MR, J. K. WINGFIELD-DIGBY (Dorset, N.)I beg to ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether, seeing that the price of timber and underwood has depreciated quite as much through the result of foreign competition and preferential railway rates as agricultural produce, he would consider the propriety of extending relief from the payment of Schedule B under this head, where the occupier (owner or tenant) can prove that there has been no profit?
§ THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER (Sir MICHAEL HICKS BEACH,) Bristol, W.Assessments under Schedule B are made on the "annual value" of the land assessed. Where, as in the case of lands occupied for the purposes of husbandry, the profit is derived from an annual crop, it is possible to allow relief where the occupier can show that the actual profit realised for the year of assessment has fallen short of the sum assessed. But any provisions having this object in view would be inapplicable to the case of land occupied for the purposes of forestry, where the crop is not annual, and where the profit is derived from the returns of a series of years. In such cases, if the profits over the series of years fall, there might be ground for applying for a reduction of the assessment.