43. Mr. De la Bèreasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether, with a view to protecting the tenant farmer, he will confer with the appropriate authorities with a view to introducing legislation to apply the Rent Restrictions Act to all farms held on tenancies, and so provide a standard rent based on pre-war rental values and imposing, in the case of sales, an increment tax on all re-sales carried out within a period of three years, unless it can be proved that the transaction is due to a forced or genuine sale by executors or trustees?
§ Captain CrookshankSo far as my right hon. Friend understands my hon. Friend's proposals, he doubts whether they are practicable. In any case they involve a new principle of taxation, and it is not clear why this particular class of land should be selected for it.
Mr. De la BèreDoes not my right hon. and gallant Friend appreciate that something must be done to protect the tenant farmer against the land speculator; and is he aware that this problem will not solve itself and that some solution must be found? Will my right hon. Friend really give this matter some thought, and is he also aware that I do not think that my Question is unintelligible?