himiself aware,-namely, that Air. Stricriand was not an Irisih couintry gentlemnan, but an ag.at that had been appointed to superintend the embarrassed estate oi ,-a. nobleman, who, from motives honourable to himself, bad abierited himiself from theimansion of hiis ancestors. Thatnobleman had had the good fortunie, and he wouldl also adld the good sense, to Place in the situaitiont of his agent a gentlemau whose examnile couxld not fail to produceagood effect. The n9blemnan to whom he alluded, as well as another noblemnan to whom Irelandl must always feel indebted... he meant the duke of Devonshire-had conferred a blessitng upon their counitry, in substituting for their owvn presence, which they couild not gii'e, the presence of such genjtlemen as they, had selected for their agents. He said thus miuch in the hope thaLt ele errone- ousi imipression which hiad got ablroad would be corrected through the samne channel from which it had first originated. He wa-s the muore an-xious upon thiis psoint, as he had learnt by a letter fromi his own agent, in Connaughit, that an Impression 'had been created there, in consequenice of what he was stipposed to have said, which he had not intended to create, and which he wished to put down as soon &s possible. The lionourable menmber was pro. ceeding to notice somes misrepresentation which had gone abroad of wvhat he hiad said respecting a society which had beeli formed in Ice-.- lanid to ameliorate thie conditioni of its female peasantry, and of which the wife of Lord Lorton was at the hecad, when lacin~ re. mrinded of the irregularity of his conduct, he immediately admitted it, and desisWe. After a fewobservations fromAMr. H. GsjRIrEv and Sir GEoRGE H ILL, whiclh were iriautlible in the gallery-, Al r. DAW'SON rose for the purpose of withdrawing hisimotion, wvhich, he thought, would mieet witlh better succe-ss if it irere left in the hands of the Chiancellor of the Exchiequer. The miotion was accordingly withdrawn. - CLERG's OF IRELAND. Mqr. H UAIE rose for the Pmurpose of' moving for the production Of certain returns, which he thought were necessary for the infornma. tion of the house. However they might diffeir in their reaoig lie was of opinion that none of them -wouldI object to having h at on which their reasning was foundedi ascertainedi ast corrcty as pos- sible. In a late debate on the Church of Jreland, heha asserted that the number of resident clergymen was 7858, and of non-resident cleryme 881 Tht aserton as et by another, in which it wasdecare, tat he umbr o no-resident clergymen did not exced 2or 10 ersns. e tereorewised the house to take such meaure aswoud eabl itto udg wich of these two assertions was orrct.He ad imslf,sine tat debate, taken the trouble of colltinig the Bishops' rctuyioft ridtarnd naoi-resident Clergymen with the annual returns to that house,up to the latesqt peried at which thev' had been made ; and he found that in the province of Armagh alonie, the niumber or inicumbents non-resident, either because they, resided on other livings, or were absent fioatL other causes was 91 ini the province of Cashiel, thenumber was 182 ; andl in that ofbubhin 94. I'he hion. gentleman concluded by movinig for " an abstract of the resident and non-resident incumbenits in Ireland, according to the Irisli dioces-an returns for the years 1822 and 1823." Alr.GOOUI,BUIN hadno objection to the motion. At the samie time he must observe,that thenmotion would not effect the object of the hon. gentleman eso well as the account moved for by a right hon. friendI of his, who had culled for a return of the numnber of' persons isho were iilegrallv non-reident.-The motion was agreed to. Alr. HlUME rose to move for a paper, illustrative ofzanther Poine to which lie had adverted on a forusier eve-ning-lie meaiit the numn- ber of benefices in Ireland, distinguishing the parties in wkose gilt they were. Ho hiad observed on the occasion to whicht he alluaed, that there ivore, in the diocess of Dublin, 144 benefices at time disposal of the archbishop) buit, in contradiction to that, it wvas stated that there were only 30 in the gift of that individual. Now, all he wisheAd was, that the bouse should have roe nOr- imation on this subject, and therefore it was that he matre "Ke present motion. The boniourable gentleman then moved for 11a return of the number of parishes and the number of benefices in each dioce-ss in Ireland, distinguishing the liumbeir in the gift of the bishop or archbishop, the number in the gift of the Crown the numnber in the gift of the universities, the number in the gift o?lay-impropriators, and the number without churches or incumbents." Mlr. GOULBURN observed, that to this motion also ha had no objection. The hon. gent. had stated, that in the diocess of Dublin there were 144 benefices in the gift of the archbishop. The fact was, as the hionourable Igentleman would find, that the number of bene- fices in that diocess was 85, whiich number he bad;, by a new species of arithmetic, extended to 144. Mr. HlUME said, hist sole object wasto arrive at correct informs- tion, and with that view he moved for those aocurrents.