he thought the wisest course would be, to allow the laws respecting the currency to remain as they were. Petition read, and to be printed. a case had been made out which justified that course, but to continue the duty on Coals, would be against the principles of sound policy. When the right hon. Gentleman was about to levy an additional tax on Ireland of 150,000l. it was not too much to ask him to give up 50,000l. The tax on Coals was most unequal in its pressure, and had a most mischievous effect in preventing the increase of manufactures in Ireland. It would be for the interest of England, therefore, that the tax should be repealed. More opportunities would be afforded for investing capital in Ireland, more employment would be found for the people at home, and England would have less reason to complain of the sufferings inflicted on her labourers by the influx of Irish, with which Gentlemen from all parts of the kingdom frequently entertained the House. Mr. Lockhart, in presenting a similar Petition from the inhabitants of a parish in the City of Oxford, observed, that in his opinion, much of the distress com. plained of by the petitioners, and by persons in all parts of the country, arose from a contraction of the currency, which had reduced the value of every species of property. Unfortunately, the contraction caused by the return to a metallic standard had been greatly aggravated by putting down the small notes issued by private bankers. The Government had, perhaps, a right to interfere with a corporation to which it guaranteed exclusive privileges, but it had no right to prohibit the circulation of any private securities which men in business were willing to ac- Mr. Hume said, that he knew no tax cept. In his opinion, the putting down of which pressed so unequally on the public the small notes was as gross a violation of as the Coal-tax, nor could he conceive on the principles of free trade as any Minister what principle the consumer of Coals in could be guilty of, and the consequences London was taxed at the rate of 6s. the of that measure had been, as he had before chaldron, in Ireland at 1s. 8d., in Wales 1s., predicted, most disastrous. The wide- and in Scotland allowed to have his Coals spread distress which had overwhelmed without paying any tax at all. To him the land was one of its results. A better this appeared so unfair that he thought system of banking ought to have been in- the claim for the removal of the tax altotroduced at the time, but nothing was gether could not be refused. He hoped done, except to make a slight alteration that his hon. friend, or some other Memin the law relative to the Bank of Eng-ber, would press this subject on the land. At present, a solid system of bank- attention of the Chancellor of the Exing was the great thing that was wanted. chequer. We had gone abroad seeking connection and trade, and had so impoverished our own people that they had no longer the means to consume the commodities they were compelled to make. Perhaps it was impossible to go back to the war currency, but to persevere in our present line of conduct was, in the language of Mr. Burke, to be guilty of a most gigantic swindling transaction. Petition to be printed. COALS AND TAXATION.] Mr. Spring Rice, in rising to move that certain accounts relative to Coals and Spirits be laid on the Table, said, he would take the opportunity, although the Chancellor of the Exchequer was not in his place, of recommending to such of his official colleagues as were, the propriety of abolishing the duty on Coals carried to Ireland. He did not object to the increased tax he proposed to levy on that country, because he admitted that Sir Christopher Cole took the same opportunity to express his dislike to the tax, which, as the preceding Members had stated, pressed very unequally on different persons. He thought it extremely unfair, that sea-borne Coals should be subject to this duty, while all Coals carried by land were exempt from it. That occasioned a great hardship in many cases to the poor man, whom the House ought to bear on as lightly as possible. He would, therefore, request that the hon. Member for Limerick would bring the subject under the consideration of the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Mr. Wodehouse also expressed his satisfaction to find this subject taken up warmly by hon. Members, for there was no tax that was more oppressive than the tax on Coals. Sir Thomas D. Acland concurred with other hon. Members, in thinking that this tax ought to be repealed. He knew no tax the removal of which would give greater satisfaction. Mr. Heathcote was of opinion, that Ireland, since she was placed on a footing with England as to civil and religious rights, ought to bear her equal burthen of the public expenses. She had no Assessed Taxes to pay, nor any Land-tax, both of which fell heavy on England; and he therefore thought, the Chancellor of the Exchequer had done quite right in increasing, to a small extent, the share Ireland contributed to the general revenue. Mr. Liddel said, that he, too, was determined to unite himself with those who should propose to have this tax repealed. To abolish it, would confer considerable benefit on several classes of the community. General Gascoyne was also of opinion, that no tax was so oppressive as the tax on Coals. It was extremely unjust that a difference of a few miles should make such a difference in this tax; that one man Mr. O'Connell said, the hon. Member might have his Coals without paying any forgot one material circumstance, which tax, while the other would have to pay made a great difference between the two 6s. a chaldron. It was to be observed too, countries. Ireland