HC Deb 04 August 1846 vol 88 cc342-3
DR. BOWRING

begged again to call the attention of the House to the subject of the Tobacco Duties. Upon a former occasion he had presented to them facts and figures, showing the enormous increase in the numbor of seizures which had taken place in the United Kingdom, and that five-sevenths of the whole amount of those seizures were connected with tobacco smuggling. Since the year 1842, the convictions under the excise laws had doubled in this country, and had become fivefold in Scotland, and they were chiefly for smuggling tobacco, for which a vast number of receiving houses had been established. He had shown them a publication, which contained 100 folio pages, of the names of sufferers under the penalties of the tobacco excise law. Those persons had been taken before the magistrates and imprisoned, whilst struggling in a successful contest against the Chancellor of the Exchequer. He wanted the House to look into the state of the law, and to inquire into the causes which occasioned so many people to be, under one particular Act, crowded into prison, whilst the public were placed under heavy charges to carry out the punishments to which they had been sentenced, with, as he believed, and as the facts would show, exceedingly little benefit to the revenue. He thought a duty of 1s. per pound would be productive to the revenue, and would prevent a great deal of fraud. The hon. Member concluded by moving a Resolution, that the state of the Tobacco Duties require the revision of Parliament, with a view to their early reduction.

The CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER

said, that there was no doubt the evils resulting from smuggling were very great; but the hon. Member, when he suggested a reduction, ought to recollect that the reduction would involve the sacrifice of a large amount of revenue, which, in that case, must be made up from some other source. He was not, therefore, prepared, on the part of the Government, to agree to the Motion.

MR. HUME

supported the Motion. The maintenance of a large coast-guard establishment, and the adoption of other means to prevent smuggling, were causes of a very great expense to the country.

An HON. MEMBER

moved that the House be counted, and there being only thirty-five Members present, it was adjourned at a quarter before Six o'clock.