PARLIAMENTARY INTELLIGENCE House of Commons, Tuesday Jan 27. COMMERCIAL POLICY AND THE CORN LAWS.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume II, Issue 99, 11 July 1846, Page 2

PARLIAMENTARY INTELLIGENCE House of Commons, Tuesday Jan 27. COMMERCIAL POLICY AND THE CORN LAWS.

At twenty minutes to five o'clock Sir R. Peel moved that the order of the day be read for the House resolving itself into a committee .of the whole House 011 the Customs and Com Importation Acts. Mr. Miles asked Sir R. Peel whether he intended to take a vote that evening on any part of the complicated financial statement which he was about to make to the House? Sir R. Peel said, that the statement which he was about to make would be extensive and complicated, and commercial rather than financial. It was not his intention to ask for the opinion of the House that night uuon any portion of it. His wish was that his plan should be matin ely considered, and that it should not be judged of in detail, but as a whole. He would not, therefore, ask for any opinion either -s t o.i he general purport, or even- as to the details of the measure, until after the lapse of some days. The Speaker then left the chair. Sir R. Peel said, that in pursuance of the recommendation of the speech from the Throne, he was about to call upon die House to review ihe duties which applied to many articles the produce and manufacture of other countries. He should proceed to the assumption contained in her Majesty's speech, that the Vepeal of prohibitory and relaxation of protective duties was in itself a wise policy — that protective duties abstractedly and in principle were open to objection — and that, though the policy of them might in some cases be defended, it must always be on some special grounds of national interest, or of justice towards individuals. He was also about to act on the presumption, that during the last three years there had been increased productiveness in the revenue, notwithstanding a large remission of taxation; that there had also been increased competence, comfort, contentment, and peace among the population. In advising the continued application of those principles, which had produced such salutary tesults, and which had already been sanctioned by the House, he was not inclined to disregard the necessity of maintaining public credit unimpaired, and he was, therefore, prepared to act with forbearance, in order that he might not prejudice in any respect th* per-* tnanent interests of the country. It was possible that, owing to the numerous and various interests which his present proposition would affect, an impression might arise that his scheme was a rash one, and ought to be discouraged. If such should be the opinion of the partisans of protection, nothing could be more easy tor them than to meet him on an early night with a resolution that protection to domestic industry was in itself a good, and that the principle of it ought to be sanctioned by the House, It might, on the other hand, be the conclusion of the House, considering all the difficulties of this question, and the nature of the contest which had long existed, and would long continue to exist if there were not a satis* factory adjustment of it— that his proposition, extensive as it was, ought to be accepted as a whole, though there might be objections in detail to parts of it. If that should be the conclusion of the Ht-use, he should have confidence in his ultimate success; but if not, the sooner its disapprobation was expressed the better for all parties. The great principle tf the relaxation of protective duties he was not going to apply to any one particular interest ; on the contrary, he asked all the interests .of the countiy, manufacturing, commercial, and agricultural, to make the sacrifice, if it were one, of their protection, to the common good. Of late years the whole tariff had been submitted to the review of the Hou».e. In 1842 he had proposed, and in 1845 he had carried out to a very large extent, a plan for remittingthe duty on the raw materials constituting the elements of manufacture. There was at this moment scarcely a duty on the raw material imported from foreign countries which we had not abandoned. He had, the efore, a right to call on the manufacturer to relinquish the protection of which he was now in possession. The only two articles of raw material now subject to duty were tallow and timber. He intended now to reduce the duty on tallow from 3s. 2d._to Is. 6d. a cwt., and to make a gradual reduction on timber till it reached a point at which it would remain fixed, and which he would definitely describe on a future day. Having given the manufacturers free access to every raw material of manufacture, he called upon such of them as were engaged in making up the three articles, wool, cotton, and linen, which formed the clothingof the country, to give a proof of the sincerity of their convictions by relinquishingthe protection wlneh was vow given to the articles of their manuf tcture. — He made this call upon them the more confidently,becauseitwas the manufacturing and not the agricultural interest, which first called on the government for a repeal of protecting duties. He then stated that he intended to relinquish all duties upon the importation of the coarser articles of manufactures in wool, linen, and cotton, and reduce the duties on linen and woollen goods of a finer quality from 20 to 10 per cent. At present there was a duty on silk, which was called 30-per cent., but which was often higher, lie proposed to adopt a new principle in the levying of that duty, which was now an encouragement to the smuggler, and not to the British manufacturer, and to impose a duty of 15 per cent, instead of 30 for every 100/. value of silk. The right lion. bar. then described at great length the reduction of duties which he intended to make upon the importation of paper hangings, manufactured metals, dressed hides, boot?, shoes hats, straw plat, carriages, candles, soap, brandy, geneva, sugar, and various other articles, for which we must refer our readers to the list, and then proceeded to review the articles connected with agriculture on which import duties were levied. He proposed to reduce the duty on all seeds to ss. per cwt. Indian corn or maize, which was of such importance in the fattening of cattle, he proposed in future to introduce duty free. In removing that duty he was not depriving agriculture of any protection, but absolutely conferring a benefit upon it. He also proposed that buckwheat, and maize, and buckwheat flour

