THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



433 



representation ; and so when the Prime Minister, or 

 the Chancellor, or the President, says in an off-hand 

 way at once, " there is no possibility of doinj;; without 

 the malt-rUity," the country gentlemen will com- 

 placently shake their heads, and echo that they are 

 " afraid there is not." 



Tliis is the weak place wo have to look to. It will 

 be seen from a report in another part of to-day's 

 paper that the question is reviving. It would have 

 been curious, indeed, if it had slept on, with the 

 blessings of the new budget hanging over it. The 

 Biddells, the Barthropps, the Bonds, and the Hawards 

 have ably answered to oisr call, and held a meeting at 

 Ipswich. The initiative has been t;dcen, and subscrip- 

 tions are to be collected, petitions signed, and other 

 means for a general auitutioa of the subject determined 

 on. Sir Fitzroy Kelly, too, one of the county mem- 

 bers, has been conferred with, and is to bring 

 forward a motion on the subject in the House 

 immediately after the recess. This is the point 

 to fight at. Meetings, and subscriptions, and peti- 

 tions, and unanimous resolutions declaring that the 

 Malt Tax is unjust and oppressive and so on, are all 

 very well, and no doubt all very necessary. But there 

 must be some end to them. And this is precisely what 

 was not the case with the Anti-Malt- tax Association 

 that went so energetically to work some thirteen years 

 since. There was no end, no head, no mouthpiece, 

 where, above all other places, it was wanting. Meet- 

 ings were called throughout the kingdom, liljeral sums 

 in support were contributed, and telling tracts and 

 papers published. The farmers talked it over with 

 each other strongly enough, but they did not talk it 

 over so strongly with their " Tricnds." And so the 

 Anti-Malt-tax Committee could generally count upon 

 the support of old Mr. Fuller, Mr. Frewen, another 

 member for Sussex, Mr. Bond Cabbell, and occa- 

 sionally perhaps on one or two more ; but they seldom 

 got beyond tliis. Now, it is very palpable, that the 

 new Society must take a very different line of action. 

 The country, the people, the farmers themselves are 

 already tolerably well alive to the question. What we 

 require now is, according to the old nursery story, the 

 fire — to burn the slick, to beat the dog, to bite the pig, 

 and help us over the style. It must bo the business 

 of the Anti-Malt-tax Association to light up this fire. 

 Let us say the Biddells and Bonds will look up their 

 own Members, as in fact tliey have done already. So 

 far, so good ; but in an adjoining county tliey have a 

 very great autliority on the subject — a gentleman who 

 writes able letters, and gives good evidence as to the 

 evil. Of course wo refer to Mr. Hudson, of Castleacre. 

 Let him be advised at once to see the Members for Nor- 

 folk. Then on another side is another near neighbour, 

 always ready to take his share of the work, whatever it 

 may be, that promises well for agriculture. Let Mr. 

 Fisher Hobbs be asked to ascertain what the Du Canes 

 and the Watlingtons mean to do— eloquent gentlemen 

 either of them, that have a laudable ambition to be 

 heard in the Commons Parliament. Here is the opj)or- 

 tunity. Mr. Ball, of course, will rise spontaneously to 

 the call in Cambridgeshire, while such men as Mr. 

 Sam. Jonas and Mr. William Bennett should take care 

 that he is well backed. Some friend may be easily 

 had to take counsel with Mr. Disraeli. Mr. Steed, 

 of Baldock, would see Sir Bulwer Lytton in Hert- 

 fordshire, where the Malt-tax repealers are once more 

 at work. Mr. Smith, of Rye, Mr. Hilder, or Mr. 

 Selmes, might be counted upon to do as much in Sus- 

 sex. In a word, the tables must be turned. We must 

 canvass our Members for once, and solicit with all due 

 earnestness ** the favour of your vote and interest." 



It V\\\ be by no means necessary to draw the line 



too fine between those who are and those who are not 

 representatives of the agricultural interest. The malt- 

 tax, fairly put, is every Englishman's question, and " a 

 hand" might be had where least expected. Still, the first 

 need is to wTiip up our own people. Let this bo the 

 watchword, thevcry motto on the Ensign under which the 

 new Society is launched. County Members have become 

 rather too ready to admit that little or nothing can be 

 done in the way of legislation for agriculture. Suppose, 

 just for onoe, they try the experiment — not next year, 

 or next session, or any other next time, but next iveali, 

 or whenever Sir Fitzroy Kelly's motion comes on. It 

 is curious, hovi'ever, to see how cautiously honourable 

 gentlemen are prone to avoid t)ohm(eerin(/ for any 

 such a duty. Within these few days there have been 

 large and " influential" Conservative meetings held 

 on eitlier side of Suffolk ; one at Yarmouth, in 

 Norfolk, and another at JMaldon, in Essex. At these 

 gatherings, much cheered M.P.'s talked whole co- 

 lumns of the local journals through. They attacked 

 Mr. Gladstone and his Budget ; they ridiculed Lord 

 John and his Reform Bill; they discussed the 

 wine duties, tea, and sugar ; and other poor man's 

 friends; t"' scarcely one word did they give to the 

 malt-tax. At Yarmouth, we believe, it was never even 

 mentioned ; but let us do full justice to Maldon. Mr. 

 Du Cane, referring to the men of Manchester, did say, 

 in passing, " They will look at their agricultural neigh- 

 bour battling with the malt-tax which raises the price 

 of his staple beverage, and cripples the growth of one 

 of his staple pi-oductions, and they will drink success 

 to his exertions in copious libations of cheap claret." 

 And his colleague, Mr. Watlington, followed him up in 

 this wise : " I call it a dangerous Budget, because, 

 while it admits tlie cheap wines and cheap luxuries of 

 France, it makes up the deficit thus caused by keeping 

 up war duties upon tea and sugar, and altogether 

 ignores the existence of a most oppressive and unjust 

 tax upon malt and hops. I call it a dangei'ous Budget, 

 because of the method in which it deals with the malt 

 credits— anticipating the income of 1861 in order to 

 spend it in 1800 ; and, therefore, aggravating, to a 

 greater degree, the difficulties which will, no doubt, 

 meet the future Chancellor of the Exchequer." Let 

 Mr. Du Cane and Mr. Perry Watlington be at once 

 communicated with and encouraged. And let those 

 other honourable gentlemen also be addressed, who can 

 make fine flowery orations at Conservative festivals, 

 but cannot find one word to offer at such a time as this 

 against the injuntice of the malt-tax. A needy author, 

 who was writing his Life and Times, was wont to solicit 

 subscriptions in this way: "All those friends who 

 subscribe to the work will be mentioned in it ;" and 

 then he would add, still more significantly, " and so 

 will those who don't." Now, in writing the Life and 

 Death of the Malt-tax, we must put the case precisely 

 in the same home fashion. All those friends who give 

 us their aid will be mentioned hereafter, and so will 

 th.)se who do 7iot, In either case, if the new Repeal 

 Association puts the question properly, there will be 

 something to talk about at the next election. 



HALESWORTH FARMERS' CLUB. 



A meeting of this club was held at the Angel, Haleawortb, 

 Mr. Charles Lenny, of Wissett, in the chair. 



The subject for diacussioa was "The Advantages or Dis- 

 advantages of the Malt-tax," introduced by Mr Robert 

 Hasvsrd, of Spexball-rcad. 



Mr. H AWARD said that, be 'ore enteriag on the considera- 

 tion of his subject, he woultl, witli the Chairinau's permission, 

 trace the history of the tax from its first imposition in 1697 to 

 the present time, by which they would see that it was first 

 imposed as n war tax, and had been from time to time in- 



