The complicated muddle into which the Government have got was
Well shown in the discussion of Clause XVL Here' Lord Castlereagh moved to insert words directing that the Undeveloped Land Duty should not be charged till after the completion of the valuation of all the land in the kingdom. To this Mr. Masterman replied that, although the valuation might not be completed for three or four years, the Govern- ment were budgeting for this financial year, and arrears of duty due in the next twelve months could he paid later on, Mr. Austen Chamberlain insisted on the hardship caused to landowners, who could not know what their liabilities would be until the valuation had been made, but the Government refused to give way, and the amendment was rejected. On Thursday Mr. Lloyd George made some further concessions exempting nursery-gardens and greenhouses from the Unde- veloped Land Tax, but failed to satisfy all his Ministerial critics, and drew from Mr. Balfour the remark that "this is no longer an undeveloped land tax ; it is a tax on the development of land."
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