These two taxes, both in themselves financially, economically, and socially sound, carry with them a further notable advantage.  We shall obtain a complete valuation of the whole of the land in the United Kingdom.  We shall procure an up-to-date Doomsday-book showing the capital value, apart from buildings and improvements, of every piece of land.  Now, there is nothing new in the principle of valuation for taxation purposes.  It was established fifteen years ago in Lord Rosebery’s Government by the Finance Act of 1894, and it has been applied ever since without friction or inconvenience by Conservative administrations.

And if there is nothing new in the principle of valuation, still less is there anything new or unexpected in the general principles underlying the land proposals of the Budget.  Why, Lord Rosebery declared himself in favour of taxation of land values fifteen years ago.  Lord Balfour has said a great many shrewd and sensible things on this subject which he is, no doubt, very anxious to have overlooked at the present time.  The House of Commons has repeatedly affirmed the principle, not only under Liberal Governments, but—­which is much more remarkable—­under a Conservative Government.  Four times during the last Parliament Mr. Trevelyan’s Bill for the taxation of land values was brought before the House of Commons and fully discussed, and twice it was read a second time during the last Parliament, with its great Conservative majority, the second time by a majority of no less than ninety votes.  The House of Lords, in adopting Lord Camperdown’s amendment to the Scottish Valuation Bill, has absolutely conceded the principle of rating undeveloped land upon its selling value, although it took very good care not to apply the principle; and all the greatest municipal corporations in England and Scotland—­many of them overwhelmingly Conservative in complexion—­have declared themselves in favour of the taxation of land values; and now, after at least a generation of study, examination, and debate, the time has come when we should take the first step to put these principles into practical effect.  You have heard the saying “The hour and the man.”  The hour has come, and with it the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

I have come to Scotland to exhort you to engage in this battle and devote your whole energy and influence to securing a memorable victory.  Every nation in the world has its own way of doing things, its own successes and its own failures.  All over Europe we see systems of land tenure which economically, socially, and politically are far superior to ours; but the benefits that those countries derive from their improved land systems are largely swept away, or at any rate neutralised, by grinding tariffs on the necessaries of life and the materials of manufacture.  In this country we have long enjoyed the blessings of Free Trade and of untaxed bread and meat, but against these inestimable benefits we have the evils of an