§ Mr. CHARLES BATHURSTasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he proposed in the Finance Bill, 1910, to afford any relief to local taxation, either by the provisions for the removal of the old age pension pauper disqualification or by granting out of the Exchequer to the local education authorities an amount sufficient to replace the fund available in 1908 for the purposes of higher education but lost through the diminution in the consumption of whisky; and, if so, what was the estimated amount of the net gain to the ratepayers?
§ Mr. HOBHOUSEMy right hon. Friend stated his intentions in this connection fully in the financial statement which he laid before the House last Thursday. It is not yet possible to say what the estimated net gain to the ratepayers will prove to be.
§ Mr. CHARLES BATHURSTEven on the statement to which the right hon. Gentleman has referred, is not the relief of the rates purely illusory?
§ Mr. HOBHOUSEI have no ground for believing that that is the case.