ENGLISH INTELLIGENCE.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume I, Issue 23, 13 August 1842, Page 91

ENGLISH INTELLIGENCE.

[From the Sydney Herald of July 7.] By the Wilmot, which arrived yesterday, we received files of English papers to the 19th March. Sir Robert Peel, on the 11th March, made his financial speech in the Committee of Ways nnd Means in the House of Commons, lie said that the late Chancellor of the Exchequer had calculated the probable revenue for the year ending April, 1842, at £48,310,000, a:wl the expenditure at £50,73.>,000, calculations which were very nearly correct. For the year ending April, 1843, the estimated revenue would lie^ £1 8,350,000, and the expenditure £50,819,000, the deficiency! thus being £2,469,000. «• A further probable outlay must be provided for in respect of the war -in China; something must be made good for 1 Australia, and something in Canada ; and a considerable addition must be made to the army estimates, on account of the war in Afghanistan." Sir Robert then pointed out a variety of ways in which the financial schemes of the lute Government had failed, and declared that he could see no better way of meeting the growing deficiency than by an income tax. He said — . " He would propose, for a period to be limited, an Income-tax, of not more than 7d. in the pound, or about three per ctat., from which he would exempt all incomes under £150, and in which he "would include not only landed but funded property, whether in the hands of British subjects or of foreigners. He estimated ths assessable yearly value of the land at £39,400,000; of houses, at £25,000,000; of tithes, shares in railways and mines, and other similar property, at £8,400,000; total, £72,800,000. ¥Rom this he would deduct '^■^e-fourth. for the exemption which he proposed to give to all incomes under £150, and . then the tax thus far would give him £1,(300,000. The occupiers of land (assessed at half their rent) would yield £120,000. Next came funded property. The dividend pai«l in 1841 was £29,400,000, from which he would deduct £1,000,000, in respect of the savings/; banks ; but he must add, upon bank, foreign,* and other stocks, £1,500,000, making a total of] almost £30,000,000, from which he would de-" duct one-fourth for the incomes under £150 a ' year; and then the proceeds of this tax would be £646,000. He now arrived at the incomes of trades and professions, a part of the subject attended with great difficulty. The produce he expected from this source was £1,250,000. From the income of public offices he calculated upon £150,000. The total would be £3,771,000. With respect to the duration of this impost, the view, of Government was that it might probably require to be continued for five years ; unless in case of such a revival of commercial prosperity, from the other measures which be was about to propose, as might induce Parliament to take the opportunity of revising the subject ; but he would, in the first instance, propose a continuance for three years only." p In Ireland, he proposed to raise the duty on spirits one shilling a gallon, and to equalize the stamp duty with the English duties. He did not mean to propose the income tax in Ireland unless there should ' be a war, except in the case of absentees, who lie proposed should pay jt. He also proposed a tax of four shillings a ton on all coals exported. The amount ftotnall these

sources he estimated at £4,380,000, which would leave a surplus, which he proposed to apply in relaxing the commercial tariff. He laid on the table an amended tariff, in which it would be seen the duties on 750 articles had been reduced, and on 450 left untouched. The discussion on these important questions commenced on the evening of February 18; but as our paper of the 19th is a. Bristol Mirror, we are unable to give the result at eight o'clock on the evening of the 18th, when, according to the Mirror's correspondent, Mr. Baring (the Melbourne Chancellor of the Exchequer) was explaining the financial schemes of his late coadjutors. In the House of Lords, Lord Brougham moved a series of resolutions, the substance of which was, that in time of peace aw income tax was inexpedient. His lordship made a splendid speech, the report of which extended to upwards of a page in the morning papers ; but, after a very short reply by Lord Ripon, the question was negatived without a division. This proposition was exciting the most intense interest throughout England: the Times was opposing it most strenuously. The second reading of the Government Corn Law Bill was carried by a majority of 284 to 176. In replying to the various objections which had been made to thi3 bill, Sir Robert Peel said, " I did not want to bring forward a measure enunciating some general principles, and, after spending the session in discussion, find myself in August practically where I was in January previous. I wished to propose a measure which there would be a prospect of passing into a law, not giving universal satisfaction, for that I despaired of, but having the concurrence of the well thinking, rational, intelligent portions of the community ; yes, and I have had it [much cheering]." In the House of Commons, ou the 17th March, Mr. Lindsay moved that an address be presented to her Majesty, praying that those parties who gave up opium upon the requisition of Captain Elliott, might be reimbursed out of the money paid for the ransom of Canton ; the motion was lost, 37 voting for it and 78 against it. JSfa can fin«l no notice of the newbill for this colony ; but Lord Stanley, in explaining that he had been compelled to postpone the Crown Lands Bill for a few days, said he intended to bring in a bill for the better government of South (?) Australia. Intelligence of the disastrous events in India reached London on the 13th March. Ten thousand troops were to be sent to Afghanistan immediately, and it was rumoured that Sir Henry Hardinge was to have the command. Trade on the whole was reviving. The Colonial Gazette of March 16th. says, " there was a better demand for both English and foreign wool, and full rates have been paid." A singular event occurred in London, on the 16th March. The Irish Roman Catholics having declared that there was to be an earthquake on that day, thousands of them left town in all directions in the morning, and those that were not able to get out of town spent the day in praying and invoking all the saints in the calendar. An old prophecy was the ground for this strange infatuation. The Duke of Norfolk died on the 16th March.

Wealth^of the late Duke of Cleveland. — It is said that, by the late Dnke of Cleveland's death, his eldest son, the present duke, succeeds to £80,000 a year. Lord Wil,liam Poulett has a legacy £560,000, and Lord if Harry another ol £440,000. There is a legacy *v>f £200,000 to a grandson; the dowager I iuchess has the Yorkshire estates, the house in MSrosvenor-square, and an immense amount of plate, jewellery, and furniture. A large portion of the unentailed estates in Durham goes to one of his daughters. His grace, it is said, had £1,250,000 in the Three-and-a-Half per Cent. Consols, beside plate and jewellery to the value of a million sterling. The Marquis of Londonderry has bsen appointed to the office of Lord Lieutenant of the county of Durham, in the place of the late Duke of Cleveland. War jn China. — We have great satisfaction in stating that Rear-Aduiiral Sir Thomas Cochrane has been selected by the Lords of the Admiralty to hoist his flag, and proceed immediately to China. — Sunday Times. Hindoo Religion. — The Hindoo religion is spread over the whole earth. There are signs of it in every northern country, and in almost every system of worship. In England it is obvious; Stone-hengc is evidently one of the temples of Boodh ; and the arithmetic, astronomy, astrology, the holidays, games, names of the stais'an figures of the constellations, and the ancient monuments, laws, and coins, the languages of the different nations, bear the strongest marks of the some original. The Brahmins, of the sect of Brahma, we're the fane authors of the Ptolemaic system ; the Boodhists, follower* of Budhs, the authors of the Copernican system, as well as the doctrine ol attraction.