On Tuesday, when the Finance Bill was again debated, Mr.
Wyndham declared that the great increase of investment abroad was due to people desiring to avoid the Death-duties, with the further result that the price of Consols was depressed; while Colonel Kenyon-Slaney added that rural depopulation could be spelt in two words,—Death-duties. Mr. McKenna met these statements by pointing out that Death-duties were paid just as much on foreign as on home investments, and that the reason why trustees did not now invest so much in Consols as formerly was that the late Government had so greatly widened the area of trust investments. As to rural depopulation and Death-duties, he asked whether Colonel Kenyon-Slaney was prepared to date depopulation from 1894, the date when the present Death-duties were imposed, or show that it had increased more rapidly since then. Speaking for himself, Mr. McKenna stated that if it were possible he would gladly see all indirect taxation done away with,—an extension down- wards as well as upwards of Income-tax rather than any extension of indirect taxation. He was sure that in the long run it would be found in the interest of the State.
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