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Febritaby 2J, 1857.] THE LEADER. 181
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NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS. Mr. W. Pare's...
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No notice can be taken of anonymous corr...
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SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 1857.
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~w There is nothing so revolutionary, be...
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THE FINANCIAL POSITION. Thebe is no Budg...
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Transcript
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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effected by the society In "wholesale quantities at a moderate cost , which , -when subdivided , will produce a handsome profit . Upon this system , it is further proposed by Mr . Scrathcley to engraft the agency of a central body acting in co-operation -with a congeries of local societies in the manner to be now explained . He proposes that in co-operation -with such a central company there should be adopted the system of investing shareholders of a benefit society ; or , in other words , that the requisite funds should be created by small instalments , payable by way of periodic subscriptions to bianch benefit emigration and colonization societies , to be established in all parts of the kingdom .
The money subscribed by the investing shareholders could be applied through the agency of the central company to the wholesale purchase of land in a small number of selected localities in the colonies , to be mortgaged in allotments to such of the branch members as desired to become colonizing tenants . The available means of each , benefit society would be continually increasing by the taking up of new shares , by fresh investors , and by the repayment of colonists , which , together , would come in so rapidly , as to regenerate continuously the lending fund .
Many persons would join such a society for a limited period , as ten or twelve years , either to obtain possession of small allotments of colonial lands , of to receive at the end of that time the amount of their subscribed shares in full , equivalent to the accumulation of their subscriptions , at a reasonable rate or compound interest , not lower than that of the public funds . The central company would thus act as the agent of numerous benefit societies . It would , in fact , be the super-association of separate groups of associating individuals , and would be able to perform , or cause to be effected , all that would be out of the power of one branch society . The company would be essential to them , and they ¦ would give vitality to it .
Hence , undiminished power would be secured for carrying out for ever the object for which the colo nizing company was originally formed . By the plan proposed , the necessary funds would speedily be obtained , through the small contributions of the multitude of provident persons who exist in this country . _ As to obtaining investors for the benefit emigration societies-, there would be no obstacle , since the agency and protection of the central company would ensure them as good , if not better , security than in the ordinary mutual associations , which swarm in such , numbers ( there are 10 , 433 enrolled friendly societies , and a vast number of nnenrolled , about S 3 , 223 ) , and of which , the pecuniary resources have attained to such large amounts . ( The enrolled societies have a capital fund of 6 , 400 , 000 ?; the unenrolled , 11 , 360 , 000 / . )
In the compass of a letter it is difficult to indicate more clearly the character anil capabilities of Mr . Scratchley ' s excellent proposition ; for further information I must refer your readers to his standard work on " Industrial Investment and Emigration . " I will only add that , in my humble opinion , his plan will assure tlie accession to the colonies of a class of self-relying and self-respecting men—not merely , as often hitherto , of the despairing or the desperate class . His plan will establish a means by which the
industrious man will occupy the same independent position , whether he continues a member of the association at home , or makes use of its agency to find his way to a new home . It will , by altering the aspect and condition of emigration , invest the transference of skill and energy to a wider field , with the character of a high privileg : etliat indeed of aiding in tho great mission of our country in this age—to extend _ over the earth the language , industry , and civilization of the Anglo-Saxon race .
Surely sir , in this age of philanthropy and consideration for the oppressed and the unfortunate , the conditio n of the honest artisan should not be practically ignored . "We are , by various agencies and associations , taking compassion upon tho discharged convict and the juvenile delinquent ; we are striving to place women in situations hitherto filled by men ; we are doing all we can to reclaim the profligate and abandoned of both sexes ;—let us not , in our making such haste to do good , forget the poor skilled aTtisan ; let not genius be driven to the Union to pick oakum , or be thrown upon the roads to break stones . How , after such base and servile work can the watchmaker , the jeweller , the cjibinet maker , the tailor , the carpenter , and tho joiner , r 9 ' urn * ° t * employment of former years , and do hia work ns carefully and nB . skilfully as he has been used to do it ? Such treatment is enough to make the indignant artificer exclaim , in tho language of , St . Paul , " What , mean ye to weep and to break name heart ?" I am , sir , your obedient servant , _ . W . G . Jeuvis , M . A . Kingston-on-Thames .
Febritaby 2j, 1857.] The Leader. 181
Febritaby 2 J , 1857 . ] THE LEADER . 181
Notices To Correspondents. Mr. W. Pare's...
NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS . Mr . W . Pare ' s letter next week . "W . C G . ( uear Stroud ) . —Our correspondent will find an explanation among our " Public Affairs . " T . D . S . —Mr . Kerr has been elected for Downpatrick ; but we were correct in our description of Mr . Johnstone .. Our correspondent is thanked for his communication . Mr . Edwin Hill ' s letter , too long for insertion this week , will appear in our next .
No Notice Can Be Taken Of Anonymous Corr...
No notice can be taken of anonymous correspondence-Whatever is intended for insertion must be authenticated by the name and address of the writer ; not necessarily _ for publication , but as a guarantee of his good faifh .. We do not undertake to return rejected communications .
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Saturday, February 21, 1857.
SATURDAY , FEBRUARY 21 , 1857 .
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— — public Mate
~W There Is Nothing So Revolutionary, Be...
~ w There is nothing so revolutionary , because there is nothing so unnatural and convulsive ; as the strain to keep things fixed when all the -world is "by thevery lav of its creation in eternal progress . —Db . Arnold .
The Financial Position. Thebe Is No Budg...
