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Leader (1850-1860), 18th January 1851, Edition Country of 2, Page 5

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      The Executive Committee Of The National ...

      thanks J and that this Cotmbitiee guahmtee thereto all the assistance in their power . " Mr . Collet waa requested to supply the secretary with a quantity of petitions for circulation , and the Committee adjourned to Wednesday evening * the 22 nd of January . Nominations received to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Mr . W . Davis in the Executive Committee of the National Charter Association : •—Thornton Hunt , Robert Le Blond , Huffy Ridley , Thomas Martin Wheeler , Edmund Staliirood , Edward Miles , and W . J . Linton .

      The following from Mr . W . J . Linton occurs in a letter to a friend relative to his nomination , addressed from Miteside , Cumherland : — "If any of my fellow-Chartists think I can serve them while I reside here , and only occasionally visit London , they may elect me to any office they please , and be sure of my attention to it . '' All persons are requested to vote ior one candidate from the above list ; and , where localities are formed , let them send their votes to the sub-secretary of the

      locality , who is desired to transmit such votes , with the members voting for each candidate , to the general secretary ; but , where localities do not exist , the votes can be eent by letter , addressed to John Arnott , 14 , Southampton-street , Strand , on or before Wednesday , January 29 . All votes received after that date will be null and void . Moneys received during the week , £ 12 7 s . Id . Signed , on behalf of the Committee , John Arnott , General Secretary .

      Jaw. 18, 1851.] -«*F " •***«? 53

      Jaw . 18 , 1851 . ] - «* f " •***«? 53

      Metropolitan Delegate Council. At A Meet...

      METROPOLITAN DELEGATE COUNCIL . At a meeting held at 26 , Golden-lane , City , on the 12 th instant ( Mr . John Arnott in the chair ) , after motions by Messrs . Blake , Bligh , Ferdinando , and Vickers , it was confirmed that the Council meet weekly as usual . Six shillings were paid to the Council as subscriptions . A vote of thanks was awarded to Mr . E . Stall wood for his past services in this Council . It was then agreed : — " That each member of this Council request of their constituents to form into tract societies , each member of the same to pay one halfpenny per week for the purpose of raising a fund , this fund to be Sent to the executive committee the 1 st of each month , for the purpose of more successfully establishing the circulation of tht Political Tracts . ' * It was also resolved : — " Thae we , the members of the Metropolitan Delegate Council , are of opinion that the report in . the Northern Star of the 11 th instant , relating to the Manchester meeting of the 4 th instant , is not a faithful and bonS fide account , and , therefore , we deem it our duty to repudiate the report . " We are also of opinion : —" That the leading article in the Star of the same date ( 11 th instant ) is conceived in a spirit of partiality and injustice , and calculated to produce much injury to the Democratic cause . Moved by Mr . Ferdinando , and seconded by Mr . Bloomrield : — " That the secretary be authorized to send the reports of this day ' s Council to the Leader and Reynolds ' s Newspaper .

      Mr . H . Bloomfield was duly elected as secretary , owing to Mr . W . A . Fletcher ' s resignation . The b « f < t thanks of the Council were given to W . A . Fletcher for his past and energetic services as secretary to this Council .

      Railway Thrift And Responsibility. After...

      RAILWAY THRIFT AND RESPONSIBILITY . After throe days ' patient enquiry into the circumstances connected with the deatli of Vincent Ludwick , the night inspector at the Poiuler ' s-end station , on the Eastern Counties Railway , the jury announced that they had agreed upon a verdict of " Manslaughter" against Ronald Baxter , the driver of the engine of the special train . They accompanied this verrtwrt with the following censure on the Conduct of the directors : —

      me jury cannot neparntc without expressing their unanimous opinion that the duties assigned to tin ; deceased , who was killed during their proper performance , were more multifarious than a portion in his station ol iife , and with ) iin emoluments , could reasonably be expected to perform ; and that greater precautionary measures , by meant ) of the electric telegraph , might huve been adopted . They think it right also to add that the regulations of the Eastern CounticH llailway Company appear to require modification , and that punctuality Mnould he more strictly enforced . " liiulwiek was killed by a special train coining in contact with a goodtt train , which he was removing auto a Hiding ; nnd ono question for the jury to decide wan whether the director * had used ' all the