-The mno- tion was agreed to. Mfr. LEAKB moved for leave to bring in a bill." for the better examination of witnessies itn the courta of equity at Westmninster;, and for empow~ering the courts of law andI equity at Westminster to niu co utissions for taking affidavits in all parts of Scotland and ~ Tlaind."Leave given. I ~~SAVING BANKS BILL. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER., in rooving that the house sesolve itself into a committee on the above bill, observed that the best course of proceeding would be, to fill up the blanks (of which there was a considerable number) in tihe comminittee,- to make certa in amendmdrents, and then to have the bill reprinted in its .amended formn. It could then be fully debated on somxe fuiture day. Thie house havinig resolved into the commnittee, the blanks were filled up, and certain amendments were agreed to, after a few re- mark-sfrom Sir M1. WV. RIDLEY aind the CHANICELLO5t of the EXCHEEQUER. In answer to an observation of Sir E. KNATCsSaULL, Withl re- spect to those who bad already invested large amisis, at a highi rate of interest, in saving banks, The CHIANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER oibservedl, that however he migEhtregret tlhe investncittof large sums in those baniks, still he could not, with justice, allow this bill to have a retrospc tive effect withi reference to those who had so deposited their money. They had certainly made those deposits without anv violation of the exsiglawv. He meant the present bill to rake effect merely fromn I h ieof its being passed. Sir R, P! EROIN thomsght a notice of three or six montlss miight be given to those w ho held larFe sums. such a notice wouild enable Ithem to invest their monev in other secuiritiCs. i The house then resumed, s;ad the report was ordered to be taken !into furthner considleration on Monday next, and to he prioted. PAROCHIAL STIPENDS' (SCOTLAND) ACT. Tue CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUIER, in moving that t'he house sihould resolve itself into a committee on the aboive act, took occasion to observe, that a few years ago th)e L,egislamure passed a bill for raising the stipends of the Scotch inferior clergy to the ssimi of 1801. per annum. At th-at period there were mnany small Ji vings in Scotland, the revenues of which were insufricient for the support of tie clergymen andl their f-amilies. The clergy were in consequence preve5icdl from dispensing that charity in wl'ich the pastors of the Scottish churtch delighted~ to indulge a-s muich as 'the ministers of anyother communion. There was, however, in theact whichi had beeri passed to ameliorate their situation, a provision that had a very bad effect. The law which provided for the amount of the salary, prvided also that a porltion of it should be levied accordinig to the prpcice of grain. The act was passed in 1809-10,. when, as every body knew, thec priceof grain was very hiigh The average value of every living, was fixed on the price of grain ati the period when- -the, demand' was made, and no0 othier. The consequence was, thtgrain being then high, the v-alue was raised to aL considerable amount;, but when that article Ffell in prce a~it had since done, the value became propor- tiornably less; and there was no provision in the act authorizing a renewed valuation. Therefore, the money collected was at presecnt very inadequate to raise the revenue of several small livings to 1801. per annum. To remedy thlis defect,, it wouild be provided by the bill which he meant toititroduce, that the amount of stipend should be regulated by the average pice of corn every seven years. There was another point Aso to hicrh the new measure woulid have refer- enice. The sumn granted by the former act, to keep up those stipends, was 10,0091. a-year. Thatsurnwas notquite adequatetoieffect the pro- posed objIecL. H~eshouldthereforecanllfoir2,0001. per annum additional. That this sum shouldi not be an expense to the public, he;meat to move for the repeail of part of another at, which granted a sum of 10,0001. a-year, for the purpose of building manse-houses Thut act had bean its force for three yeLrs; but it was never found practi- cable to a pply the monecy thus voted. Therefore thissunm of 30,00(11, which hdbe~en grnted for three years, would nieet she additional ,00.a year, whirch it was necessary to call for. The right b-ssr-a Iable gen~tlean concluded by mnoving a series of resolutions co. ably with the above statement. 'he house then resumed.-Report to-morrow. MARINERS' APPRENTICES' SETTLEINIEN:T BILL. Alr. CURTEIS moved the second reading of tise above bill. 'I'he CHANCELLOR of the EXOHEQUElR aiked wvhether the bill had been printed ? For his part he kisew nothing about it. l 1l hi ONCK objected to the bill, wihich went in a very material degree to alter the law of settlement. He thouid therefore move, as an amendment, It that the bill be read a seeond time t-hit day six months." MIr. C. WILSON seconded the motion,and spoke shortly against rite bill. Air. HURST wished the bil to go to a commnittee. It might there, if necessary, be remodelled. Air. BRIGHT. said the. principles of the bill were so defective, and the rules on which it proceeded so cortrary to law, that he felt it necessary to oppose the measure. The SCLICITOR-EBNERAL as we understand, expressed his intention to meet th'bill with a Airect negative. Sir Al. W. RIDLEY observed, that this bill was of the