MONEY paid by Meffrs. Puget and Co. for intereft on Irish annuities Ditto by the Commiffioners, for the fale of Dutch prizes Ditto by George Rofe, for poft fines Ditto by Steven Davies, in part of a bond of 281, Ditto by Charles Townshend, for intereft on tontines IMPREST MONEY repaid by the executors of Ditto by the executors of William Brummell, agent Ditto by George Smith, agent for the Bahama Ilands Ditto by Mathew Forster, commissary for ftores at the Ditto by John Carden, adjutant and quarter-mafter at Ditto by Thomas Hattcup, commandant in North Ditto by Sir John Dalling, late governor of Ja- Ditto by William Chinnery, agent for New South Ditto by Thomas, Rudfdell, barrack-master at Corfica Ditto by Henry Edward Fox, quarter-mafter-ge- Ditto by William Macarmick, late Governor of Cape 287 15 41 Ditto by Alexander Davifon, commiffary to the army under Earl Moira Ditto by Henry Hughs, for printing the Journals of the House of Commons Ditto by General Woodley Ditto by the executors of J. Durand, by the hands of Ditto by C. Harrifon, on account of Brigadier-ge neral Hope IMPREST MONEY by John Hatfell, clerk to the Ditto by Samuel Bean, commiffary to the army in Ditto by William B. Clinton, barrack-mafter at Ply- Ditto by Thomas Cotton, late pay mafter to the Ditto by the reprefentatives of the right honourable terranean Ditto by Henry Edward Fox, adminiftrator to Ditto by Thomas Lewis, on account of John Macomb, treasurer to the army with General Burgoyne £. s. d. 192 16 9 265 13 0 79 0 6 1,700 0 3,984 6 5 1,700 5,000 0 1,015 19 61 40 I 7 533,854 12 5 2,304,355 8 31 £ 2.838,210 o 9 Exchequer, the 26th day of November 1798. Examined by GRENVILLE. 3 E 2 HOUSE OF COMMONS. Saturday, December 22. Viscount BELGRAVE rofe, and faid he felt it due to his own confiftency, as well as to the refpect which he owed the House, to fay a few words on the fubject of the Treating Bill, as it was called, which he had the honour of introducing last year, but which, after paffing through that Houfe, had been rejected in the House of Lords. He affured the Houfe that he had not abandoned his intention of bringing the matter again forward; but he had hitherto kept it back on account of the preffure and importance of the public bu finefs; but after the approaching holidays, he meant to revive the difcuffion of the subject, convinced, as he was, that something should be done in fome way or other to remove thofe doubts and intricacies which the Treating Bill, in its prefent form, had occafioned. He was not as yet determined whether what he meant to bring forward fhould be introduced in the fhape of a bill or of refolutions. Mr. Chancellor PITT moved the order of the day for the House to proceed in a Committee on the Income Bill. Mr. TIERNEY afked the Minifter, whether it was his intention to bring on the confideration of the report on Wednesday? It could not be in the hands of gentlemen until that day, and therefore there would be no time to confider it until Thursday at the least, for Christmas-day was no day of bufinefs. He was not fpeaking for himself, for he wanted no time, but there were others in a different fituation, who had gone into the country, who did not care to attend the detail of the meafure in the Committees, but who waited to see the whole printed, and who wished to speak upon the subject once for all. An honourable friend of his he knew in particular to have been gone into the country, and who wished to speak upon this fubject after the report was made, but he could not be prepared for that purpose without feeing what fort of a thing the bill was when the Committee had done with it, and which he could not learn by poft before Thursday. Under thefe impreffions, he hoped he was not atking too much of the goodness of the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he begged that the report might ftand for Friday, and the third reading of the bill for Monday. It was faid, indeed, that all the proceedings on the bill would be ready for delivery on Monday, but that could hardly be the cafe. It was now Saturday night, and he did not prefume that the printers would labour on Sunday. He might, indeed, be justified in defiring the bill to be pott poned altogether until after the holidays, but that he did not prefs; he only asked for a day or two, which might very well be granted, especially when the House was fo thin. Mr. Chancellor PITT wifhed the bill to be difcuffed upon the report, or upon the third reading. There was no furprife to be complained of in this cafe, for it was well known that all the bill was gone through except the cafes annexed to the schedule, which