Mr. Lowe on Thursday surrendered a clause in the Income-Tax
Bill which had created a curious amount of annoyance. Govern- ment had proposed that all employers should return lists of all their employes, with their salaries. The result of that would have been,—though this was not mentioned in the House,—to turn the employer into a " spy " on every workman or clerk earn- ing £2 a week, and would have led to incessant quarrelling, while it would have deprived workmen and clerks of the power of self- assessment, allowed to everybody else. Strong resistance was made, and fortunately for employers Mr. Lowe thought he was giving up a trifling point, and at last gave way. We venture to say he was giving up a chance of an extra million a year, and removing the chance of the bitterest quarrel with manufacturers that Government has had for many a long day.
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