_To the Editor of the_ DUDLEY AND MIDLAND EXPRESS.
SIR,--Your lengthened remarks in your last publication of the
_"Express"_ on the anomalous position existing betwixt the
local commissioners of income and property-tax, the tax-payers,
and the unhappy delinquent in Worcester Gaol, must necessarily
have awakened much reflection upon this important subject; and
if I should not be considered trespassing too much upon your
valuable space, I would offer a few observations with a view
to elicit some well-digested opinions upon the most salient
parts of your important address. Ere your strictures appeared
in public, the local commissioners had, it was found, exercised
that power in appointing a successor to Mr. John Leadbetter
which the Act of Parliament gives them, and it would appear
somewhat irregular in a local press, cognisant of that fact,
to recommend a vestry meeting to consider a question _that
ought to have been urged upon the rate-payers at an earlier
date_, backed by such _legal information_ as is well known to
exist in the editorial staff of your acceptable journal. You
are, doubtless, aware, Mr. Editor, that income-tax collectors
can be appointed either by the rate-payers in public vestry,
or the local commissioners in private; but an appointment made
by the rate-payers must have the confirmation of the local
commissioners _before it can be received at the Treasury_;
hence the very little importance, in my opinion, of agitating
a parish on the merits of a question which, after all, must
be the result either of favouritism, or true appreciation
of the local commissioners. In the event of a local board
of commissioners making a selection decidedly obnoxious to
a parish, then it is competent for any five rate-payers to
object to the appointment, by showing to the Treasury why such
nomination should not take place; but in the event of no such
objection being made by the rate-payers, as illustrated in
both Mr. Worley's and Mr. John Leadbetter's appointment, the
nomination stands good in law, and the collectors (by the tacit
consent of the parish) are the _bonâ fide collectors of the
rate-payers_, as well as the commissioners. In this view of
the case it becomes apparent that the parish of Dudley _cannot
legally object_ to pay the defalcation rate that most assuredly
will be exacted from us; nay, the local commissioners can
legally claim it at our hands, on the acknowledged principle
that Mr. Worley was as much the appointment of the parish as by
them, _inasmuch as that parish very graciously acquiesced in
their selection_!
Such being the fact, the general question is often asked,
"What is to be done with that miserable man now incarcerated
in Worcester Gaol?" As he has been placed there under a warrant
issued by the local Commissioners, he most assuredly is their
prisoner; and the ratepayers of Dudley can have no legal
process against a defaulter abstracting money which is the
property of the Crown. If the Commissioners are at all doubtful
about their right or power to prosecute the delinquent, why
place him in durance vile, and institute _most vigilant legal
proceedings_ against his _supposed sureties_, bringing the
terrible powers of the law to _annihilate_ the innocent and
unoffending; whilst the main delinquent is kept as a sort of
savage appendage to every man's vision, who occasionally
refers to his cash book to ascertain the status of its taxable
page?
If, again, the object of incarcerating the collector was
intended to secure his detention until the embezzled money was
re-levied, pray Mr. Editor, by what reasoning powers have those
highly-respectable gentlemen come to the determination _to
delay that unpleasant duty_ to the latest possible period of
propriety, or, perhaps, public safety? Now it must be apparent
to all that changes are daily being made in trade incomes and
value of property in such an important town as Dudley; and it
would be manifestly unjust to charge the moiety _upon an income
of £400 a year now_, when at the time the robbery was committed
such income was assessed _at only £300 a year_. Such cases
as these, Mr. Editor, would awaken no small degree of alarm
and anxiety as to the course the commissioners and collectors
intend to pursue; for I would opine that your editorial skill
and staff of management would feel themselves somewhat startled
to find that 2¼d. in the pound had been levied upon them,
for the recovery of a moiety of income-tax abstracted by a
previous defaulting collector at a lapsed time, when your
editorial vision had not looked into the fame of your future
greatness, or dreamt of the honours that awaited your advent
into this region of physical smoke and mental darkness.
Such, however inadvertently, may be the case, and against such
errors and mal-practice it behoves both the rate-payers and the
press to exercise a vigilant eye; for it is well known that
our gracious Queen cannot afford at this particular juncture
to lose any portion of her allotted supplies, and _the living_
most assuredly will have to pay for the dead in this vexatious
case. It is much to be regretted that the minor officers of
the public service do not appear to receive that reward for
their services commensurate with the labour and responsibility
entailed upon them; nevertheless, we must not lose sight of the
fact, _that_ the _present order of the day is retrenchment_ in
all branches of the paid civil service; and that the salary
accorded in these cases _is fixed in London_, _not_ by the
local commissioners. In the particular case referring to
Dudley, whilst the stipend is only about 100_l._ a year for the
collection of the property and income-tax, _the collector is
also_ the recipient of the poundage derived from the collection
of the assessed taxes and house duty; making his income amount
to about 150_l._ a year; and really, Mr. Editor, we are not to
have so little faith in the integrity of poor human nature,
as to believe that no respectable townsman can be found to
faithfully fulfil that office, _without_ entrenching upon
the region of venality on the one hand, or pandering to the
inordinate vices of cupidity or meanness on the other.
If such an one cannot be found in Dudley, sufficiently sensible
of his responsibility and power, we may indeed humble ourselves
"in dust and ashes," at the depravity of human nature in
general, _and the want of worth and honesty in Dudley in
particular_.
I am, your obedient servant,
INQUISITOR.
_Dudley, October 14th, 1857._