should be admitted duty free If any gentleman would ascertain the price winch had been recently paid b>' farmers for . h . n «: ed c , ake a . nd ra P(cake they would agree with him that the removal of the duty on maize was not a disservice to the agricultural interest. Sir Robert Peel then announced that he proposed toj-educe the duties on butter from 1/. to jOs. the cwt., upon cheese from 10s. to 55., upon hops from 4/. lUs. to 21. ss. upon cured fish from 2s. tols.. upon cider and perry from ten guineas to five guineas a tun. Every thing which enteis the category of animal or vegetable food should be at once admitted duty free. The duties on bacon, salt and fresh beef, pork, and potatoes, will of course, at once be lepealed under this head, and also the import duty on live animals. From the superior quality of the English meal, Sir Robert expressed his opinion that the agriculturalists need noi be afraid of foreign competition. The corn laws next came to be dealt with. He proposed at once to reduce the import duty on foreign wheat as follows: When the price of corn in this country should be under 48«., a duty of 10s; when above 485., and under 495. 9s. duty ; above 495. and under, 505., Bs. duty ; above s(>s. and under 515., 7e. duty ; above 51s. and under 525., 6s. duty ; above 525. and under 535., ss. duty; and when the price reached 535. a permanent duty of 4s. There would be,therefore, now levied on whea*, instead of a duty of 165., a duly of 4s. The duty on barley, oats, beans, peas, and rje, to be reduced correspondingly in amtfunt so as to preserve the same relation with regaid to wheat as they do at present, and in three jears, or on the Ist of February, 1849, protection to cease, and oats, barley, and wheat to be subject only to that nominal rate of duty it is proposed to apply immediately to maize and buck-wheat. Immediately after the passing of the act, all grain, the produce of the British colonies, to be admitted at a nominal duty. By way of compensation to the agricultural interest for these reductions, he proposed the consolidation of the present Highway Boards. At present there wereno lessthan 16,000 different local authorities for the administration of the Highway Rates. " At present theie is an act of parliament permitting the voluntary union of parishes for the purpose of forming themselves into a district authority for the superintendence of roads. He proposed to make this compulsory, which would reduce the local authorities from 16,000 to 600. He would compel the. guardians to appoint a competent surveyor to undertake the management of the highways. In a district in the north, in which this plan has been carried out, the roads had been improved, and the expense had been dimished flora 6d. in the pound rate to 2£d. in the pound. Another of the burdens grievousty, and he thought justly, complained of by the agricultural interest arose out of the law of settlement. Under that law, during manufacturing prosperity the rural population was encomaged to migrate to manufacturing towns. The \ easant thus migrating* consumed the prime of his life, and gave all the advantage of his strength to the manufacturers. ,A revolution took pla. c in trade, and manufacturers ceased to prosper. The individual was then sent back to the rural district, and is thus transfered to a new home, where he is not able to obtain" a livelihood, from being unused to rural employments. For the purpose of not merely relieving the land from a burden, hut of also protecting an indigent man from injustice, Government intended to propose that - the power of removability should be taken away in the case of every labouring man who had had a five years' industrial residence in any manufacturing town. He likewise proposed that the children of any person, or the children of his wife, legitimate or illegitimate, under sixteen, residing with the father or mother, and the wife of any person, should not be removed where the removal of the person himself was prohibited. Further, he proposed that no widow residing with her husband at the" time of his death should be removable for twelve months alter his death from the parish in which he resided at the time; •and lastly, that no order of removal^ should be taken out on the ground of changeability shown to have been occasioned-by accident or sickness, unless the lemoving magistrates should be satisfied that the effects of the accident or sickness are such as to be permanent and incurable. Here, again, by alteration of the law a great social advantage would be cbtained, and the agricultural interest would be relieved from a great burden. He then approached another matter, in which he advised, without any loss to any other interest, a great advantage to the agricultural interest. There was a natural dread in that interest of a very formidable competition on the cessation of its present protection. It was impossible to deny that agricultural science was yet in its infancy ; and he therefore proposed