On Monday in the House of Commons Mr. Lloyd George
announced two changes in the Budget. The tax on unearned incomes between £300 and £500, instead of being raised from Is. 2d. to ls. 4d., is to remain at Is. 2d.; and on unearned incomes of F.300 and under the tax will be reduced to ls. He also promised to consider the hard case of estates where Settle- ment Estate Duty is paid, first by a widow who has been left a life interest, and again by the children when the estate passes to them. As regards the distribution of the new grants to local authorities, Mr. Lloyd George was asked many questions as to what will be done before the new valuation of property is completed. He expects that the valuation will be sufficiently advanced for the distribution of the money in the second half of 1915. Meanwhile provisional arrangements will be made, but he did not say what these would be. The only measures necessary this year, he said, will be the Finance Bill, a Revenue and 'Valuation Bill, and perhaps an Insurance Bill. For the rest, he chaffed Tariff Reformers on their silence. "Tariff Reform is still chained in its lonely kennel, and is not allowed to bark."
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