. 3. The probate duty calls, I fear, loudly for
change; but I wanted either time or courage to take it in hand. 4. The
remaining conveyance duties, apart from railways, I always considered as
marked for extinction. On this subject Mr. Ayrton has rather decided
antecedents. 5. The fire insurance duty is sure to be further assailed.
Though not as bad (relatively to other taxes) as is supposed, it is bad
enough to be very hard to defend in an adverse House; and this is one of
the questions on which it is not likely that the opposition will help to
see fair play. The promises that liberal reduction will lead to recovery
of anything like the old or previous revenue have always been confidently
pressed by irresponsible men, and are in my opinion illusory. The tax is a
tax on property: and, as we have too few of these rather than too many,
what would seem desirable is to commute it; leaving no more than a penny
stamp on the policy. This might perhaps be done, if it were made part of a
large budget. 6. The income-tax at 6d., I suppose, presents a forward
claim. 7. The commutation of malt duty for beer duty must always, I
presume, be spoken of with respect; but the working objections to it have
thus far been found too hard to deal with.

There is always room in detail for amendments of stamp duties, but the
great case as among them is the probate. They are of a class which,
without any legal knowledge, I found very hard to work through the House
of Commons. I do not look upon the Act of 1844 as the _end_ of legislation
in currency; but this subject is a big one. Scotch and Irish notes would
be hard to deal with until the English case is disposed of. I forget
whether we have abolished the last of the restrictions on newspapers. If
not, they deserve to be taken in hand, according to me. I have always
wished to equalise the outgoings of the exchequer as much as possible over
the several weeks of the year. Few incomes admit of this advantage in the
same degree as the public income. It would make our "account" much more
valuable to our bankers; therefore to us.

These, I think, were the main matters which lay more or less in
perspective before me. I must add that I am strongly in favour of paying
off the national debt, not only by annual surpluses, but by terminable
annuities _sold to the national debt commissioners for securities held by
them against deposit monies_. The opponents of this plan were Mr. Hubbard
and Mr. Laing. I am sa