On Monday Major Cadogan moved a minor but reason- able
amendment to the Finance Bill by which the culti- vation value of urban land should be deducted from the site value assessed for the new tax ; this would encourage urban and suburban gardens. The Opposition Whips had arranged to try to defeat the Government on this amend- ment ; not for its particular merits, but because it came at the right moment. They succeeded, with a majority of 24. The division was a " rag " rather than dignified politics, and the Prime Minister was justified in not paying too much attention to it. He will doubtless tell his followers, who failed him by their absence, what he thinks of them ; that is no affair of ours. Later the Chancellor of the Exchequer made a statement upon the exemptions upon taxation which he was prepared to make when the appropriate clause came up. He had evidently been startled by the vigour of protests made, if not by their reasonableness. He announced concessions which should go some way to remove some of the fears of educational bodies, Friendly Societies, &c., to which we refer in our leading article on the Bill. The exemptions are more liberal than we expected.
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