To the vestrymen of the metropolitan districts: the Metropolitan Board of Works and the London coal...

To the vestrymen of the metropolitan districts: the Metropolitan Board of Works and theLondon coal taxAuthor(s): Kintrea, ArchibaldSource: Bristol Selected Pamphlets, (1859)Published by: University of Bristol LibraryStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/60246822 .

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TO THE

VESTRYMEN

METROPOLITAN DISTRICTS.

THE

METROPOLITAN BOARD OF WORKS

AND THE

LONDON COAL TAX.

By

AEOHIBALD KINTEEA.

LONDON: PRINTLO BY E. BILLING AND SON, 152, BERMONDSEY STREET,

1859.



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TO THE

VESTRYMEN

METROPOLITAN DISTRICTS.

THE

METROPOLITAN BOARD OP WORKS

AND THE

LONDON COAL TAX.

BY

ARCHIBALD KINTEEA;

LONDON: PRINTED BY E. BILLING AND SON, 158, BERMONDSEY STREET.

1859.

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TO THE VESTKYMEN

METROPOLITAN DISTRICTS,

Gentlemen, a

The Chairman of the Metropolitan Board

of Works, has addressed to yon a circular letter,

soliciting your aid in procuring for that Board

the London Coal Dues, which are Is. Id. per ton,

and yield nearly a quarter of a million sterling,

per annum, levied over a radius of twenty miles

from the General Post Office, and as that letter is

calculated to lead to an erroneous view of the

subject, I beg leave to request your earnest

attention to the following remarks.

The Eirst London Coal Tax, of which

mention is made, is fourpence per chaldron of 27f cwt. on Sea Borne Coal, which the Corporation of the City of London claims by prescriptive right as conservators of the Thames; and which they

say is recognized and confirmed by a Charter

from James the Eirst, and another from James

the Second; but these Charters which are recited

in 1st & 2nd William the Eourth chap. 76, make



no mention of a fourpenny Coal Due, and I do not

believe that the Corporation can shew any legal title to it whatever.

The next Metage Due is a sum of eightpence per ton on Sea Borne Coal mentioned in both the

Charters alluded to, but distinctly granted for the

conservancy of the Thames, and for weighing and

measuring Coals on the Thames, from Staines to

the Medway; and as now the Corporation neither

weighs nor measures Coals, and the conservancy of the Thames has been taken from it by a recent Act of Parliament, the Corporation can no longer claim this amount, any more than the fourpence.

Very grave suspicion exists as to the means

by which those Charters were obtained from two weak and corrupt monarchs of the Stuart line, and their venal Ministers; but there is proof, positive, that the third Coal Due was obtained by fraud and bribery; because the Speaker of the House of Commons, and others in power, were convicted and punished for taking a bribe in a sum of money for procuring the enactment in the

Reign of William and Mary chap. 10,. by which four pence per chaldron on Sea Borne Coal was

granted " for ever" to the Corporation of the City

of London, and a further sum of sixpence per chaldron for a period of fifty years.

These two amounts were granted ostensibly



to repay to the City Orphans' Fund £740,000, which had been plundered by Charles the Second,

according to one report, or as others assert had

been illegally expended by the Court of Aldermen, in maintaining the Parliamentary Army, these

two Dues were afterwards commuted to a duty of

eightpence per ton, and subsequently made levi¬

able upon Railway as well as Sea Borne Coal, for

a period not exceeding the 6th of July, 1862, or

so much sooner as shall suffice to extinguish a

debt contracted upon their security, for London

Bridge approaches, and other City and one or

two West-end works.

I make no detailed mention here of a further

Tax, amounting in all to one shilling and three¬

pence per ton, which the Corporation claims the

right to levy on Coal brought by Canal within

twenty miles of London.

On Railway Coal the entire of these dues

will expire immediately upon the liquidation of

the debt alluded to.

The last created duty is onepenny per ton

for building a Coal Exchange, and afterwards

continued permanently for other purposes, under

the direction of Parliament from time to time;

it has wholly repaid the loans contracted upon its security, and is not at this moment applied to

any purpose whatever.



