The Labonr Party Conference at BirMingham, the greater part of
whose proceedings we recorded last week, ended in an unmistakable rebuff for the rebels of the Independent Labour Party. The cloudy programme of sixty-five articles, entitled " Labour and the Nation," was adopted as the policy of the Party. Mr. Snowden's douche of cold water was as cold as usual. Not that the financial policy he unfolded was moderate, but it seemed so in comparison with the demands of Mr. Wheatley. Mr. Snowden said that his blood ran cold when Labour delegates wanted " to increase taxation." He was referring, however, only to proposals for raising the ordinary Income Tax. He made it clear that he would be ready to increase the Surtax—the new name for the old Super-tax—more and more. And as for the proposed Labour tax on " unearned incomes " from investments above the £500 level, he has come down finally on the side of this idea.
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