Evening star., 1909-08-22
UNDER EXTREME RULE
British House of Commons
Taxes Land Values.
EARNS RESPITE OF WEEK
Legislation Long Held Up by Hand
full of Unionists.
ACTION OF LORDS IN DOUBT
Many Clauses of Budget Remain for
Action and Opposition to
Continue.

LONDON. August 21-Having succeed
ed by means of an all-night sitting of
the house of commons in passing through
the committee of the whole those clauses
of the budget imposing a tax on land
values. the government has given the
members weeks release from their
arduous labors. during which time less
contentious measures will be considered.
The fight over the budget. which will
fairly revolutionize the system of taxa
ton in England. has been one of the
most strenuous in the history of the par
lament.
A mere handful of unionists. as COM
pared with the huge liberal majority.
has been able to hold up legislation week
after week, until the government, though
loath to introduce guilIotine methods in
order to limit the discussion was forced
to bring in new rules of procedure,
which authorized the chairman to de-
cline to consider purely blocking amend
mentS
Passed in Different Form.
The last of the land taxation clauses
has been passed by the committee, but
their form is quite different from that
originally introduced. The chancellor of
the exchequer has made number OF
very important concessions. chief among
these being in regard to the valuation of
land. Under the bill as introduced the
cost of the valuation was imposed upon
the owner. This charge has been taken
over by the state, which will be called
upon to spend for this purpose s1O,O0O,OOO.
This Is more than the tax will produce
during the first year.
The property of friendly societies. which
own lands valued at upward of $JOO,0OO,-
600. is also exempted under the new tax
alton. This is a concession to the labor
unionists. who form a large majority of
the shareholders of the societies.
Right of Appeal Preserved.
Another amendment made to the bill
came as result of criticism by the lord
chief justice. 1t was originally pro-
posed that the valuation placed upon
property by commissioners appointed for
that purpose should be final, but the lord
chief justice pointed out that this would
be in direct contravention to the British
constitution. which expressly gives the
right of appeal in all cases. The govern
ment. therefore, amended the bill, al
lowing the right of appeal.
Another much criticised provision of
the bill imposing a tax upon unmined
minerals was also withdrawn, and a tax
OH mining royalties and rents was SUBJ
Stituted. The government, however,
maintained the principle of taxation on
land values. and it is now attempting to
Justify its policy in the campaign through
out the country, in which all the cabf-
net ministers are taking part.
The unionists are just as busy In op-
position to this policy, and the country
is occupied with the discussion as to
whether or not the budget will be pop
ular. The masses seem to favor the
measure, and some unionist newspapers,
recognizing this, are urging the party to
give up the fight and turn its attention
to tariff reform. The leaders are sup
ported by majority of the party, how
ever and are insisting that the contest
go on until the bill reaches the house of
lords, when the hope is expressed that
the upper house ignoring all precedents,
will either amend throw out the meas
ure, and thus, they believe, force the gov
ern to appeal to the country.
Position of Lords Doubtful.
1t is doubtful whether the lords will
take the extreme step of interfering with
taxation which has heretofore been con-
sidered the prerogative of the house of
commons alone. Even if they did take
such an extreme step it Is considered
doubtful whether general election would
follow.
Lewis Harcourt. first commissioner of
works in a speech yesterday said that it
would be rash to assume that only one
course is open to the government. If the
house of lords. by refusing to pass the
BILL plunged the country and the consti-
tuition into chaos, the cabinet, he said
could be depended upon TO tender such
advice to the sovereign as would best con-
duce in the immediate future with the
predominance of the will of the electors"
IN some quarters this is taken as a
threat to confer enough liberal peerages
TO overcome the unionist majority.
Clauses Remaining.
There are still many clauses of the bud
get to be dealt with, upon which the op-
position promises to continue it's fight.
The first of these deals with the license
duties which in their present form are
based upon one-half the value of licensed
premises irrespective of the nature of
trade. The holders of licenses strongly
bject to this. and in order to meet their
views the government probably will pro-
pose tax to be levied on the amount of
liquor sold. Other clauses deal with
changes in the death duties. the income
tax, the stamp customs and like duties.
MOSQUITOES KILL A HORSE.