bill. He did not fay this from an idea that the Minister had introduced any claufes that were improper into the prefent bill; he rofe only to say that the practice was become much too common, and fhould be difcontinued.

The Speaker faid, he felt himself called upon to fay a few words in confequence of what had fallen from the hon. Gentleman; it certainly was defirable that every propofition made in that Houfe fhould pafs through all the ftages which the wisdom of our ancestors had declared to be neceffary, in order to afford every member an opportunity of delivering his fentiments upon it: if, however, gentlemen imagined that it was an invafion of the old and established practice of the Houfe to propofe claufes on the report, or after the third reading of a bill, that imagination was erroneous; the practice of bringing up claufes after the report, or the third reading, ought undoubtedly to be watched with jealoufy; and in fuch ftages no claufe ought to be proposed that tended to make any material alteration in the bill. Such claufes as tended to facilitate the execution of the purposes of the bill, and to carry into effect more conveniently thofe meafures which the Houfe had approved of, were not liable to objection either on the report or after the third reading; but any claufe that introduced any novelty in point of fubftance into the bill, after it had paffed the Committee, ought not to be acceded to. He obferved, however, that in the prefent cafe no clause had been offered that was of a nature inconfiftent with the tenor of the bill, and therefore did not call for the interference of the Houfe. The Houfe, however, would not be prevented from exercifing a watchful jealoufy over every claufe that was proposed to be added to a bill after the report. It was a jealoufy that was quite confiftent with the duty of the Houfe.

Sir W. Geary faid, he did not mean to deny the propriety of the practice in fome cafes, but he objected to the extremity to which it had been pushed of late in many cafes.

The Chanceller of the Exchequer faid, it was perfectly competent to any member, if he found in any claufe a fyllablethat he difapproved, to oppofe the claufe after the third reading of the bill, as well as if it was propofed in a Committee. He was in the recollection of those who heard the clauses, and he ap pealed to them to fay whether any one of the claufes he had propofed that night was inconfiftent with the general fcope of the bill: he was entitled then to fay that, however true the general doctrine laid down that night might be, it might as well be faid of any other measure as of that which was now in the the Speaker's hand.

Sir W. Pulteney agreed to every thing that had been faid of the néceffity of watching with a jealous eye every clause that was propofed after the report. The committee was undoubtedly the ftage for the difcution of claufes; and from the practice of receiving them on the report, or after the third reading, the Houfe might be very much impofed upon. He did not attend to the claufes which were propofed that night; he could not understand them if he had attended, for the noife would have made that impoffible: however, he took it for granted that they were, as the Speaker had ftated them, agreeable to the tenour of the bill. But this introduction of the claufes after the committee was over was a very bad practice, and ought to be checked; for which purpofe perhaps it would not be a bad expedient to make an order, that no claufes fhould be received after a bill had paffed a committee, unless there was at least a dav's notice of an intention to produce them.

Sr W. Geary faid, that if he or any other member objected to any one of the claufes now brought up, he would not have had the fame opportunity of debating it as he would have had in the committee.

The Speaker obferved, that many of the most experienced members of the House had stated to him the great inconveniences that arofe from the manner in which bills are difcuffed upon a re-commitment. Indeed he was aware that Gentlemen felt the confufion and embarraffment to be almost endlefs in fome cafes. This appeared to him to be capable of remedy. The mode was now to print a bill when it was ordered to be re-committed, in the fame manner as if it was printed without a view to its being re-committed, that is, the bill and amendments were printed diftinctly from each other, and when they came to be difcuffed on the re-commitment, the amendments were all referred to, instead of following it in order; thefe references created great embarraffment; to remedy which he fubmitted, that inftead of making references to the amendments, the bill with the amendments fhould be printed altogether in the fame manner as if the order made for printing had been made before the fecond reading, in order that the Houfe might fee the whole bill and amendments as they actually flood, inftead of making references to the amendments. This he only fuggefted as one way of obviating much difficulty. The bill was then paffed.

INCOME BILL.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer moved the order of the day for the Houfe to refolve itfelf into a committee of the whole Houfe,

Kk 2

House, to confider further of the Income Bill. The Houfe refolved itself into a committee.

Mr. Wigley objected to the claufe which extended the provifions of the bill to fuch perfons as might have gone out of the country for any temporary purpose. In his opinion it was extremely hard that thofe perfons fhould be liable to the penalties of the bill, merely because a notice might have been left at their laft place of refidence previous to their departure.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer could by no means coincide in the opinion of the learned gentleman, for he could fee nothing like a hardfhip in calling for the contributions of those who poffeffed wealth in the country, wherefoever they might be in perfon, efpecially as their temporary abfence might be occafioned by the purfuit of fome gainful object.

Colonel Wood urged nearly the fame objection, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer adhered to his former reason for not thinking the objection admiffible.