THE FINANCIAL POSITION . Thebe is no Budget this year . The measure , or set of measures whicli pass by that name , amount , -with one striking exception , to little more than a Continuance Bill . The Budget of last year is continued , minus nine-sixteenths of the income-tax—an imp ortant reduction . It is impossible to say how much of that sacrifice we owe to Mr . Disbaeii and Mr . Gladstone , whose combined resistance to the Government is understood to have
caused a revision of the intended Budget at tbe eleventh hcur , or rather before the eleventh hour . The estimated expenditure for the ensuing financial year is 65 , 474 < 3000 Z ., theestimatedrevenue exceeds this by 8 & l , O 00 Z . We are inclined to conjecture , for we are not in the secrets of the Cabinet , that reports originally current were not far wrong , and that Ministers intended to make a less concession on the Income-tax . It is a dogma in the school to which Sir Geobge Cobnewau ,
Lewis belongs , that in time of peace a large surplus should be maintained—Peel set it at 3 , 000 , OOOZ . If the Income-tax had been retained at 10 d ., which was one of the reports , Sir G-eobge Lewis would have been able to leave the tea and sugar duties to their destined descent , and would have retained about 3 , 000 , 0 O 0 Z . of surplus . But the rising demand out of doors , the party adoption of it by Mr . Disraeli , the defection of Mr . Gladstone from the Ministerial to tho
Opposition side , are very probable causes for a revision of the Ministerial plan ; and conceding 3 d . on the Income-tax — the 3 , 000 , 0002 . —Ministers have reduced their surplus to 891 , O 00 Z . ; and even make that up by retaining some part of the tea and sugar duties which were to have been abandoned . The present Budget is the last Budget with a slight alteration of the figures in two cases , a considerable alteration in two others , aud a large alteration in . a fifth . The
comparison is somewhat disturbed by some of the items in the present survey . The cost of collection , 4 , 500 , 000 / ., is taken into the charge for the iirst time ; an instalment of the Sardinian loan [ 1 , 000 , 000 / . ] , and an instalment of Mr . Gladstone ' s Exchequer bonds falling due [ 2 , O 0 O , O 00 Z . ]> have to be provided for . We shall perceive the real difference between tho present and the last peace Budget by taking some of the positive items .
Tho principal distinction in the oxpondituro is to bo found under the heads of Army and Navy . Wo include respectively tho militia and the coastguard ; though some
obscurity arises from the manner in which the different figures are combined at different times , they appear to stand
thus—1853 . 1857 . Army 10 , 113 , 000 * . ... 11 , 625 , 0007 . Navy ..... 6 , 285 , 000 ? . ... 8 , 109 , 000 ? . Here , then , is an increase of more than 3 , 300 , 0002 . in the military and naval expenditure since 1853 , of more than 4 , 000 , 0002 . since 1852 . With respect to the policy of that increase we are not able to judge , the naval and military ^ estimates not having been explained . It will , however , take a great amount of ingenuity to show that 16 , 40 O , OO 0 Z . could not have given to this country a
perfectly efficient army and navy , even according to English standards . But of course the dead weight , —the incumbrances of the purchase system , the lavish expenditure , nave not been extirpated . The Commander-in-Chief can only tinker the enormous abuse which is called the Army , and which in this island country ought to be less in coat than our neighbours' . The territories of Queen Victoria are on the water , and her largest army should be afloat . If we have colonies they can defend themselves with the
assistance of our navy ; and the one impediment to that self-defence is the want of the true sympathy with the loyalty and independence of our territorial offspring . The minor items in which the Budget of 1856 is altered are tea and sugar . There was to have been a progressive deline in the duties ; but tea , instead of descending 6 d ., will only descend 2 d ., and the more complicated duties on sugar will undergo a slower descent in a similar proportion . No doubt both these articles are badly chosen for what is virtually an increase of taxation . The war
with China has threatened the supply of tea and raised the price ; and the object should have been to relieve it from duty rather than to add to the burden . Again the supply of sugar has been diminished by failures both in the "West and in the East . In the Mauritius we have found the Australian colonies to be a formidable rival , to which our supplies have been diverted . But when a great commodity is declining in quantity , and is needed by the great bulk of the population , it is the time to relieve it rather than to increase the fiscal charge .
There is a great concession on the Incometax , and it is true that although that tax ia not ostensibly imposed upon incomes under a hundred a year , it virtually affects all incomes whatever , since it affects trade , and through trade , wages and employment . But the million will not recognize this refinement . They see their own tea and sugar denied an effectual relief , Avhile prices are > rising through misgovernment of colonies and Sir Joiiisr Bowring ' s policy in China , and while they sec the classes that have higher incomes relieved to tho extent of nine millions .
It may seem ungracious to complain , but oven this relief does not , and cannot , satisfy . Mr . Gladstone had promised us that tho Income-tax should go down to 6 d . this year ; it goes down only to 7 d . Government therefore inflicts upon us a larger duty than tho leader of tho Opposition would propose . Tho true mischief of the Income-tax consists in its economical and moral effects . Everybody knows that it is enormously evaded , henco the
larger burden falls upon those who do not , or cannot evade . It is a premium on wholesale lying , and we are quite serious in expressing " the belief that it has taught immense numbers in this country to tell falsehoods , and even to commit perjury . Wo speak on specific instances within , our own knowledge . Tho Income-tax is a tour do force suited to an emergency , but it is not an impost which can bo ranged under tho
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 21, 1857, page 13, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_21021857/page/13/
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