The net proceeds of the eight/penny and

penny Dues are handed over by the Corpora¬ tion to the Government; the balance of debt due to the Consolidated Fund at 31st December,

1858, was only £138,169 13s. lid. and as the

eightpenny Due, together with some other small

sums, repaid £145,620 lis. 6d. in 1858, it is evident that by this time the Consolidated Fund

has been repaid every shilling advanced, there was a further sum of £35,000 charged upon the

eightpenny, for a continuation of Cranbourne

Street, Leicester Square; and as it appears that the Metropolitan Board of Works is now pro¬ ceeding with that improvement, it either has

reeived or soon will receive the amount granted; in addition to the amount long since received for the New Street in Southwark.

The only other sum charged upon the eightpence, is £88,000 claimed by the Corporation of the City of London, for the New Street in

Clerkenwell, so that including all these charges, the eightpenny and penny duties will be free by Midsummer neoct, or Autumn at the latest. The the state of things will then be, 1st.—That Railway Coal will be wholly free from

every Coal Due, excepting the penny per ton. 2nd.—That the prescriptive fourpence per chal¬

dron, the Chartered eightpence per chaldron,



and the sixpence created for fifty-years, and

subsequently extended, will cease.

3rd.—If the William and Mary fourpence can be

maintained, it will only be upon Sea Borne

Coal reverting to fourpence upon 27|- cwt.

instead of 20 cwt. as at present, out of

which the Corporation will have to weigh and measure all the taxed Coal.

The Corporation itself would be puzzled to

say whether the fourpence per ton it receives is

the " prescriptive" fourpence, or the William and

Mary fourpence; but whichever it be, the Corpo¬

ration, now that it cannot help itself, appears

generously to be willing to abandon all claim

to any but fourpence per ton, to be devoted

exclusively to City improvements, instead of to

its own general purposes as heretofore; but trust

it not, it is now under the pressure of public

opinion. " When the devil was sick, The devil a saint would he, But when the devil got well, The devil a saint was he."

Its vast resources applied unsparingly in

Mansion House Festivities and otherwise, have

too long enabled it to escape the pruning knife of

Reform,—its taxing privileges obtained in cor¬

rupt times by questionable means, must cease to

be respected, and nothing will satisfy an intelli-



8

gent and indignant people, but the formation of a great municipality upon the ruins of a privi¬ leged and close Corporation.

The Metropolitan Board of Works now appears upon the scene, and prefers a claim to at least that portion of the London Coal Tax, which will

expire in a few months. Finding the Ratepayers restive under a heavy load of parochial taxation, the Board thinks it sees its only safety in pro¬ curing indirect taxes over which there would be

comparatively little public control or criticism. Does any one believe that even the govern¬

ment would dare to propose a Coal Tax, in the face of the Free Trade Policy of the Country, and the universal condemnation of indirect tax¬ ation upon the necessaries of life

But if the Board have a good case, why has it failed in securing the support of the Government, and the Members of Parliament for the Metropolis? The Board first applied for advice and assistance to the Metropolitan Members of Parliament, and met with a positive refusal. Defeated in that

direction, the Board applied to Government, but no more hope was held out in that quarter than in the other; baffled on all sides, the Board now

entreats you to put a pressure on your Parlia¬

mentary Members and on Government, to compel them to do that which they consider unjust and

impolitic.



fl

J/

iS

And why should you endorse this proceeding Has the Metropolitan Board of Works earned

such a reputation for judgment and prudence, that

you should be expected to hand over to it

enormous irresponsible taxing powers Does it

now expend your money so much to your satis¬

faction Has it ever shewn any anxiety to defer

to your wishes when you have remonstrated

against reckless expenditure No! and surely

you will prefer to wait for some further trial of

this new Institution, which has so bitterly dis¬

appointed public expectation, before you give it

your unlimited confidence.

The entire Press of London has pronounced the Board a failure. For instance, the "Daily News" of the 23rd ult. devoted to it an able

complaining leader. The "Times" of the 1st

instant, in a leading article, said, "The fact is, that the constitution of this Board has

turned out a failure. The Government has shuffled oif its own responsibility upon a body which is at once incompetent and irresponsible. The system of double election has never

yet produced anything but cliques and jobbing. Unhappily this Board spends our money and rates our property, and we cannot afford to let them alone to their devices."

The " Observer" of the 27th ult. said, " The fact is, the Metropolitan Board want constantly

watching; the press has for a long time left them alone, because it was tiresome day after day, and week after week, to record long winded speeches about nothing. This absence of publicity has however emboldened them, and has induced them to gloss over the mistakes which have been made, with



10

reference to the first great Contract that they entered into. It is the duty of the Local Boards to see to this; but if they remain passive, not only will they have to pay for it by increased Rates, but they will allow their privileges to be taken away from them."