utmost importance to the maritime districts, of the country.. It would have the effect of oversetting and overturising ttie law ef settlement, so tfar as it regarded sea-faring individuals. (Hear.) It would operate a partial repeal of the law of settlement with respect to marincrs' f apprentices. lt might, perhaps, be proper to alter the law regarding Iapprentices; but if that law were to be interfered with, it would be twiser to take the whole law of apprentieLs intoconsideration, insterta a-of confiningtheir viewp to the law of maritime apprentices only'. fie g objectedl to tlse bill being brought in at this period of the session, a whe-n it was imnpossible for rnembers conutcted with the maritime it districts to collect the sense of their constituests on a matter that e nearly affected their interests. Mi. S. BOURNE admitted that the cae out of which this bAl as a vtety had one; but the bill was bv no means ai ade i ate remnedy for the evil complained of. Usnle6s there was an un- dferstnding that this bQI should go intto the committee with a view o being aTnended there, and brought fottward early next session, he s; VOte i St itsPrOCeed;ng to ar* further stage in the present Sir E. KNATCHBElCL spoke to the same effect. hor. . GILBIERT supported the recoummendation of the right hon. Metlerban (MrI. BoUirne.) Mdr. CURTE IS, in seply, said that if the bill was defective, he felt by no mneans weedded to it. If, however, it should go into a c'mmittee,he would proposea clause, providling that the place where the registcr of the ship should have been granted, should give the ettemnent, in cases where it could not be discovered what parish the man belon. to. ; llr YSHUF PALMIER thought that it would be found quite Supracticableto act upon any such clause as that just suggested. Suppose the case of a Iondon vessel anml register-why the port of London contained 11 parishes, ax. be was infonned, and which of these sIould be required to provide the settlement? He was, how- ever, sincerely anxious that the honoirable member would re-consi- Sir lail remodel his bill; for nothing was more desirable than some C-thendation in the law of settlements. ile ceuld assure the house, that notsing puzzled the local mnagistracy, the magistrates of quar^ tar ehssons, and counsel, so much as these questions of settlement; an d he confessed they extremely perplexed himself, though no man, he believed, paid more attention to such subjects than he did. -Mri AIONCK said, he could not feeljustified in withdrawing his asadnenuset pAfter a few words, totally isaudibe Ri the gallerv, from Mr. C. PELHAM2 and Mr. CAITUS *N IL5Oyr d. he question was put on the amendment, and catried without a division; so that the bill was lost. The further consideration of the reports on the bankmrpt laws atnendmnent, asnd the fi>heries bil1. wsthen fixed for Thursday next. ASSESSED TAXES BILL. The house having resolved itself intA a committee on this bill, lir. HU:ME begged to suggest the propricty of introduicing. before the Prorogation of Parliament. some regulations for checking and reoording the balances of public moniesin the hands of the coDlectors at certain given periods. (Hear.) The public, owing to the want of such a provision, were annually defraude(d of enormous sums. The arnount of the dealecations, indeed of the robberies (a laugh,) that were Occasioned by the miscrnndact of collectors and others was incsedible. In the Kensing.on district alone, -hese defalcations had amlounted in the course of the last one and twenty years, to no less than 95,0001. Mr- HERRa ES reminded the house that it was out of the power of the Treasury to re-model this department. They had no jurisdic- tion in the matter, the commissioners lieing appointed by acts of Par- ltment, and the collectors beinrg accountable to the commissioners. MAlr. FYSJIE PAl,. MER begged to throw out a suggestion for he improvement to some degre,-e, of the revenue, and the great be- aslit of the public generally. As thie ingenuity nf no mqan was more likely to tun such a hint to accunt than that of the Tight honour- able gentleran (.r. Elerrirs), lhe meant to address it particuilarly to hi attention. It would he of singular zervice and convenience to lave some duty imposed on the barking curs which infested every town and village in England, and were of no other use but to run about the streets and annoy passengers. Ir. H1UAIE repeated his wish, that somerirting should be done before the prorogation bv wav of better regulating the offices of re- celvers of the land and assessedt-axes. ir. T. WIL,SON concurred in the proprietv of some such regu. Iation, but thougl,t it could not be conveniently effected this session. .l(Ir. Alderman l' OOD complained, that it was very inequitable to give relief to a certain degree, ft-su the window-tax, to wine-vaults slD,tttn'jhop~ass they vrere called; and tocontinue the tax as hereto- fo s,a public-houses. AIler a few w-rts frou Mr. BatIcsIIT and Mr. HIJmE, the house resumed, and the turther consideration of the report was, settled for Friday: nc.xt; a aa.s that of the report on the law merchant ao.end- moent bill tor Thursd3av. Theorders of the d3y- being disposedl of, the house adjourned at a Ql;AHTEit TO Ftas'E.N 0 05.005. i HOUSE OF COAftUONS. TUT5DnAV. MAV 18.