The Week in Parliament Our Political Correspondent writes : I
do not recall an occasion when the House of Commons was less crowded for a Budget day than it was on Tuesday. The side Galleries were only half full, and there were actually some empty seats on the floor of the House. It may have been due to the fact that it was the first day after the Easter Recess and that Members, imagining that Mr. Chamberlain had no surprises for them, had decided to prolong their holiday. Those who were there had some unpleasant medicine to swallow. It. was amusing to see the glum expression on the faces of those with great possessions when Mr. Chamberlain announced his plans for preventing tax evasions that have been practised through the medium of one-man companies. The Members for hotly contested industrial scats did not relish the prospect of defending the tea-duty in their constituencies, and, there was a general disposition to believe that neither this impost nor the increase in the standard rate of Income Tax would have been necessary if Mr. Chamberlain had not taken such a cautious view of the potentialities of the existing sources of revenue.
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