§ MR. CLANCY (Dublin County, N.)I beg to ask Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer whether his attention has been drawn to a resolution passed by the North Dublin Rural District Council protesting against the ad valorem stamp duty, which was imposed by Section 8 of the Finance Act of 1899, being charged on the applications for loans obtained for the purpose of the Labourers (Ireland) Acts; and whether, in view of the necessity of carrying those Acts into effect to the utmost extent possible, and of the fact that the ratepayers can not only derive no profit from the provision of houses and plots of land for labourers in Ireland, but will, on the contrary, have to incur loss in respect thereof, he will consider the advisability of amending, by this year's Finance Bill, the j section of the Act of 1899 referred to so as to exclude loans for the purposes of the Labourers Acts from its operation.
§ THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER (Mr. ASQUITH, Fifeshire, E.)I have under consideration the inconveniences which are alleged to arise from the application of this duty in various cases analogous to that referred to in the Question. It is in any ease not possible to deal with the matter in the Finance Bill of the present year.