§ MR. EDMUND ROBERTSON (Dundee)I beg to ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will be good enough to explain how it has been ascertained that the remission of the Land Tax provided for by the Finance Bill cannot possibly apply to cases in which the tax has been redeemed without the land being exonerated?
§ THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER (Sir MICHAEL HICKS BEACH,) Bristol, W.The lands on which the tax has been redeemed, but not exonerated, will continue subject to assessment at the same rate as other unexonerated lands in the same parish, and may or may not be affected by the provisions referred to. The rights of the person who is entitled to receive the purchased Land Tax are secured by Sections 82 and 85 of the Act 38 George III., cap. 60, and cannot be effected by a diminution of the tax on the particular property.
§ MR. CALDWELL (Lanark, Mid)I beg to ask the Lord Advocate whether the attention of the Scotch Office has been called to Section 31 of the Finance Bill, whereby the quota of the Land Tax payable to the Imperial Treasury by England will be reduced by an estimated amount of between £90,000 and £100,000 per annum, whilst the amount of the quota payable by Scotland will, by the operation of the same clause, be reduced, if to any, only to an infinitesimal extent; and whether the Scotch Office has made or intends making on the Treasury any demand for an equivalent grant similar to that 145 allowed in the case of grants out of the Imperial purse for agricultural rates in England?
§ * THE LORD ADVOCATEI must refer the hon. Member to the answer given by the Chancellor of the Exchequer to the Question put to him by the hon. Member on the 17th instant. Any possible bearing the concession may have in the direction indicated under the second paragraph of the question will no doubt be considered when the Finance Bill has become law and the amount of the sum in question is definitely ascertained.