Mr. Gogchen's Budget resolutions were under discussion and were carried
on Thursday ; but Mr. Gladstone, Mr. Childers, and Sir William Harcourt took occasion to stimu- late the fears of the Conservatives on the subject of the new Death-duty on estates of more than £10,000, which Mr. Glad- stone represented as a new departure in finance, and one on which the principle of an ascending scale of taxation for the rich in proportion to their riches would be ultimately grounded. Mr. Goschen, of course, warmly repudiated this suggestion, showing that what he had done was simply to give a special exemption from the new tax to small estates, corresponding to the exemptions allowed under the Income-tax law to persons whose income is under £400 a year. Mr. Chaplin and Sir W. Barttelot were, however, greatly alarmed, and there will pro- bably be a serious discussion on the Bill which is to be founded on the Budget resolutions.
