HC Deb 08 February 1831 vol 2 cc241-2
Lord Stanley

presented a Petition from Manchester, signed by upwards of 850 of the engravers and workmen employed in the preparation of stamps for calico-printing, praying the House and the Government to determine as speedily as possible in favour of the Repeal of the duty on British Calicoes. The noble Lord observed, that the Calico-trade employed more than one-tenth of the population of the county of Lancaster, large as it was, and nearly 50,000 persons in the adjoining counties. Since the first, agitation of the question of a repeal of the duty, the petitioners had been deprived of a great portion of that work which formed their only means of subsistence, because those capitalists who are engaged in the trade were waiting the decision of the Government before they entered on new speculations. Under such circumstances, the noble Lord hoped that the Government would see the propriety of coming to an early, and, he hoped, a favourable conclusion on the subject of the repeal of a duty which was severely felt by the petitioners, and which did not, by its productiveness to the Revenue, compensate for the injury it occasioned.

To lie on the Table.

Mr. Wilson Patten

in presenting a Petition with the same prayer, from the Chamber of Commerce and Manufactures of Manchester, stated, that the most ruin- ous consequences resulted from this tax, which was at once injurious to the consumer, oppressive and vexatious to the manufacturer, and not productive to the Government.

Mr. Maberly

hoped to see the principle advocated by the petitioner extended to other things than cottons. Nothing was more vexatious, or more tended to retard improvements in manufacture, than the interference of the Excise, and he thought the Government could not do better than repeal all those duties which interfered with the process of the manufacturer. He believed the Government might give up the tax without losing any revenue.

Mr. Hunt

supported the prayer of the petition. It was disgusting to think that 2,000,000l. of money were taken from the pockets of the poorest class of the industrious people by this tax, while only 500,00l. went into the Treasury. The only difficulty, he believed, in the way of repealing this, and many other taxes, was how to provide for the officers of Excise.

Petition to be printed.