The "Morning Star" of the 2nd inst., speak¬

ing of the propriety of rescinding a recent

Resolution of the Board, said, " But we venture to predict that even this inevitable act

of reparation will not prevent the occurrence of a change in the constitution of their body, the necessity for which is becoming daily more apparent. A Board elected by the Vestries has received a fair trial, and has been found useful only for the delivery of interminable speeches, the making of incessant blunders, the concoction of ingenious schemes for the victimisation of the public, in order to secure the advantages to individuals, and the general muddling of all the affairs entrusted to its supervision. It appears to us to be now high time to ascertain whether some more desiderable results may not be attained by means of a Board elected by the general body of the Ratepayers."

And the " Weekly Dispatch" of the 4th inst.

says, " The truth is, that the Board is altogether falsely con¬

stituted. Let us have a real municipality of the whole Metropolis."

Mr. Thwaites, in his letter, has placed before

you an immense array of figures, amounting to

many millions of pounds sterling, for works, which he considers to be necessary, and to which

he thinks the London Coal Dues should be devoted.

I am certainly surprised to find in the list an item

of some millions for the Main Drainage, for which

those Dues cannot be required, inasmuch as the



11

money for that work has already been obtained, and a rate levied for it under an Act of Parliament.

The same remark applies to the items in the

list for the New Street in Southwark, the Covent

Garden approach from Cranbourne Street, and the

Victoria Park approach, which are all already

provided for by Parliament, and ought not to have

been included in a statement soliciting a con¬

tinuance of the Coal Dues I suppose the inten¬

tion was to astound you with the vastness of the

sum, and so intimidate you into acquiescence. The amount for the Finsbury Park, £216,830

was not wisely thrown into the list, because no

one out of Islington, would vote one shilling for

the formation of a Park for the Working People

of Finsbury, at Ilornsey Wood!!! where already there are green fields enough, independent of

that beautiful place so much nearer home, namely,

Regent's Park.

Could infatuation be carried further

Two millions sterling are set down for em¬

banking the Thames, which it was admitted the

other day at the Board, would cost four or five

millions; but' I do not believe that any Corpora¬ tion in the Empire, but this Board of Works, could be found gravely to speak of taxing the

poor laborer on the fuel which warms his chilly limbs by the winter's fire, for a scheme so

visionary and impracticable.



12

Then the sum of £1,432,210 is set down for the purchase of Southwark and Waterloo Bridges, and widening, &c. Hungerford Suspension Bridge, considered necessary for relieving the City from an over crowded Horse traffic. If that must be

done, common sense would say that Cabs, Carts, and Carriages, for which these Bridges are mainly required, should be taxed for the purpose, and not the working poor, who very little frequent either Southwark or Waterloo Bridges.

But apart from these items I entreat the

attention of Vestrymen representing the Rate¬

payers of the Metropolis beyond the City proper, to the other items in the Chairman's letter,

comprising the enormous sum of upwards of Eight millions and a half sterling, for improvements in

widening and making thirty-four Streets, twenty- six of which are in the City and its immediate

neighbourhood, and not one on the South side of the

Thames viz.— Earl-street, Blackfriars, to Mansion-house £891,750 0 0 Bow-street, to Cheapside 1,112,600 0 0 Holborn-hill and Skinner-street 200,000 0 0 Leather-lane, to Old-street 626,980 0 0 Ditto to Eastern Counties Railway 462600 0 0 Removal of Temple-bar, &e 89,851 0 0 North side of Newgate-street 116,300 0 0 King Edward-street, City, &c 24,570 0 0 Removal of Middle-row, Holborn 46,625 0 0 Chancery-lane, North-end 120,000 0 0 HolyweU-street 425,400 0 0 Postern-row, &c 115,800 0 0 Ditto, Tower-street and Eastcheap 300,600 0 0 King William-street 12,000 0 0 Comhffl junction 291,500 0 0



13

Bishopsgate-street £186,400 0 0 Norton Folgate 67,740 0 0 Fenchurch-street 330,000 0 0 Aldgate 153,000 0 0 Lower Thames-street 799,000 0 0 Queen-street, Cheapside 302,450 0 0 Poultry 543,600 0 0 Milk-street, Cheapside 42,500 0 0 Aldermanbury 48,750 0 0 Aldersgate-street, &o 133,480 0 0 Bishopsgate-street, and Curtain Road 184,130 0 0

