The Sun.
London, England, 1860-09-07 00:00:00

duty. The whole amount of error in the classification pro-
bably does not exceed £lO,OOO.

There is a class of cases whieh tend to augment legacy
duty and to diminish succession duty, in a different way.
There are cases in which bonds and other engagements have
been entered into for payment of money at death. Before
such engagements were liable to duty, that is, before the
passing of the Succession Duty Act, they were treated as
debts due from the estate of the deceased, and the amount
was deducted from the residue on which duty was payable.
But as a claim to make such a deduction would now have
the effect of raising a charge for succession duty, it is be-
lieved that the transaction is frequently kept out of the ac-
counts altogether, and unless it be alluded to in the will we
have no means of knowing its existence. There is of course
no impropriety in this, nor does it affect the revenue.
A question on the Succession Duty Act of some interest

in reference to the peculiar law of Scotland on the subject
of entails has recently been determined by the House of
Lords on appeal from the Court of Session, establishing the
uniformity of the application of the Act in the same re-
lative circumstances, throughout the kingdom, whatever
variance there might happen to be in the general law relat-
ing to the succession of property in the different parts of it,
and however inappropriate the free and popular style of the
act might appear to be to the legal technicalities of any par-
ticular division of tho kingdom.
The case alluded to is that of Lord Saltoun and the Lord
' Advocate-General.
The majority of the judges in Scotland, on an appeal from
the judgment of the Lord Ordinary, determined that the

substitute nomination in a deed of entail, who acquired the
settled property on the death without issue of the institute
to whom, and to the heirs of whose body, it was given, de-
rived the property as a succession from the institute as the
predecessor, and not from the entailer, and was therefore
liable to duty according to the degree of relationship to him.
Lady Saltoun, in 184 i, settled real estate in Scotland on
her eldest son, the late Lord Saltoun, and the heirs of his
body, who failing, on aer grandson, the present Lord Sal-
toun, and the heirs oflis body.
The late Lord Sanwa, the institute, dying without issue
in 1854,the present Lord Saltoun, the substitute nomination,
acquired the property in possession, and though thus named
inthe deed as a new stirps, he was, according to the law of
Scotland, obliged to make up title as heir of tailzie and pro-
vision to his uncle, and, having regard to the peculiarities
of the Scotch law of entails, the majority of the judges be-
low were of opinion that his uncle was the predecessor. On
appeal to the House of Lords their lordships reversed this
judgment, holding that the maker of the settlement was
the person from whom the interest of the successor was de-
rived within the meaning of the statute, and not the uncle,
to whom, in the language of Scotch feudal law, he was
served heir.
The Act 22d and 23d Viet., cap. 36, sec. 1, has intro-
duced a graduated scale of probate duty when the value
of personal estate exceeds £1,000,000. The number of in-
stances in which probates have been granted for property
upwards of £1,000,000 in value since the year 1815, when
the scale of duties now in force was introduced, is not con-
siderable, and though the amount of duty lost by reason of
the scale not ranging higher than a million has not been
large enough to have materially affected the revenue, yet,
apart from the reasonableness and justice of making these
large estates, though few in number, pay the proportionate
ad valorem duty, the rapid increase of the value of personal
estate acquired by the expansion of trade and enterprise in
modern times rendered it very proper that this extension of
the scale of charges should be made. The number of pro-
bate stamps of the " upper value" which have been issued
since 1815 is twelve. From 1815 to 1825 none were re •
quired. From 1825 to 1855 there were issued eight ; and
since 1855—that is, in four years and a half—four have
been issued, the last of them being in June, 1859, just be-
fore the passing of the Act which extended the scale.
The case of " The Attorney-General v. Brenning" has
established as law a point upon which our legal advisers
had always insisted, but as to which no opportunity of ob-
taining a judicial decision had previously arisen. The ques-
tion was, whether the purchase money of lands contracted to
be sold, but not conveyed in the lifetime of the vender, was
to be deemed part of his personal estate at his death for
which probate duty was payable.
Mr. Hope contracted with a trustee for a lady whe was a
ward in Chancery to sell to her certain real property for
£115,000. The contract was approved by the Court, but
Mr. Hope died before it was carried out, and while he was
in possession of the land, and while the purchase money
(except a deposit) remained unpaid.
The Court of Exchequer held, upon somewhat technical
grounds, that the purchase money, or the right to acquire
it, was not part of the estate and effects of the deceased for
which probate was granted; but on appeal to the House of
Lords the judgment was reversed, their lordships being of
opinion that the right to enforce the contract being in the
executor, virtute ()flea, the purchase money was legal assets
of the deceased, but that, whether it was legal or equitable
assets, it should have been included in the estimate made of
the value of his estate and effects on applying for probate.

