The Lord Chancellor alone on the Government aide seriously attempted
to make out a case for the Bill; but even his great forensic powers failed him. The beat he could do was to say that there was a strong sense in Scotland and England that our system of rating ought to be altered, and that it was not fair that persons who had property of great value, because it was not built upon, should escape their fair share of the burden of taxation. Brilliant as was Lord Robertson's speech, Lord Lansdowne's condemnation of the Bill was even more effective. He pointed out, among other things, how unfair it was to throw upon the owners of land the invidious and difficult duty of declaring, under penalties, the site values of their land. Speakers had made light of the question of expense; but since there would have to be fifteen hundred separate entries in the valuation roll, it was impossible to doubt that a very heavy burden would be imposed. The new policy, declared Lord Lansdowne—and here we desire to endorse his statement to the full—meant the abandonment of the principle that liability to taxation should be determined by the ability to pay :of the person who was taxed. The new system would substitute for a basis founded upon solid facts a basis founded upon mere conjecture.
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