paid from 4,000,000. that the tax was levied on the Coals where to 7,000,0007. in rent, which were spent they would naturally cost most. He ear-out of Ireland, and principally in England. nestly hoped, therefore, that the House would co-operate with any Member who should bring forward the subject, and press the Chancellor of the Exchequer to abolish it. Ireland, poor and harassed, instead of any relief except the small relief derived from the repeal of the Leather-tax-and, owing to the poverty of her children, that will not be much-Ireland is to have an additional burthen of 150,000l. He hoped, however, that the relative situation of Ireland to England would not long remain as at present. If that sum were spent in Ireland, it would increase her capital, encourage her manufactures, and call forth some of those natural advantages which she possessed. Ireland could then be taxed in her own Sir John Newport said, he was glad to wealth, and the Irish would not object to see so strong a feeling manifested against that; but now she was taxed in her pothe Coal-tax, because he was persuaded verty, and to that she had many objec that to give it up would be of no import- tions. England, possessing immense reance to the Government, on the score of sources, had obtained a remission of taxrevenue, while the gain to the publication to the amount of 3,400,0007., while would be immense. He had heard the statement of the right hon. Gentleman on Monday with great pleasure, because he was convinced that the abolition of the duty on Beer would be a great benefit to the labouring classes; but since England was to obtain so much relief, and a little additional burthen was to be thrown on Ireland, he should have been happy if the abolition of the Coal-tax in Ireland, which did not yield above 50,0007., had formed part of the scheme. He should not object to assimilating the taxes in England and Ireland, but there were two ways of accomplishing it, and he liked only one of them. The assimilation might be brought about by raising the taxes of Ireland to a par with those of England, or by lowering the taxes of England to the level of those raised in Ireland. Unfortunately, of these two ways, the Chancellor of the Exchequer always preferred the former; and, as unhappily, he always preferred the latter. He did not wish to see the taxes in Ireland raised as high as those of England, but should like to see the assimilation accomplished by lowering, as much as possible, the taxes of England. Since the Chancellor had augmented some taxes in Ireland, he hoped that he would now give up the odious tax on Coals, Colonel Davies said, he, like the right hon. Baronet (Sir John Newport), would not assimilate the taxes of the two countries, by raising those of Ireland, but by lowering the taxes of England. If there was a large portion of rent from Ireland spent in this country, let it also be recollected, that England afforded, at all times, a ready market for the produce of Ireland. If it were possible that the ports of the two countries should be hermetically sealed against each other, Ireland would be a great deal worse off than at present. Motion agreed to. SCOTCH AND IRISH VAGRANTS.] Mr. Littleton, in presenting a Petition from the Grand Jury of the County of Stafford, complaining of the heavy charge incurred by passing Scotch and Irish Poor, said, that the charge had increased from 4541 in 1823, to 1,2547. in 1828, and to 2,0234 461 TRUCK SYSTEM.] Petitions, praying that the legislature would take means to put an end to the practice of paying Wages in Goods, were presented by Lord Robert Manners, from Sheepshead, Leicestershire; by Mr. Birch, from certain Mechanics of Nottingham; by Mr. Cripps, from Kingstanley, Gloucestershire; by Lord Sandon, from the Workmen of Burslem; by Mr. Huskisson, from Little Bilton; by Mr. Littleton, from the Magistrates and Master Manufacturers of Dudley, from the Workmen of Dudley; from the Nail-makers and Manufacturers of Hailes-Owen, and from the acting Magis trates of Staffordshire. in 1829, and that it was progressively in- | witnessed the evils they complained of. creasing. It was well known that a large The manufacturer who paid in money came number of the Vagrants, particularly the and told the House, that if it did not put Scotch Vagrants, made a practice of travel- a stop to the system he must embrace it ling about the country, at other people's in his defence, and the workmen and laexpense. After getting passed home, they bourers, who were its chief victims, imfound their way to Bristol, or some of the plored the House to protect them against southern ports, and then again got passed its consequences. The petitions, then, were home, repeating this pleasant excursion from all classes of persons who were the seven or eight times a-year, greatly, as he best able to judge of this system and its had shewn, to the increase of the expense effects. The House was not ignorant that the subject was not then for the first time in the different counties of England. taken into the consideration of the legislature, which has, in truth, from the time of Edward 4th, declared its opinion on this subject, and endeavoured to put a stop to the practice. But if the House looked at its Acts, they would be found flimsy in construction, and inadequate to meet the increasing evil. They had been, in general, introduced by country gentlemen, who were not acquainted with all the means by which an Act of Parliament might be defeated. He had himself, at the request of a part of his constituents, introduced a bill into Parliament in 1820, which, after much difficulty, was allowed to be passed into a law, on condition that it should expire at the end of one