§ MR. HERRIESwished to ask the right hon. the Chancellor of the Exchequer what was the course the Government intended to pursue to-morrow on the proposal of the amended Budget—in what way they meant1 to introduce the subject—and whether it was their intention, as he believed it had been suggested, that the debate on their proposal should take place on Monday, so that there might be some time to consider that proposal?
§ The CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUERsaid, the course he proposed to take to-morrow was this. He had on the last occasion moved a Committee of Ways and Means, and had submitted a Resolution for the renewal and continuance of the Income Tax for a limited time; and he proposed to-morrow, with permission of the House, to go into Committee of Ways and Means, and to restate the financial arrangements he proposed for the year. The right hon. Gentleman (Mr. Herries) had given notice of a Resolution in Committee of Ways and Means, as an Amendment on; the proposition he (the Chancellor of the Exchequer) had moved. It was understood that the right hon. Gentleman's Resolution would be more appropriately brought forward and discussed in the House than in the Committee; and therefore he (the Chancellor of the Exchequer) proposed to-morrow to make his statement in Committee of Ways and Means, and to 969 ask for a Vote on the renewal of the Income Tax; and on the bringing up of the Report of the Committee of Ways and Means on Monday, the right hon. Gentleman's (Mr. Herries') Resolution should be submitted to the House. This course would, he thought, be most conducive to the convenience of hon. Members.
§ MR. HERRIEShad no objection to the course proposed by the right hon. Gentleman, provided it were with this clear understanding, that if they suffered a Vote to be taken to-morrow on the proposition of the right hon. Gentleman, it should be considered distinctly to be pro formâ, or at least subject to this—that the debate upon it should take place on the Report; and, of course, the effect of it would depend on the result of that debate. He could have no objection to that course, because he believed it would be more suitable to the forms of the House. At the same time, he hoped it would be borne in mind that his Resolution was to be brought forward on the same principle and with the same view of taking the decision of the House on the subject as if it had followed, as he first intended, the proposal of the right hon. Gentleman in Committee. He now, therefore, would renew his notice of Motion; but he begged to add his hope that the debate would be allowed to come on at the earliest time of the day on Monday, and that it might be concluded the same night.
§ MR. HUMEsaid, he had given notice that whenever the period should come that the House should resolve that the Income Tax should be renewed, he should move that the duration of the renewal be limited to one year. This Motion he would move after the Bill was introduced, for that, he considered, would be a course more convenient to the House than moving it on the Resolution of the right hon. Gentleman the Chancellor of the Exchequer being brought forward.