The claufe was then put and agreed to.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer next rofe and faid, that as the next claufe refpected the appointment of the commiffioners who were to be entrusted with the execution of the bill, he would, before the committee proceeded further in the confideration of the claufes, take the prefent opportunity of alluding to certain regulations which, upon a reconfideration of the bu finefs, he thought it might be expedient to introduce into the enquiry it might be neceffary to make into mercantile property. Thefe regulations were fuggefted to him by the information he had received that morning from a number of gentlemen who had the fuccefs of the measure now before the committee extremely at heart, and who affured him that the adoption of thofe regulations would not only remove the objections arifing from the disclosure of mercantile accounts, but would alfo confiderably contribute to improve the bill, by fecuring the collection of the revenue, while it effectually avoided the ultimate publicity of the private concerns of commercial men. With refpect to the other denominations of property, he did not fee that the fame reafon exifted for propofing any new regulations. The general mode already adopted in the bill was, in his opinion, fully adequate to thofe purposes; but by the mode which he had to propofe for afcertaining the amount of commercial property, an opportunity would be first afforded to the furveyor and the commiffioners to examine into the statement of property delivered in; it next gave an opportunity to the commiffioners of calling for a schedule, if they fhould deem it neceffary; and it then furnished a fubfequent opportunity

opportunity to the furveyor, after having duly heard evidence, to proceed to the ordinary mode of collecting the tax. Here, however, it would be neceffary to impofe fome restrictions on the powers granted to the furveyors. The first modification, therefore, which it might be proper to adopt was, that a fchedule thould not be infifted on at the mere pleasure and fuggeftion of the furveyor, who fhould not be warranted in calling for the schedule, unless the major part of the commiffioners, after duly examining into the statement of income voluntarily given in, fhould judge it neceffary to have a schedule produced. The next modification he would propofe, which would remove a material objection, was, that the furveyor should not be prefent at the examination of the fchedule, thould it be called for by a majority of the commiffioners, though afterwards it would be neceffary to acquaint the furveyor with the refult of the examination, in order to enable him to perform his duty. By adopting this fpecial mode, and applying it to the afcertainment of commercial income, the defired fecrecy would be completely obtained. For inftead of returning the statement of their income immediately to the furveyor or affeffor, the commercial parties concerned might fend it in fecretly to the commiffioners, which would prevent its paffing through the medium of a common affeffor. He had moreover to propofe, that in order to facilitate the bufinefs of the commiffioners, a certain number of affiftants fhould be appointed in each diftrict out of the mercantile body, to whom the commiffioners might refer the fchedules delivered in to them, and to whofe opinion they might have recourfe, in order to afcertain the fituation of the parties, and examine into the fum charged upon them, to fee how far it coincided with the statement voluntarily delivered in. Should the commercial affiftants pronounce the fum charged by the affeffor not to exceed what he was juftified in charging, then the affeffor would be empowered to infift upon the production of the schedule; but not fo unless it was the opinion of the major part of the commiffioners that the fchedule fhould be produced. The commercial affiftants entrusted with thefe powers, fhould be tied down under an oath of secrecy, and therefore all publicity would be avoided, and no difclosure of private circumstances made but to gentlemen of a different defcription from the furveyors, engaged in commercial purfuits, and equally interested with themselves in concealing their proceedings. In the next place, to prevent the refult of the final judgment of the commiffioners tranfpiring and becoming public, by returning to the furveyors the amount of the fum the partics concerned were adjudged to pay, a fecret book fhould be kept by

the

comimiffioners, with numbers correfponding to the names of the different parties, while thofe parties thould be at liberty through themselves or their agents to pay into the Bank of England, or to the receiver general, the fum in which they were affeffed. The parties afterwards, on the production of a certificate to the fpecial commiflioners, that the fum in which their numbers were affeffed, had been paid, fhould have their names written off by the commiffioners. But in case of nonpayment after a certain time, the commiflioners fhould be empowered to open the fecret book, and to proceed by public procefs to recover payment from the parties fo failing. For the fuggestion of thefe improvements he was particularly indebted to gentlemen much experienced in commercial concerns, who recalled to his recollection how this very mode had been fuccessfully practifed in a bufinefs of a far more delicate nature than the prefent. What he alluded to, was the fecret aid granted by Parliament, in 1793, to many ref pectable commercial gentlemen, who then laboured under a temporary embarraffinent.

The difclofure of their fituation; the degree of aid they each folicited; and the nature of the fecurity given by them for fuch aid, were communicated only to perfons in fimilar circumstances with themfelves, and to fuch as it was then propofed to make fomething of a fimilar difclofure: it never then tranfpired who were the individuals that received the aid, or to what extent it was granted to them. By adoptingin the prefent measure a like mode of proceeding, mercantile men must feel that they were entirely relieved from all dread of bringing publicity on their private concerns, or difclosing the ftate of their property. Thus much he thought it neceffary to throw out refpecting the intended regulations; of which he would enter into a more detailed explanation when the particular claufes containing them came regularly under difcuffion.

Colonel Wood approved, in a great meafure, of this improved plan; but he thought it would be ftill more perfect, if it were made more general, and if all commercial men, as well as others, were compelled to balance their books upon a certain day every year, and declare the amount of their profits.

Mr. Alderman Curtis highly approved of the proposed regulations, and was ready to do every thing in his power to give them effect; he was confident, that they might be enforced with the utmoft fecrecy, for he had the honour of being one

of