Mr. Goschen on Monday received a deputation from about one
hundred Conservative Members of Parliament who wished to describe the depression of the agricultural inter- est, and to persuade him of the necessity of relief. In reply, the Chancellor of the Exchequer declared that he was perfectly alive to the gravity of the situation, and fully admitted—indeed, had admitted in 1885—that the capability of the land for bearing burdens had been materially reduced. Those burdens do not fall upon the whole revenue derived from land, but upon the surplus remaining to the land- lord after he has discharged all preferential claims, such, for instance, as rent-charges. He believed that the time had come— if we had time for anything—to reconsider the incidence of taxa- tion upon the land. The Government could, however, do nothing until they could grapple with the reform of local government. When that measure could be brought forward, it would be accompanied by a reform in rates ; and Mr. Goschen would be glad, he said, if it fell to him, so to arrange that reform that some satisfactory change in taxation could be effected. Mr. Goschen concluded by hinting that while be still adhered to the belief in the appreciation of gold, his views upon the currency had become, in some way not defined, less fixed.
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