Mr. Stanafeld made a good House-of-Commons speech against the motion,
on the ground of the advantage it would give to the friends of centralization, and warned the landlords also that they might not like the results of reopening the question of taxation on property ; and Mr. Goschen made another, denouncing the proposal as an effort to take money out of the Exchequer, without defining the tax to be seized and without giving any security for good management or economy. But neither Minister met the general grievance, which is the exemption of the millionaire who holds only Consols, or the special grievance, which is the payment for general objects out of rates. They gave, therefore, a loophole to Mr. Disraeli who affirmed that the good health and education of the community were Imperial objects, yet were to be provided for out of rates. The illustration is not happy, as education is chiefly supplied by the Treasury, but the drift of the thought is correct. The community wants to have the incidence of the rates, and their area, as distinguished from that of taxes, taken up, examined, and resettled on modern principles of finance.
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