§ The duty on sugar and that on exported coal wore imposed in 1901. Although they were no doubt suggested by the exigencies of the war, they were not put forward by the then Chancellor of the Exchequer as mere temporary expedients. On the contrary, he intended, as he said, by means of them to widen the basis of taxation, and they were to be regarded as taxes of a permanent character. I confess I have always looked upon both of them as singularly unsuited to that purpose. Sugar, which had been admitted free of tax for nearly thirty years, may fairly be ranked among the necessaries of life, and it is, further, raw material for more than one important industry. Again, an export duty like that upon coal is unique in our fiscal system, and it handicaps the British producer in those foreign markets where he is exposed to the keenest competition. Nor can we forget in this connexion—;I certainly cannot forget—;that other duty which was imposed the next year with a similar intention. The corn-tax of 1902 was, according to the avowed purpose of its author, "to form 303 part of the normal taxation of the country," or, as he said again, "part of our permanent system of taxation." This "normal permanent" tax had a brief, if eventful, life. The very next year, 1903, it was hurried by the same Cabinet which presided over its birth to an early burial—;I see two of the principal gravediggers opposite—;and over its grave there have ever since stalked strange spectres. With such a precedent we need not attach undue importance—;certainly nothing in the nature of constraining sanctity—;to the similar professions which wore made about coal and sugar.