§ Land tax shows a decrease, compared with the previous year, of £170,000. Part of this was due to increased arrears, part to the increased redemption under the provisions of tin-Act of 1896. But the bulk of it, £120,000, was due to the provisions to which Parliament agreed last Session. The Committee will remember that in the Finance Act of last year, it was pro- 1001 vided that an owner of property liable to land tax who could produce a certificate of exemption from income tax for the year should be entitled also to exemption from the land tax for the year; and if he could produce a certificate of abatement of income tax showing that his income was less than £400 a year he should be entitled to an abatement of half his land tax. It was impossible at the time accurately to estimate the probable result of these provisions, and I confess I was rather reluctant to agree to the second of them. But they cost the country last year, I think, £120,000, and I do not regret it, for, having made inquiries, I am quite satisfied that the result has been a very considerable relief to a large number of freeholders with small incomes; and I know of no class of men on whom the burdens of imperial and local taxation press more heavily than they do on that particular class. Sir, I will complete my review of the revenue of the year by saying that the postal services and miscellaneous receipts also show a satisfactory increase.