LAND AND ASSESSED TAXES.
Giwss RECEIPT, 1858-9 AND 1859-60.

Year ended Year ended
31st March, 1859. 31st March, 1860.
Land-tax £1,135,677 £1,141,486
Inhabited houses 761 941 796,910

Servants
Carriages 306,761
Horses
348,436

398,297
319,334
358,686

Dogs
Horse dealers
Hair powder
Armorial bearings
Game duty
Additional 10 per cent. per
Act 3d Viet., cap. 17

191,769
13,757
1,193
53,583
139,242

193,671
14,139
1,191
55,411
145,971

Gross receipts £3,163,051

£3,241,107

We have no observation to make with regard to the pro-
duce of those duties in the last financial year, as compared
with the preceding; there is a trifling increase under each
head, but it is not sufficiently large to call for any special
observation. Some remarks, however, upon the present
system of assessment and collection will be found in a later
part of our report.

PROPERTY AND INCOME-TAX.
GROSS RECEIPT.

. Year ended Year ended
31st March, 1859. 31st March, 1860.
Schedule A
„ B
91 C • • • 741,087 1,040,775
„ D
If B

Gross receipts £13,812,232 £9,789,483
The income tax for the year 1859-60 was 9d. in the pound.
The original rate,—that is, the rate fixed by law,,previous
to the financial measures of last year, was 5d., but an addi-
tion of 4d. was made by an Act passed in August, with a
proviso that the whole of that addition should be collected
on the payment of the first moiety of the tax.

The assessments for the past year have not yet been re-
ceived by us. Your lordships are aware that they remain
in the hands of the local commissioners.

In the year ended sth April, 1859, the annual value of pro •
perty assessed ender Schedule A amounts to £137,667,000,
and exhibits, in comparison with the assessment under that
schedule for the year ended 6th April, 1858, an increase of
£1,053,000.

This increase arises from an additional number of houses
having been brought into assessment, and from improved
returns under the heads of railways and mines.
In England the improvement amounts to £945,000, and
appears principally to have arisen in, the following coun-
ties :

SCHEDULE A.
Assessment in Assessment In
1857-58. 1858-59. Increase.
£ £
2,612,000 .. 2,632,000 .. 20,000
1,408,000 .. 1,421,000 .. 13,000
1,197,000 .. 1,214,C00 .. 17,000
2,396,000 .. 2,467,000 .. 71,000
2,252,000 .. 2,313,000 .. 61,000
1,991,000 .. 2,016,000 .. 22,000
835,000 .. 871,000 .. 36,000

3,439,000 '.. 3,459,000 .. 20,000
11,104,000 .. 11,365,000 .. 261,000
3,171,000 .. 3,189,000 .. 18,000

17,223,000 .. 17,466,000 .. 213,000
2,619,000 .. 2,630,000 11,000
3,129,900 .. 3,149,000 .. 20,000
3,532,000 .. 3,556,000 .. 24,000

2,011,000 .. 2,029,000 .. 18,060

1,611,000 1,637,000 . 26,000
9,386,000 .. 9,464,000 78,000