§ SIR BALDWYN LEIGHTONasked Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer, Whether, in making the financial arrangements for the coming year as to the Beer Duty, he will consider the propriety of extending the limit of the £10 house value to £20, seeing that it has been found that, under the present arrangement, the farmer class (who are compelled more than other employers to pay wages in beer) are now charged more than formerly, and as there is a difficulty in assessing a house at a £10 value which would not occur if the assessment followed the House Duty? The hon. Member offered to postpone his Question.
MR. GLADSTONEI am much obliged to the hon. Gentleman for his courtesy; but the Question is one which cannot properly be answered in such a reply as I can now give. It is rather a matter for discussion. I am afraid that the only answer I can give at present is that I have no intention of extending the limit of the £10 exemption to £20; and that I think it would be a mistake to adopt any change in the law with the view of granting to one class of the community marked out by a particular vocation privileges and exemptions from the duty not enjoyed by other classes.