§ The Duke of Wellingtonstated, that he saw by the votes of the House of Commons, that it was pro- 657 posed to repeal the duty on Coals. No man was more desirous than he to relieve the public, if possible, from that duty; but he begged to remind the noble Earl, that vast abuses prevailed in the coal-trade in the City of London. Now he wished to know whether the noble Earl proposed to adopt any measures to put a stop to those abuses; and, more particularly, whether the noble Earl meant to introduce any measure for the purpose of repealing the duty on coals received by the city of London, and applicable for the purpose of building the new London bridge. If the noble Earl did not mean to introduce any such measure, he (the Duke of Wellington) was afraid that very little would be done to remove the abuses of the coal-trade; and if the noble Earl did intend to propose some measure for that purpose, he begged to remind the noble Earl of the necessity of finding other means for supplying the deficiency which would be thereby created in the fund for building London bridge.
§ Earl Greywas as well aware as the noble Duke opposite, that the proposed measure of Government would only remove part of the evils which pressed on the coal-trade. He well knew that there existed also great evils, arising from the abuses in the conduct of the coal-trade in the port of London. He believed that notice of a bill on this subject had been given in another place, to the principle of which he was friendly, and to the details of which he should lend his assistance. With respect to the duty, to which the noble Duke had alluded, as applicable to the purpose of building the new London-bridge, that was a subject for future consideration. It would be desirable, undoubtedly, to relieve the coal-trade from that duty if possible; but at the same time it should be remembered that it was only of a temporary nature. The subject, he admitted, was worthy the consideration of Government.
Lord Teynhamcalled the attention of Government, to the duties collected at such places as Brighton.
§ Earl Greysaid, these duties were local duties, collected for local purposes, and totally unconnected with those duties to which the measure of Government applied.
Lord Kingsaid, that the tax on coals at Brighton was applied to the lighting and watching of that place.
The Marquis of Londonderryfelt grate- 658 ful to the noble Earl at the head of the Government, for being the first to come forward to relieve the people from a tax on such a necessary article as coals. No other Ministers had listened to the repeated representations which were made to them on this subject, but he hoped that the noble Duke opposite would give his support to the bill which was about to be introduced to Parliament, on the subject of the duties collected at the port of London.
The Marquis of Butesaid, his Majesty's late Ministers were the first who consented to the appointment of a Committee to inquire on the subject of the coal duties, without which inquiry it would have been wrong in the Government to have proposed the repeal of the duty. He did not pretend to know what were the intentions of the late Ministers, but he believed that in consequence of what passed in the Committee, they would have come forward with a measure for the repeal of the coal-duty.
The Marquis of Londonderrybelieved, as far as the municipal duties of the city of London were concerned, that the late Government would have had no objection to their repeal; but he could not give it credit for any intention of relieving the country of the coasting duty. The noble Duke opposite appeared to him to show a decided disinclination, in the Committee up-stairs, to relieve the coal-trade of the duty of 6s. per chaldron. He thought that a very unjust cry had been raised against the present Ministers, with respect to every thing they had brought forward. Their object appeared to him to relieve the labouring and industrious classes, and he considered it nothing but just, that the funded interest, whose prosperity depended on the welfare of the State, should be called upon to contribute to the necessities of the State. He recollected that the late Government came forward with the spirit-tax, and stamp tax, which they found not palateable, and therefore they were obliged to make other arrangements.