In the City and its immediate neighbourhood 26. ———— .£7,627,626 0 0

Russell-square 174,600 0 0 Whilechapel 127,464 0 0 Park-lane, Piccadilly 172,700 0 0 Carey-street, Strand 250,500 0 0 Covent-garden 13,800 0 0 St. Martin's-lane 190,740 0 0 Clerkenwell 46,160 0 0 Kensington 40,000 0 0

£8,643,590 0 0

No one disputes that improvements are required, from time to time, in the crowded thoroughfares of the City, although it may be very much

doubted whether alterations of the magnitude described are really necessary; but the Corpora¬ tion in the course of centuries has obtained ample

pecuniary means for these very purposes, and it

must not be allowed to escape from obligations incurred whilst it retains a revenue of £234,000

per annum, or £169,000 independent of the 4d. Coal due. The means are therefore to be found in the City's Exchequer, a fact which Mr. Thwaites has conveniently omitted to notice in his trembling eagerness to clutch a tempting



14

revenue; and the Board of Works is not called^

upon, nor indeed entitled, to interfere in the City where it has no jurisdiction.

I have heard it said that if the Coal dues were

abolished, Coals would be none the cheaper. Those who use this argument forget tha't com¬

petition regulates prices, that there is no trade

so competed for as the Coal trade, and that the

repeal of the duty on Glass, &c, the reduction of

the Tea, Coffee, Sugar and similar duties all re¬

sulted in the advantage being given to the

consumer.

One glaring injustice in this Coal tax is, that

it weighs with peculiar hardship on the manu¬

facturer ; upon whom it was never meant to fall, because in the days of its origin manufacturing

pursuits were not conducted with the aid of

steam, involving so great a consumption of fuel.

The present Home Secretary, justly observed, to the deputation from the Board of Works, " That these dues amount to a discriminating tax against London manufacturers."

The theory and intention of indirect taxation

is, that the manufacturer or merchant who pays in the first instance, shall be able to recover it

in the price of the article he manufactures and

sells, such is indeed the case with a national tax, in which all alike participate; but the London

Coal dues cannot be recovered by the London



15

Manufacturer, because he has to compete with

manufacturers in other localities who are subject to no such impost.

He does not use the new or widened streets so

much as Pickford, Chaplin & Home, the Railway

companies, or the City warehousemen, and all

these are free from the tax, excepting on such

Coal as they consume for domestic purposes. The wealthy banker, and all the other rich who

are not manufacturers escape the tax in their

various pursuits; and yet the most meritorious

class in the community, that which employs the

labor and creates the wealth, is alone made the

victim of class taxation.

This is so well understood in Dublin, that man¬

ufacturers there are exempted from the Dublin

Coal dues of 4d. per ton, and have been since

1832.

Besides, no one surely will defend the imposi¬ tion of a tax of any kind by either the Corpora¬ tion of the City or the Board of Works beyond their own jurisdiction and area; if there should

be any readjustment of the Coal Tax, the country districts, Hertford, Richmond, Epsom, Dartford, and similar places, will not for one moment

tolerate that black mail shall be levied there for

the purposes of cither Corporation in which

they have no more interest than the inhabitants

of Manchester or Edinburgh.



16

In the parish of Camberwell, where I reside, it is computed that there are about 14,000

houses, and according to the average amount of

this tax per house, assumed by the Royal Com¬

mission of 1854, to be 10s. per annum, we are

cooly asked by the Board of Works to consent to

our being permanently taxed to the amount of

£7000 per annum, which is nearly lOd. in the

pound on the rating, or three times the assessment

for the Great Main Drainage, to carry out Street

improvements, from which the whole South of

London, and three-fourths of the rest of the

Metropolis are altogether excluded.

All this is so repugnant to the genius and

spirit of English fairness, that I trust you will

discourage the attempt at reviving indirect tax¬

ation, that you will keep the Metropolitan Board of Works to a strict accountability to public opinion, and that you will not lend your sanction to the perpetuation of a Tax, oppressive to the

working man and unjust to his employer.

I am, your obedient Servant,

A. EINTREA, Member of the Camberwell Vestry.

Dec. 5, 1859.

b OF tfBtS t OL



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To the vestrymen of the metropolitan districts: the Metropolitan Board of Works and the London coal...

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