FOUR-AND-A-HALF PER CENT DUTIES. (Hansard, 25 May 1830)

The Marquis of Lansdown
said, that he rose to move for a document connected with the application of money for the public service; and though he did not anticipate any objection to his Motion, as a similar motion had been acceded to elsewhere, subsequently to the period when he gave notice of his intention to bring the subject forward in that House, he hoped that their Lordships would indulge him with their attention for a few moments, whilst he briefly stated the reasons which induced him to disapprove of the nature of the proceeding which had been adopted, and to think that if it were not noticed by Parliament, it might lead to unfortunate consequences hereafter, in cases of a similar character. For though what had recently been done, had been done without any improper views or intentions, it had set aside the unvaried usage of 170 years, by which the 4½-per-cent-duties, or the articles paid in kind for those duties, had been subjected, in common with all other merchandise imported into the country, to the duties imposed by Parliament. It appeared that of late, by cover of the royal prerogative, they had been exempted from duties, and thus formed a fund for the Crown, not applicable to any purposes recognized by Parliament. He admitted that under the common law it was one of the Royal prerogatives, that all things 1071 belonging to the Crown might be brought into the country free from all duties whatever. But never before had that prerogative been exercised as in this particular instance. The claim of exemption was founded on the circumstance of the goods being for the use of the Crown; and was never raised when the goods were merely the property of the Crown, which had always hitherto been subjected to the duties imposed by Parliament for the purpose of meeting the charges of the public service. In this case certain duties were taken off merchandise, the property of the Crown, not intended for the use of the Crown, but for sale: and he knew not on what principle such a practice could be objected to hereafter, if it were admitted in this case on the principles laid down by the Crown lawyers. Merchandise might become the property of the Crown in times of war as Droits of Admiralty; and if any Minister should advise the Crown to purchase merchandise abroad, in the hope of selling it at a profit in Great Britain, owing to the heavy imposts which other importers of it were compelled to pay, he did not know on what grounds, if the present practice were sanctioned by Parliament, such a course could be objected to. All the cinnamon in the Island of Ceylon was the property of the Crown, and though the Crown had hitherto paid duty on its importation into this country for sale, he saw no reason why, if the plan adopted with regard to sugar sent here in payment of the 4½-per-cent were allowed to pass unaltered, it should not import cinnamon duty free to create a new fund free from the control of Parliament. He hoped to see this subject meet with the grave consideration which it deserved from their Lordships. He would not enter into the history of the 4½-per-cent-duties, but would merely call the attention of their Lordships to the point connected with the remission of these duties. He did not charge the Government with any improper intentions in making that remission; but it did appear to him, that the consequences of it, in a constitutional point of view, might be most mischievous. The noble Marquis concluded by moving for a copy of the Minute of the Lords of his Majesty's Treasury, by which the Customs duty payable on Sugar brought to this country in discharge of the 4½-per-cent-duties have not been paid since the 25th of March, 1828, and the 1072 authority under which such exemption has been made.

§ The Duke of Wellington
said, that he did not rise to object to this Motion, but to express his sense of the noble Marquis's candour in not imputing any thing improper to his Majesty's Government in making the remission of which he complained. He would not, as the House had other business before it, enter into a history of the 4½-per-cent-duties. It was well known that those duties were paid in kind in the West-Indies. It was therefore clear, that the articles on which those duties were so paid were the property of the Crown; and there could be no doubt that it was a constitutional principle, that the property of the Crown was not liable to pay duty on importation into the country. He did not contend that it was always prudent to put that principle in practice, but he did mean to contend that it was not imprudent to put it in practice in this case, because there were peculiar circumstances attached to it, which were not likely to be found in any other case. In the year 1825, the Act of the 6th Geo. 4th was passed, which rendered this fund of the 4½-pcr-ccnt-duties liable to the payment of certain stipends to the clergy in the West-Indies; and that Act not only required that that fund should be so applied, but also recognized its application to the salaries of certain officers in the West-Indies, and to the payment of certain pensions, saying, in express words, that after these were paid, the surplus of the fund was to be applied to defray the stipends of the clergy. Under these circumstances, he contended that these funds were taken out of the hands of the Crown, were applied under the control and superintendence of Parliament, and could never be abused for any purposes whatever. The noble Duke then read a clause from the Act to support his view of the subject. It was clear, he said, from the words of that clause, that the fund was a public fund, and that it could not be abused to any of the purposes which the noble Marquis supposed, when he mentioned spices and cinnamon. On these grounds he contended that the measure stood entirely upon its own grounds, and that it could never be used injuriously as a precedent.

The Marquis of Lansdown
made a few observations in reply, in which he con- 1073 tended, that no ground had been laid by the noble Duke for overturning the practice of 170 years. If the sugars paid in lieu of these duties were, as the noble Duke stated them to be, public merchandise, then beyond all doubt, they ought to pay public duties. He was induced to hope that this Session would not close without Parliament providing a distinct regulation for the application of these funds.