§ Mr. FIELDasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he is aware that when Sir Michael Hicks Beach was Chancellor of the Exchequer it was proposed to levy a stamp duty on contract notes of produce in a similar way as they are imposed on Stock Exchange transactions; and whether he will consider the expediency of raising money by the taxation of gamblers in the commodities necessary for the progress of trade and the food of the people?
§ Mr. LLOYD-GEORGEI have already considered this suggestion. I am aware that Lord St. Aldwyn, when Chancellor of the Exchequer, proposed to apply to transactions on produce exchanges the same stamp duty as is applicable to contract notes on the Stock Exchange. I may, however, remind the hon. Member that Lord St. Aldwyn found the objections to such a duty sufficiently grave to induce him to withdraw his proposal.