luxuries the State
will gain. If, on the other hand, the effect of the tax is to check
expenditure on luxuries it will be a gain to the country, because its
productive power and its purchasing power will be used to obtain
articles which are really valuable and do promote national welfare. The
idea that those who spend money on luxuries are helping trade, and so
benefiting others, ought to have been exploded long ago. If the industry
which has been devoted to producing articles which are really useless
were diverted to producing things of utility, the aggregate of human
happiness would be greatly increased. A difficulty in applying the tax
is that the price of an article is little criterion as to whether it is
a luxury or not.

There are two other sources from which additional revenue might be
obtained.

First, to impose again an export duty on coal. Such a duty would help
rather than hinder British industry. That industry is dependent
absolutely on the supply of coal. British Coal Measures are an asset
which enables the country to keep industries going, but it is a wasting
asset. Deeper and better mining may have upset calculations made by
Professor Jevons many years ago when he warned the country of the
disastrous consequences of using up our coal supplies, but sooner or
later the pinch will come. An export duty ought to be imposed on coal
directly the present war restrictions can be removed. Our stores of coal
cannot be indefinitely increased by increased industry. If the duty
operated to reduce export of coal British manufacturers would gain, and
be able to produce commodities at less cost. If the demand from abroad
were so strong that export did not diminish, the country would gain to
the whole extent of the duty paid by foreign purchasers. The ordinary
arguments in favour of free trade do not support objection to such an
export duty as this. There will be ample demand for all the coal that
can be produced. Even if there were not, it would be well not to use it
up so quickly. There are some kinds of coal, of which the amount
available is very limited, yet until the War broke out quantities of
such coal were freely sent to other countries, some of it to those who
are now at war with us, and so used to help our enemies, who got the
precious mineral cheap because we refused to allow the imposition of an
export duty. Probably the duty when it was tried was not imposed in the
best way, being charged at a fixed rate per