      Jnenm m their power to prepare Ltulwick for the arrival of a special train on the night in question . <>« tins head we have the following evidence on the part ol Uu , night inspector of the telegraph department at tthoreditch : — "At live minutes to nix o ' clock on Wednesday morn" > K 1 received inMructions to' npeuk ' with all the stations between London and Cambridge , informing them I , * [ ' « ««» l train hud lift Hhoreditch , and desiring ¦ n to " * ' ' »> 'he Ii »« ' clear . 1 Mist spoke with Tottentr V ' t ' . i nunuteM flailed , however , before I could atwltl i atl

      past sit o ' clock . I continued calling for ten minutes , and , finding no attention was paid me , I called at Walthatn , and there also no reply was given for some time . There are some intermediate stations , Lea - bridge , Water-lane , Marsh-lane , and Cheshunt . Each has a telegraphic communication , but it was of no use calling them , as they are supposed to be shut up after dark . " By the Coroner : He had khown instances where he had been unable to get attention at the stations . " No attention was paid to the telegraphic warning at Pbnder ' s-end , because the inspector at that station was unable to attend to it . It appeared , on enquiry , that Ladwick was the only person left in charge of the station between the hours of nine at right and seven in the morning ; and that the whole business of shunting trains , managing the signals ,

      attending to the gates of a level crossing , and receiving ( or despatching ) telegraphic messages , devolved exclusively on him . The inevitable result of such parsimonious conduct on the part of railway directors is that the Iive 3 of travellers and also those of their own servants are placed in continual jeopardy . Mr . Richardson , the superintendent of the line , contended that the accident was owing to neglect of a certain rule , according to which , " when the main line is to be used for shunting , hand and percussion signals-are 4 o be placed at a distance of at least 600 yards before the obstruction is attempted ; " and , he added , "if the deceased had adopted that precaution before he allowed the truck to be passed on to the down line , the probability was that he would not have lost his life . " But this was

      a rule which could not be followed for this simple reason , that Ladwick , owing to his multifarious duties , had not time to run 600 yards with percussion signals * and back again , whenever a train or carriage was to be shunted . It was not the man ' s carelessness , therefore , which caused the fatal accident . " The real blame , " as the Morning Chronicle justly remarks , lies with the wretched parsimony which accumulates incompatible duties on a single functionary , and which expects three or four pounds ' worth of weekly labour and vigilance for 22 s '

      The Taxes On Knowledge. The Following Is...

      THE TAXES ON KNOWLEDGE . The following is the correspondence between the Newspaper Stamp Abolition Committee and the Postmaster-General ^ to which we have adverted elsewhere : — the newspaper stamp abolition committee to the

      POSTMASTER-GENERAL . My Lord , —It is not usual for a body of persons united together for the purpose of obtaining a change in the laws , to presume to address an Executive department . But in the course of our enquiries as to the actual working of the stamp duty on newspapers we have become aware of the irregularities committed by the Board of Inland Revenue , and as these irregularities involve the question of the free transmission of newspapers through the Post-office , we feel authorized to depart from usage so far as to memorialize your lordship on the subject .

      It can scarcely be necessary to inform your lordship that the 3 arid 4 Victoria , cap . 90 , permits , but docs not enjoin , the Postmaster-General to transmit post free all stamped newspapers , but does not authorize the transmission at a loss rate than the letter rate of any printed papers notnewspapers , except petitions and parliamentary papers . It will probably be within your lordship ' s recollection that when the newspaper stamp was reduced to one penny , the retention of that penny was justified by the Chancellor of the Exchequer , on the ground of its bt-ing an equivalent for free postage .

      The newspaper act requires that every copy of a newspaper should be stamped , whether intended to go by post or not . Whether it in right that a newspaper not . intended for postal circulation should pay postage is a question into which we do not wish at .-this moment , to enter ; but it is manifest that all should be treated alike , ami that if one class of publications in required to . stamp every copy , all . should he subject to the same restriction . But a practice is grown tip at the Board of Inland Revenue of registering publications an newspapers for the purpose ' of obtaining for them the benefit of free postage , an « J of allowing those copies , which are not sent , by post , to circulate unstamped . Against this manifest , injustice three newspaper proprietors havo protested , and the following correspondence has taken place between them nnd the Commissioners of inland Revenue-: — Leader Oflice , 10 , Ormie-oouit , Flnct-Hir « : et , July . 1 , \ H !>[) . TO T 1 IK UONOtrUAHT . i ; TJIK < : <> M M 18 NIONUKH OF IN LAN l > HKVKNtJK , Till ! MHMOIUAL OF TIIK UNDKHSlliNKl ) , Showeth ,- —That your memorialist is editor and one of the proprietors of a registered newspaper entitled the Leader . That , according to a return made to the House of ( 'ominous on the 19 i . h of February last , fifty-one ; ' registered newspapers nre permitted to stamp only a portion oftheir impression . Of these , many are . according to the ¦ Achcriulc in the ( 5 and 7 William IV ., cap . 7 < i , um

      fully liable to stamp duty an the Leader , particulurly Vuneli , thi : Freeholder , uud the Household Narrative . That your memorialist , engaged in tho enterprise of founding a new journal , in the knowledge that n-ich immunities were allowed , nnd had no wish to abate advantages elijoyed by others , although under the strict i ulen of competition the distinction be considered unfair . That the HUHpcimion of the Post-office duties on Hundfty , however , Iihh materially altered the position of his journal . The free tmnsiinmu ' on which has been hivhii in return fdr the penny stump is now in i > art withdrawn , uud , in , thut

      respect the Saturday edition of a newspaper is placed literally on a level with the unstamped publications so far as disadvantages go , while news journals differ materially from other periodicals in the medium of circulation , never passing through booksellers as such ; your honourable board will , therefore , perceive the injustice of maintaining the tax . Your memorialist , therefore , requests that your honourable board will , as a matter of right and justice , place the Leader on the same footing as Punch , the Aihenaum , the Freeholder , and the Household Narrative , by allowing it to stamp only its country edition , and to circulate unstamped in London . Thornton Hunt .