year, if not re-enacted; but, like the others, it was defective, from not giving the magistrates power to summon witnesses, which enabled persons continually to infringe the law, or evade it. After the system had been so repeatedly discussed it was not necessary for him to enter into a description of the Truck System. It would be sufficient to remark, that the shop at which the goods must be bought is generally kept by a servant or relative of the labourer's employer, but always by some one acting in collusion with him. Though it may be notorious that the employer has an interest in the shop, that cannot always be proved. He did not mean absolutely to prohibit masters from keeping shops, but though they did, he would make them pay their men in money, leaving them at liberty to buy of their master or not; and if they had this liberty, they would not buy of him unless he kept as good articles, and sold them at as cheap a rate as other people. If there were no compulsion, there could be no objection to workmen buying at their masters' shops. If both parties were free agents he would desire no more; but in the Truck System one party was not a free agent, but under the complete control of the other. The plan was, for a master to Petitions laid on the Table. Mr. Littleton then rose, to make the Motion of which he had given notice, for leave to bring in a Bill, to prohibit the payment of Wages in Goods. He stated, it was the wish of a great number of his constituents that the Truck System should be abolished; but though he was desirous of attending to those wishes, he was so convinced of the evils of this System, that had they not pressed the matter on him he should have been ready to take it up; and representing, as he did, a large manufacturing country, he should have been greatly wanting in his duty had he not endeavoured to find a remedy for evils of which he had been a witness, and of which the whole of the manufacturing districts complained. He believed that upwards of sixty petitions had been presented against the practice of paying wages in goods instead of money, and he had no doubt that before the end of the Session the House would receive a great many more such petitions; they had come from all parts of the country, and he had presented, last night, petitions signed by at least 20,000 persons. These petitions did not come from theorists, but from practical administrators of the law, and merchants engaged in business, who daily suffer the workman to get into his debt, | thing else. In short the mechanic can well knowing that he must afterwards be procure anything he, his wife, or family his slave; he is then obliged to accept any wants,-bonnets, gowns, ribbons, shawls, goods his master pleases, on the master's boots, shoes, hats, caps, a cradle or a terms, and very often whether he wants coffin; (strange or incredible as it may them or not. The workmen of the Truck- appear to you) but he must pay for it by masters could never obtain money, and his labour, and that dearly, and thus it such masters made enormous profits. In is thousands of them eke out a miserable fact, such masters made so much by their existence. The circulation of the current shops that they did not care if they lost coin is depressed and superseded; for it something on the articles they made. It is notorious that one sovereign has been was no wonder, therefore, that the price of sufficient to pay from twelve to twenty goods was so much depressed. These weavers, when they have succeeded in masters, only anxious to supplant a rival, or procuring from their employer a money beat an opponent out of the field, accom- payment of Is. or 1s. 6d. each." In this case plished it by taking all kinds of advan- the Truck-master made a profit of from tages of their workmen. The House, he twenty to thirty per cent. He would then was sure, could have no idea of the great read an extract of a letter from a medical difference of price between a regular shop gentleman. "I hope you will not think and what was called a Tommy-shop, and me intrusive in mentioning a circumstance he would beg leave to lay before the House which has come under my observance some documents on the subject. He had within the last week, and I think, as a collected the prices at various retail shops medical man, I am entitled to make some in comparison with the Tommy-shops, and remarks upon it. I am, at the present these he would state to the House, without time, attending the proprietor of a public mentioning the names of parties, though bakehouse; on Monday last, when in his every statement he had to make was de- room, I observed something upon the rived from some individual case. The table resembling a half-boiled West-India prices then were, at the black-pudding, but which he called a loaf of bread; he told me that it had been in the oven five hours, and that, when it was first removed he could take it with a spoon, like treacle; the flour, or rather the pernicious materials of which it was composed, I was told, came from Mr. F to one of his unhappy workmen, and his family must either eat that direct poison or starve. Such food as this is the principal cause of those fearful diseases to which the poor classes of society so frequently fall victims." This was no exaggeration he could assure the House. had seen workmen carrying about tongs, poker and such things, which they had received as their week's wages, to sell in order to buy food. He did not mean to say that none of the manufacturers conducted their business fairly-he knew that some did, but the exceptions did not justify the abuse. He had some other cases to quote which were certified on oath, and, therefore, he could have less hesitation in stating them. The first certificate was from a man who said, "I was discharged from the employ of a Truckmaster in February last, in consequence of having exposed some beef which I had forced on me in payment of wages; and further that the said beef, for which I was Tommy-shop Market-prices 2s. 4d. 8 8 3 0 Mutton, 2lbs. 1 0 10 Beef, 2lbs. 11 Sugar, 1lb. 9 Butter, 1lb. 1 0 9 8 11 At another place, 200 miles distant from where the account he had just read was taken, he found, in the Tommy shops, Bread Id. more than at the bakers,-Candles, worth 6d. per lb., charged 74d. or 8d., -Tea at a profit of from 2s. to 3s. per lb., --Butter from 3d. to 4d. per lb.,-Tobacco at a profit of from 25 per cent.