IN VE ST MENTS ABROAD.
rTo TER EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR:9
Sin,—Mr. Asquith asked in a late speech, Where would people invest capital to greater advantage than in England? As a matter of fact, they are already investing it in other countries, and should the present Finance Bill become law,
will no doubt do so in greatly accelerated numbers, thus escaping Income-tax and Death-duties. Mr. Price Collier, an American, says in his book, "England and the English":— "I know of not one but several English fortunes, and there are no doubt many more, which have been lodged in Switzerland, where there is no taxation on foreign securities. The books are kept there, the control is there, and this is done on the ground that taxation in England is becoming confiscatory. This means taking the very blood out of the veins of the body politic."
There are many people who do not choose to allow Mr. Lloyd George to rob their hen-roosts. Men will submit to hardship if it is fair; but no one will willingly submit to injustice. I see it also reported that many English families are moving their capital and themselves to Western Canada. Notwith- standing old-age pensions, the large increase of emigration, and all the other agencies to relieve pauperism and unemploy-
ment, they are still increasing, no doubt largely through this export of capital, and once exported in this manner it is never likely to return. Verily it looks as if Macaulay's prediction were coming true (I speak from memory): " Rome was destroyed by barbarians from without ; England will be destroyed by barbarians from within "—I am, Sir, &c.,
H. B. BEALE.
Hyde Court, Chalford, near Stroud, Glos.
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