Earl Templesaid, that as he observed the Secretary at War in his place, he rose for the purpose of putting a question to him, on, a subject which was highly interesting to a numerous and respectable body of men, and upon the answer which the Right Hon. Secretary made to; him would depend, whether or not he 505 should give notice of bringing forward a motion before the House, The subject to which he referred was this:—He understood that early in the month of January last, a communication was made to the commanders of several militia regiments by a person calling himself collector, requiring lasts to be transmitted to him of all the officers in the several regiments, liable to pay the tax upon property for the amount of duty upon their pay. These lists were accordingly sent in, and, in consequence, certain sums were directed by the said collector to be stopped from the pay of the officers, being six months pay due upon the tax, from the 6th of April to the 10th of October, 1803. Mow it must be obvious to the House, that such a demand could not be legally made, because one-third, at least, of these officers were not appointed till the time of the supplementary militia being called out, in July, 1803, and their commissions, upon which this tax was demanded, only existed about the end of June, or in the month of July last. There were instances of other officers who had been appointed since then, and yet the property tax was still demanded upon them from April last; and, when appeals were sent in, the answer given, as he understood, was, that these appeals would be taken into consideration, and, if well founded, that the tax appealed against should be deducted from the demand of duty upon the ensuing next month's pay. But this mode of proceeding, he considered, as imposing a great hardship upon these officers; for, upon supposition of the militia being disbanded in the interval, that money would be lost to them. And again, as to the manner of collecting this tax, instead of doing so quarterly, as he believed the act required, officers were called upon to pay six months duty. His lordship observed, that by the calculation which he had been induced to make, he found that according to this plan, the deduction from the pay of ensigns would render the actual nett sum they would receive less, in fact, than that of day labourers in this city. He desired, therefore, tube informed, whether any alteration was to be made in this respect. The noble lord had, on behalf of the regiment which he had the honour to command, written to the Secretary at War on the subject, and had received for answer, that it was not that right hon. gentleman's intention to interfere in the arrangement. The noble lord wished, therefore, to know, whether it was in contemplation of his Majesty's ministers, to suspend the ar- 506 rangement, until a Committee should be appointed to inquire into the business, as, otherwise, he should feel it his duty to submit a motion to the House on the subject.
The Secretary at Warobserved, that the noble lord had stated truly, that in the private answer he had returned to his lordship's enquiry upon this subject, he had explained, that being called upon to nominate the commissioners, whose business it was to tax the officers, his duty in this business was over. It the commissioners should be found to have exceeded their trust, the law was open to correct them; as far, however, as his information reached, he did not think any just ground of complaint could be laid against them. The tax, undoubtedly, could not commence till the officers' commissions were issued, and, at all events, complaints of this kind would be heard in the usual way of appeal, so that there could be no more reason for the interference of Parliament, with respect to the militia officers in particular, than with respect to the demand of the tax, as it affected the property of any other individuals. He concluded by disclaiming any idea of interference with the commissioners.
Earl Templerepeated, that the specific ground of complaint was, that those officers, who were not commissioned until July last, were made liable to pay the lax from the 6th of April; and when appeals were made, the collectors had said, that a deduction would be allowed upon the ensuing half-yearly assessment. Such was the hardship upon the officers of which he complained; and that in the mean time an illegal tax was, in fact, levied upon them.
The Secretary at Warsaid, that he apprehended many officers had neglected to make their returns of income when first called upon; but undoubtedly those who had no commissions until June or July, were not to be charged with the income duty from the preceding April; and he was confident, that when the particulars off their several cases were taken into consideration, no illegality or species of oppression would be exercised against them.
Earl Templethen gave notice that, in consequence of the answer and explanation given by the Secretary at War not proving satisfactory to him, it was his intention within two or three day's time, to move the appointment of a committee to take into consideration the conduct of collectors of the income tax, as far as respected the demands made upon the officers of militia.