nt thirty-seven thousand pounds and took
ninety-one thousand pounds in fees. "See the world and help to pay for the
War" should be the motto over its portals.
It is, of course, quite proper that soldiers who wreck the property of
civilians--albeit under great provocation--should receive suitable
punishment. But a sailor is hardly the man to press for it. Lieutenant-
Commander KENWORTHY received a much-needed lesson in etiquette when Major
JAMESON gravely urged, in his penetrating Scotch voice, that soldiers in
Ireland should be ordered not to distract the prevailing peace and quiet of
that country, but should keep to their proper function of acting as targets
for Sinn Fein bullets.
Mr. CHAMBERLAIN dealt very gingerly with Sir ARTHUR FELL'S inquiry as to
whether "any ordinary individual can understand the forms now sent out by
the Income Tax Department?" Fearing that if he replied in the affirmative
he would be asked to solve some particularly abstruse conundrum, he
contented himself with saying that the forms were complicated because the
tax was complicated, and the tax was complicated because of the number and
variety of the reliefs granted to the taxpayer. It does not seem to have
occurred to him that it is the duty of the CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER to
make the tax simple as well as equitable. Is it conceivable that he can
have forgotten ADAM SMITH's famous maxims on the subject, and particularly
this: "The time of payment, the manner of payment, the quantity to be paid,
ought all to be clear and plain to the contributor, and to every other
person"?
[Illustration: MR. BONAR LAW PACKS HIS TRUNKS.]
The House did not rise till half-past one this morning, and was again faced
with a long night's work. In vain Sir DONALD MACLEAN protested against the
practice of taking wee sma' Bills in the wee sma' oors. Mr. BONAR LAW was
obdurate. He supposed the House had not abandoned all hope of an Autumn
recess. Well, then, had not the poet said that the best of all ways to
lengthen our days was to steal a few hours from the night?
The Report stage of the Finance Bill was finished off, but not until the
Government had experienced some shocks. The Corporation tax, intended
partially to fill the yawning void which will be caused some day by the
disappearance of E.P.D.--on the principle that one bad tax deserves
another--was condemned with equal vigour, but for entirely different
reasons, by Colonel WEDGWOOD and Sir F. BANBURY.
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