that the State should give facilities to the improvement of agricultural skill and industry. The Duke of Richmond, had collected a mass of interesting evidence to show the great capability of improvement which was inherent to all kinds of land. Much benefit might be effected by increasing draining. Mr. Pusey had proposed several schemes for the improvement of land ; but great difficulties occurred, especially among the owners of entailed estates, in raising the funds to carry them into execution. Government proposed thatjfee credit of the State should be employepVin enabling these improvements to be made. An advance of Exchequer Bills should should be made by way of loan for the purpose of agricultural improvement, security being of course taken to protect the country against loss. The right lion, baronet, after describing at some length the mode in which these advances were to be made and repaid, concluded by stating that that was ano:her plan by which he hoped to enable the agricultural interest to meet competition with the foreign grower. With respect to the local burdens pressing on the agriculturist, he must declare at once that he could not advise any alteration in the mode of assessment of the poor rates. It had been said that they were a charge upon the land, and that there should be an alteration in the mode of levy. In point of fact they were not a charge upon the land. The opposition was between real and personal pioperty. It was real property upon which the poor rate was levied, as on mines, houses, lands, and manufactories. If the poor rates were a charge for general objects, it would be just to make personal property contribute : but they were a local charge, and personal property could not be

called on for contribution without establishing an inquisition into every man's affairs, which, for the minute objectof a poor rate raised to relieve local distress, would not be tolerated. The rate on personal property had been abandoned because it could not be levied, and therefore he was not , repared to propose any alteration in the mode of assessment. He would, however relieve the agricultural in terest of the charge of maintaining the prisoners in the county gSoU, and would provide for that charge by an annual vote of that House. He also proposed that that portion of the charge for prosecuting felons which was now derrayed in England and Wales out nf hfcal rales imposed upon the land, should likewise be transferred to the State. The relief in point of money would not be large ; but if it enabled you to exercise an increased control over prosecutions, it would be a great social advantage. In Ireland the relief would amount to £17,000, and in England to £100,000 a year. He then proceeded to contend that it there was any part of the United Kingdom likely to_suffer from the withdrawal of protection, it was Ireland : for Ireland had not, as England had,.the means of finding employment for her agricultural population in her manufacturing district*. Here, again, he would propose no relief from local burdens which was not accompanied by social advantages. In Ireland the police was paid partly by the land and partly by the Treasury. He believed that it would be for the general advantage to place the police entirely under the Treasury, and to vest the control o*f it in the Executive Government. Such was the recommendation of Lord Devon's Commission ; and, he therefore, proposed that all the charge lor the rural po'ice in Ireland should hereafter be borne by the public Treasury. Sir Robert then adverted to the subject of the medical relief of the poor in this country. He believed that there was no. part of the poor law which had given greater or more just dissatisfaction. He proposed to relieve the Unions of half the charge on this score by taking it upon the government. He estimated that the amount of change in that case would be £100,000 for England and £15.000 for Scotland. The subject of medical relief in Ireland was under a different system, and would shortly occupy their attention. In making these great reductions, he could give no guarantee that foreign countries would follow their example. He had resolved to consult our interests alone, and not to punish other countries and ourselves by continuing high duties, and the necessary concomitant of high duties, smuggling. After some discussion the debate on the bill whs postponed to Monday the 9th of February. I ' c thought last year that by the alteration in the excise duties he should lose one million ; but the revenue from that source was now as good as it was before the alteration, He expected to lose (our millions by the reduction of the Customs duties; but nothing of the kind had occurred. He was, therefore, unnill'ng to make an estimate of the loss which would accme to the revenue. The charge which his scheme would impose on the Consolidated Fund would be an annual charge of £513,000. In answer to a question from Lord John Russell relative to the mode of proceeding in order to obtain a decision of the House on the subject, Sir R. Peel observed, that he had no objection to bring the resolution of the corn laws fiist under consideration ; but whatever course should appear most advisable to the House, the same would be most convenient to the Government. Mr. Liddell said he had always hithei to firmly supported Sir R Peel ; but he could do so no longer, being impelled by a sense of duty to op pose the project announced by the Government that evening. A desultory discussion followed, in the course of which Sir J. Tyrrell addressed the House from the opposition benches, condemning the proposal of Sir. R. Peel. Amongst the speakers were Mr. Sidney Herbert, Lord March, Mr. Newdigate, Colonel Sibthorp, Mr. Wakley, Mr. Benelt, Lord G. Bentinck.