§ MR. NORMANI beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign 1133 Affairs whether he is aware that the Japanese authorities have forcibly distrained upon the property of British hankers and merchants in Japan for payment of land tax, and that the Japanese Government offered to submit the propriety of these payments to arbitration, and to refund any amounts paid by British subjects under protest if the arbitration should justify their protest; whether His Majesty's Minister in Japan advised British subjects not to accept this offer, but to refuse payment; and if he can state for what reason this advice was given.
§ * THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS (Lord CRANBORNE,) RochesterThe tax for which the Japanese Government have distrained is the house tax, which, they maintain, is leviable upon buildings standing on land held by foreigners under perpetual leases. As the result of representations made on the subject to the Japanese Government, it was decided to refer the question to arbitration. The Japanese Government, however, thought it necessary that, pending the final determination of the matter, the law should take its course. In these circumstances, Sir C. MacDonald could not, without possibly prejudicing the interests of British subjects, alter the instructions which he had already given to His Majesty's Consuls—to the effect that British subjects should be advised to pay the tax, certifying at the same time that they were obliged to pay under threats of distraint. Sir G MacDonald has always been in favour of submitting the question to arbitration.