could not be expected to occupy much time; after which the new clauses were to be produced, and, as the whole was expected to be printed, there was nothing very remarkable in seeing the House was but thinly attended. He fhould be happy to accommodate any gentleman, but it must be recollected, not only that the convenience of that House, but alfo of another Houfe of Legislature, ought to be attended to, and it was now clear that they could not enjoy the holidays until the bill was difcuffed, or else it must be put off till a very inconvenient feafon. He ftood in the fame fituation as the honourable gentleman, for he had no perfonal convenience to accommodate; nor did he fee why the honourable gentleman, so laudably diligent himself as a Member of Parliament, could have any fellow feeling for feceders of any kind; and, indeed, the gentleman to whom he alluded was only a qualified feceder, who, although he did not chufe perfonally to attend the Houfe, was yet willing to receive intelligence of its proceedings by poft. He expected the bill and all the clauses to be ready for delivery on Monday. Mr. TIERNEY obferved, that the first payment of the bill was not until the 5th of June, and therefore there was time for the operation of the bill. Mr. Chancellor PITT faid, the reafon affigned by the honourable gentleman for delay was a very good one for expedition in this measure, for the very idea for fixing the first payment under the bill fo far off as the fifth of June, implied that between the paffing of it, and the first payment, there ought to be confiderable time, and therefore there ought to be as little delay in the progrefs of the bill as poffible; and the truth indeed was, that on account of various arrangements, of appointing first and fecond Commiffioners, making out lifts, examining returns, claffing them, and various other business preparatory to the first payment, the time between that and paffing the bill, would not, with all the diligence the Legiflature could ufe, be thought too long, and therefore he could not agree to any delay in this cafe. The queftion was then put, and the Houfe went into a Committee upon the bill. On the clause containing rules for eftimating income arifing from perfonal property, and from trades,, profeffions, offices, &c. the word "Stipend" was added. 66 "The value to be taken at not less than the full amount of the "profits or gains within the preceding year, or, at the election of "the perfon charged, at a fum not less than the fair and just average for one year, of the profits or gains in the three years "preceding." The blank was proposed to be filled up with the words, the 31st of December, or when the accounts of such income are usually made up. Mr. H. THORNTON faid it was the object of the bill that, if poffible, a man who had a fluctuating income should pay to the exigencies of the State in the fame proportion as the perfon who enjoyed a stated income. To prevent evasion, he proposed, that when a person had once made his election, whether he should pay according to the full amount of profit within the preceding year, or for an average of three years, he should not be at liberty afterwards to vary the election he had made. Mr. Alderman COMBE objected, if the honourable gentleman meant, that because a person chose to be taxed according to the average of the three preceding years before the paffing of the act, that he should always be bound to pay according to the estimate first given in. Mr. Chancellor PITT thought they should ever after abide by their first election. Mr. WILBERFORCE vindicated his honourable friend from the charge of throwing any imputation on commercial men. Evafion, it must be confeffed, was, and might be practifed, and the best mode of preventing it, would be to take away the poffibility of exercifing it with fuccefs. Sir FRANCIS BARING faid, that by not allowing the option annually, many cases of extreme hardship must neceffarily arise, which would not occur, if men were left to their election, as often as a new statement of their income fhould be required. Mr. Alderman CURTIS was of opinion, that the alternative was not intended as a boon to commercial men, but as a fair and equitable mode of afcertaining their income, and that no mode could fo fecurely guard against evasion as that of restoring men to their firft election. In the other cafe, perfons might easily shape and fhuffle their books fo as to make falfe entries and fallacious balances, and thereby defraud the revenue. Already evasion had prevailed, within his own knowledge; he was convinced it would occur again if not prevented. |