-An article used in their manufactories, which I will not name, 100 per cent. His informant added, "most articles sold by them are of an inferior quality, particularly the meat, which they get a profit on of from twopence to threepence per pound. Some time since I myself saw a sample of flour sold to a poor mechanic, which resembled more the colour of chocolate than any He -: charged 5s. 10d. I sold for 2s., and that, I of his master, forced upon me, in adat the time it was forced upon me, I had dition to flour, and other articles, fifteen meat in the house which I had been com- pounds of bacon at 9d. per pound, pelled to take the preceding week, and the whole amount of which he deducted that the meat sold as above was exhibited from my wages the Saturday following,in the streets and market-place of Hanley in consequence of which, my family were on the 17th day of February last, and deprived of proper nourishment." afterwards given to the hogs by the person Another certificate was as follows:who purchased it from me." Another per- "We, the Assistant Overseers of the poor of son said, "I certify that I work under a the parish, do severally make oath, and Truck-master, and that, several weeks say, that there are workmen in the Parish since, he forced me to take a silk hand- of Stoke-upon-Trent whose masters pay kerchief, for which he charged me 6s. their servants in goods instead of money, the same being worth but 2s., and further, who make frequent applications to us for that he forced upon me four yards of parochial relief; such persons alleging, Irish linen, at 3s. per yard-worth but 1s. that it is utterly out of their power to per yard; and four yards of check at 1s. maintain themselves and families without 2d. per yard-worth but sevenpence; such assistance, in consequence of being twenty-eight pounds of cheese at 7d. per paid in the manner aforesaid. And furpound, which I afterwards sold at 4d, ther, we do make oath and say, that we and two pounds of bacon at 8d. per have had goods produced to us, which pound-worth but 6d. per pound. I have been taken in lieu of money by such also swear that, for four weeks together, workmen, and that such goods have been I received but 2d. in money from my charged from 100 to 200 per cent above master, which money I wanted to pur- the market price, as we have been inchase soap to be used in my work." formed, and believe." Another deposed, "I certify that I am in the habit of taking flour, meat, and groceries from my tenants for rent weekly." And another, I do certify that I am in the habit of making up cloth for workmen in the employ of Truck-masters, and that such cloth, received in lieu of wages, is in all cases, charged much above the market price; in some cases fifty per cent more than its real value, and further, that I have been obliged to take truck in payment of debts owing to me by workmen, at a very great loss to themselves." Another again said, "I do certify that I have been in the service of a Truck-master; and, in the agreement which I made with him, he inserted a clause, that I should not, under any circumstances, take him before a magistrate,--that my average wages were 15s. per week, and that out of that sum he forced me to take 8s. worth of truck per week, which truck consisted of flour, charged at 3s. 4d. per stone, the selling-price being 2s. 8d. Bacon charged 9d. per pound-selling at 6d. Beef and mutton charged 8d.-the market price being 6d.; and further, I certify, that having an opportunity of obtaining a better situation, my master refused to set me at liberty, although I had a family of six children, with a wife ill at the time. And further, I do certify, that, on one occasion, his foreman, by the orders Another certificate was to the following effect :-"I do certify, that I am in 'the employ of a Truck-master, and that I have received, in lieu of wages due, what was called wine, and for which I have been charged 4s. per bottle. And I do further certify, that my master will not allow me to draw in money more than a specific sum, and that the extra amount of my labour is expected to be taken in truck, which truck has invariably been of inferior quality, and extravagant prices." Another case he would quote, was this,a master owed a workman 30s., for which, though he wanted money, he gave him a suit of clothes. The man did not want the clothes, and therefore endeavoured to sell them, which he at length did, to the very tailor who had made them, who gave him for them 12s. But this suit, which the Truck-master forced the workman to take for 30s., he had bought of the tailor for 15s. Another case he would mention was one which came before the Court of King's Bench, in 1823, and was the case of The King v. Kaye; in which, an inventory was put in of the articles a workman had been obliged to take in payment, and which could scarcely be matched in a pawnbroker's shop. He would read only a few of the articles. 29lbs. Dutch Butter, at 1s. 5 d. per lb; sundries, a sum of 11. 8s. 2d.; 141 yards |