Next, on the Finance Bill, he shocked his temperance colleagues by boldly demanding cheaper beer. But, although he received the powerful support of Admiral Sir R. Hall, he failed to soften the heart of the Chancellor, who declared that he must have his increased revenue, and that the beer-drinker must pay his share of it.
Mr. Chamberlain turned a more sympathetic ear to the bark of another sea-dog, Admiral Adair, who sought a reduction of the tax on champagne, and mentioned the horrifying fact that even City Companies were abandoning its consumption. He received the unexpected support of Lieutenant-Commander Kenworthy, who declared that Yorkshire miners always had a bottle after their day's work and denounced an impost that would rob a poor man of his "boy." Eventually the Chancellor agreed to reduce the new ad valorem duty by a third. He might have made the same reduction in the case of cigars but for the declaration of a Labour Member that this was becoming "a rich man's Budget from top to bottom."
Wednesday, July 7th.—Never was Lord Haldane's power of clear thinking employed to better advantage than in his lucid exposition of the Duplicands and Feu-duties (Scotland) Bill. I would not like to assert positively that all the Peers present fully grasped the momentous fact that a duplicand was a "casualty" and might be sometimes twice the feu-duty and sometimes three times that amount; but they understood enough to agree that it was a very fearful wild-fowl and ought to be restrained by law.
After this piquant hors-d'œuvre they settled down to a solid joint of national finance, laid before them by Lord Midleton. I am afraid they would have found it rather indigestible but for the sauce provided by Lord Inchcape, who was positively skittish in his comments upon the extravagance of the Government, and on one occasion even indulged in a pun. In his view the Ministry of Transport was an entirely superfluous creation, solely arising out of the supposed necessity of finding a new job for Sir Eric Geddes. I suppose the Prime Minister said, "Here's a square peg, look you; let us dig a hole round it."
The Lord Chancellor's reply was vigorous but not altogether convincing. His description of the Government as a body of harassed and anxious economists did not altogether tally with his subsequent picture of the Chancellor of the Exchequer "always resisting proposals for expenditure made by his colleagues in the Cabinet." Despite his eloquence the Peers passed Lord Midleton's motion by 95 votes to 23.
The Commons made good progress with the Finance Bill, though there was a good deal of justifiable criticism of its phraseology. The Secretary of the Treasury admitted that there was one clause of which he did not understand a word, but wisely refused to specify it. Colonel Wedgwood advanced the remarkable proposition that "the workers in the long run pay all the taxes," but did not jump at Captain Elliott's suggestion that in that case it would save trouble if the Chancellor were to levy all the taxes on the working classes direct. When asked to extend further relief to charities Mr. Chamberlain sought a definition of "charity." Would it apply, for example, to "the association of a small number of gentlemen in distress obeying the law of self-preservation in the face of world-forces which threaten to sweep them out of existence"? I seem to hear Mr. Wilkins Micawber reply, "The answer is in the affirmative."
Thursday, July 8th.—In the absence of the Lord Chancellor the Gas Regulation Bill was entrusted to the Under-Secretary for Air. The mingling of gas and air has before now been known to produce an explosion, but on this occasion Lord Londonderry so deftly handled his material that not a single Peer objected to the Second Reading.
The proceedings in the Lower House were much more lively. Mr. Stanton threatened that there would be a general strike of Members of Parliament unless their salaries were increased; but Mr. Bonar Law seemed to be more amused than alarmed at the prospect. The Chancellor of the Exchequer was asked point-blank whether he was satisfied with the reduction in the bureaucracy during the last six months, and replied that he was not, and had therefore appointed Committees to investigate the staffs in seven of the Departments. The number is unfortunately suggestive.
"If seven maids with seven mops
Swept it for half a year,