§ MR. WODEHOUSEbegged to put a question to the right hon. Chancellor of the Exchequer, relating to the subject of the inequalities in the apportionment of the land tax, and would refer more particularly to the evidence given by Mr. J. Wood, the chairman of the Board of Inland Revenue, before a Committee of the House of Lords, on the subject of the burdens affecting real property, in 1846.
§ The CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUERsaid, that, as far as he understood the hon. Gentleman's question, what he wished to know was, whether there was any prospect or any possibility of obtaining a better adjustment of the land tax. He would, therefore, inform the hon. Gentleman, that the question whether under the existing laws it might not be possible to effect a better adjustment of the land tax, was now about to be solemnly argued in the Court of Queen's Bench, on the first day of next Michaelmas term. The parish of Tower Hamlets had obtained a mandamus against the local commissioners, and it had also obtained a rule nisi. If that rule was not set aside after argument, then a more equal adjustment would, of course, be secured under the present law; hut if the mandamus was refused, then the time might arise when the subject should be considered by that House. But under the present circumstances, while the question was about to be solemnly argued in one of the Superior Courts, he thought it unnecessary to speculate regarding a legislative remedy, when the existing law might he ruled by the court, so as to give the relief which the hon. Member desired.