BUDGET PROPOSALS.

Evening Post, Volume LXXVII, Issue 107, 7 May 1909, Page 7

BUDGET PROPOSALS.

STOCK EXCHANGE PROTEST. A DEPUTATION. TOBE RECEIVED BY THE CHANCELLOR. By Telegraph.— Pre.«s Association.— Copyright. (Received May 7, 8.10 a.m.) LONDON, 6th May. The committee of the Stock Exchange has informed Mr. Lloyd-George, Chancellor of the Bxchequor, that some of his Budget proposals are open to grave objections. Mr. Lloyd-Georgo has offered to roceive a deputation on the s\tbject on tho ,13th inst. EFFECT ON BREWERIES. HEAVY INCREASE ON LICENSES. (Received May 7, 8.20 a.m.) LONDON, 6th May. Mr. E. N. Buxton, chairman of directors of Truman, Hamburg, and Buxton, ;and Mr. Whitbread, head of the wellknown brewery firm, writing to The Times in regard to tho Budget proposals, instanced that their two breweries must hereafter pay £104,745 in increased licenses, though their annual profit was only £61,300. DEBATE IN THE HOUSE. RICH v. POOR. THE CLOSURE APPLIED. LONDON, 6th May. In the House of Commons yesterday the debate on tho Chancellor of the . E-xchoquer's Budget proposals was continued. Mr. B.ilfour, Leader of the Opposition, presented corrected figures relating to the effect of the new taxation burdens imposed on a trading firm he quoted on Monday. He had then stated that tho additional taxation in this case would amount to £35,000, or £7000 more than the firm distributed to its ordinary shareholders. Mr. Balfour yesterday said he now found the additional amount paid would be £2000, not £7000. Mr. Philip Snowdon, Labour member for Blackburn, » welcomed the Budget, because it proposed to take from the rich to give to the poor. His object was to make the floor richer and the •rich poorer. There was no other way under Heaven by which the poor could be made better 02. Mr. Asquith, Prime Minister, justified the Budget as being in accordance with Free Trade, and because it was adequate to meet the necessities of 1909 and the necessities of future years without taxing the necessaries of life. ■He described spirits and tobacco as luxuries or superfluities,, and predicted that the consolidation of licenses and the raising of the price of beer would insure the stability and* prosperity of the brewing industry. 'Mr. Austen Chamberlain, formerly Chancellor of the Exchequer in tho Balfour Administration, severely criticised the proposed destruction of the old sinking fund (by a reduction of £3,000,000 in tho current year's contribution) and the increase in the income tax. Mr. C, F. G. Masterman, Parliamentary Secretary to the Local Government Board, did not agree with Mr. Snowden's contention that the poorer classes should pay no taxes. A motion to apply the closure was then canied, by 308 votes to 200, amid cries of "Resign !" tmA "Withdraw !" The Budget resolution imposing the tea duty was adopted by 332 votes to 179. The tea duty is unchanged at 5d per lb. RETAIL PRICES RAISED. MEETING OF TOBACCONISTS. (Recßived May 7, 8.35 a.m.) LONDON, 6th May. The retail price of tobacco has been increased by a halfpenny per ounce. A meeting in London, claiming to represent 200,000 tobacconists, complained that the increased duties would necessitate the employment of 25 per cent, more capital, and ruin half the small retailers. Manufacturers have increased the price of Eau de Cologne, scents, drugs containing spirits, and hairwashes 10 per cent. Retailers are charging fourpence per gallon extra on petrol.