My first point is that the Government say that the change in 1940 was made for purely technical reasons. They imply that the result of making feu duties a general charge on income was a mistake. I am not so certain about this. If it was a mistake, why was it not rectified during the period which has elapsed since 1940? Why was it not rectified particularly in view of the fact that the Government could clearly see that this was becoming increasingly important and that it was becoming more and more the practice, as the Financial Secretary has said, for the maintenance claims completely to eliminate Schedule A, with the result that the feu duty was becoming increasingly a general charge upon income?

I find it difficult to understand that the Government did nothing about this. I cannot help feeling that what happened in 1940 was that the Government accepted what had been the practice in Scotland before, namely, that this situation had obtained in practice even though it had not been the legal position. It is difficult to understand why no change was made if it was simply an error.

The Financial Secretary admitted in his letter to me of 9th June that prior to 1940, feu duties were, in practice, allowed as a general charge on income. He will remember this.