Lord Ripon's contribution to the debate—he wound up for the
Government—can only be called pathetic in its absence of all argument. Many years ago be had read Mr. Henry George's book with great interest; but he was not convinced of the wisdom of the writer's conclusions. Therefore their Lordships would see that he, at all events, had not any such system at the back of his head. In our opinion, the House of Lords was absolutely justified in throwing out the Bill, especially since it was sent to it in the last two days of the Session. Either the Bill is not wanted, or else it is the first step in a thoroughly unsound system of local taxation. We shall never arrive either at justice or sound finance in our rating system unless we bear in mind the principle which we have so often insisted on in these pages. It is not land or houses or sites or any other material thing which pay taxes, but men, and men only. When we talk of inanimate things paying taxes, we merely mean that- the possession of these things is made the measure of the amount which human beings have to pay. That making guesses at what would be the value of a site under conditions which do not exist will help any one to an equitable system of local taxation we do not believe. What is wanted is that all persons should contribute to local taxation in proportion to their means.
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