§ Order for Third Reading read.
§ MR. JOHN MACGREGORsaid, he could not allow the Bill to pass without entering his protest against it. It was the reversal of a policy that had greatly benefited the country, and the Bill would bring down on the Government the malediction of every cottage in the kingdom. They would never have proposed it had they had financial ability, or had they known the country as well as they knew the mere circle which constituted the Government. He protested against the duties upon tea, coffee, and sugar, and although the House might not respond to that expression of opinion on his part, he was sure the country would do so.
§ MR. HEYWORTHsaid, he felt called upon to warn the House against proceeding in the course indicated by this Bill, as he considered it one which would prove destructive to the best interests of the country. If, instead of increasing the duty on the articles in this Bill, the Government had increased the taxes on the property of the country, and had raised the income tax, such a course would have had the two-fold advantage of making hon. Members more observant of the evils of war, and would at the same time have relieved the working classes and the nation at large from the effects of the perverse legislation of the present Bill.
§ Bill read 3o, and passed.