The resistance offered to the additional tobacco-duty yester- day week
and again on Thursday was not very serious. Yester- day week only 17 votes were given against it, while 100 were given in its favour ; and on Thursday the vote was not stronger,-31 against 164. By far the best criticism on the pro- posal which we have seen,—one made in a letter to the Times, and repeated on Thursday in the House,—was that 4d. a pound means -4 d. an ounce, and as farthings are not really in use, the actual increase paid by the retail buyer will be id. an ounce, which would have covered an addition of 6d. a pound to the duty, without taking any more out of the pocket of the customer, and leaving a profit to the retailer too. This seems to us sound criticism. In putting on a duty, the Chancellor of the Exchequer should always con- sider what will be its practical effect on the retail price, and so adjust his duty as not to take more than he can help out of the pocket of the retail buyer, without being quite sure that he will transfer much the greater portion of it to the Exchequer. It is no business of the financier's to devise duties which will be as profitable to the middleman as to himself.
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