On Thursday the debate on the second reading of the
Rating Bill was concluded, but not until Mr. Balfour had moved the closure. The figures of the division were 333 for and 156 against the second reading,—majority for the Government, 177. The Bill was thus accepted by a majority considerably larger than that which the Ministry can com- mand on a purely party vote,—a curious commentary on the alleged unpopularity of the measure. In the course of the final debate Mr. Chaplin announced that the Government would agree to limiting the operation of the Bill to a period of five years, and implied that they would consider the whole subject of rating. We trust that this means that the Govern- ment intend to remodel our system of local taxation. Sir William Harcourt in his speech relied chiefly on the argu- ment, = There are one hundred and eighty millions of rateable value in this country, and the Government only pro- poses to touch forty millions.' Sir William went on to urge that these forty millions do not want help any more than the remaining one hundred and forty millions, and to argue that agriculture is not really depressed. Mr. Goschen wound up the debate in a very able speech. His best point was the answer to the question,—Why, if you are going to help dis- tressed industries, do you not help such a business as that of shipbuilding ? If, he said, taxes had been placed on ship- building, and their remission would help shipbuilding, they ought to be taken off. Here is the question in a nut-shell. Rates on land are a tax on the profits of a special industry, and since that industry is depressed, it is not only fair, but sound finance, to give it relief.
Previous page
