The chief point made by Sir William Harcourt, who fol-
lowed Mr. Ritchie, was that though peace had come, taxation was still immensely higher than before the war. The real thing to ask, and what the House must ask and what the country will ask, is this—How much more are you going to pay in taxation now than you did four years ago ? " The increase in the taxation of the country is forty millions. What are you going to take off ? You are going to take off ten millions The consequence is that the residuum you have is thirty millions of increase of taxation, not due to the war at all, but due to the normal increase in the country's expenditure." Sir William went on to ask the reason for this great extra charge, which was of course, in his view, the burden of Im- perialism. He ended by an appeal for the sovereign remedy of retrenchment and reform.
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