      TO THE HONOURABLE THE COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND REVENUE . The memorial of Charles Bray , of Coventry , showeth , That your memorialist is proprietor of a registered newspaper , called the Coventry Herald . That , according to a return made to the House of Commons on the 19 th of February last , fifty-one registered newspapers are permitted to stamp only a portion of their impression . That your memorialist , being obliged to stamp every copy of his impression , is thus exposed to unfair competition . Your memorialist , therefore , requests that your honourable board will issue a general order , permitting all registered newspapers to share in the jprivilegejiow confined to a favoured number . A similar letter was sent by Mr . Thomas Allan , of the Caledonian Mercury . The following were the

      answers : — Inland Revenue , Somerset-house , London , July 24 , 1850 . Sir , —I have laid before the board your memorial , in which you observe that , according to a return made to the House of Commons , certain registered newspapers are permitted to stamp only a portion of their impression , and requesting that that privilege be extended to all registered newspapers . In reply , I am directed to

      inform you that you are mistaken in supposing that any permission is granted by this board in the cases referred to or any other . The papers you allude to are nol newspapers , though registered as such , and the publishers could not be prosecuted for printing a portion , or the whole of their copies , without stamps , to which penalties the publisher of a newspaper , properly so called , would be subject . I am , Sir , your obedient servant , Thomas Keogii . Mr . Thomas Allan—Mr . Charles Bray .

      Inland Kevenue , Somerset-house , August 29 , 18 J 0 . Sir , —The board have had before them your letter of the 3 rd ultimo , requesting that the publication , called the Leader , may be placed on the same footing as the other paper 3 mentioned by you , and that the country edition only may be required to be stamped . In reply , I am directed to state that your application is totally inadmissible . I am to add , that there is no analogy between your publication and those to which you refer . I am , Sir , your obedient servant , Mr . Thornton Hunt . Thomas Keogh . To these replies the following rejoinder was sent : — TO THE HONOURABLE THE COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND ltKVIiNUK .

      Gentlemen , —We , the undersigned newspaper proprietors , having severally memorialized your honourable board for the purpose of obtaining authority to issue a portion ot our impressions unstamped , and having received in reply two minutes of 3 'our hoiuuruhle board , dated respectively the 21 th of July and the . 29 th of August lust , take the liberty of requesting , for reasons hereinafter specified , that , our former demands may be reconsidered . We conceive that many of t ' . ie fifty-one registered publications mentioned in the Parliamentary return of the

      19 th of February lust , are to all intents newspapers virtue of their contents , as they contain not . only comments but statements of passing occurrences of a general nnd political nature . But we would respectfully urge that a newspaper is such in virtue of its registration . An opposite interpretation of the Post-office net . ia rebuked by si minute of your honourable hoard , dated May ! i () , ltt . )(> , in reply to a letter from Mr . iScholeHeld , M 1 ' . for liirmingliiini , on the tmhjcct of the threatened prosecution of the Vre . eholdur . It is said : —¦

      " A portion of each publication is printed on stamps , and another without stamps , to which latter proceeding thi . ' board object , considering that both in respect of its registration and its contents , it i . s subject to the newspaper duty . " In this extract tho very doctrine is laid down on which our memorials were framed , viz ., that a newspaper i . s hucIi in virtue of it » registration . We are inclined to believe that the relaxation towards those' periodicnln which were originally put forth as uii-Btamped publications , is productive of considerable augmentation to tho revenue , as the publications would not otherwise be sent by post at all . We arc fur from complaining , therefore , of the relaxation granted to the

      fiftyone publications , Which uppcurtt to be juutilw-d by many considerations . But on the grounds furnished by your own honourable board , it is hccii that , no distinction cognizable by the law exists between those publications and our own , which arc htil 1 denied tin ; same indulgence . We therefore , urge a revision of our claims , and pray that we may be heard by our agent before your honourable board . 'Thornton Hunt , editor an ; l proprietor of the Leader 10 , Crane-court , Fleet .-street . CilAiii . KH Uhay , proprietor of tho (' ovenOy Herald nnd Obwvev , Coventry . Thumab Ai , un , proprietor of tho (" alodonia / i Mercury * JKdiuburgh .

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 18, 1851, page 5, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_18011851/page/5/