hat fact in the course of those
ten years two millions of additional taxation has been imposed. Two
years ago the Chancellor of the Exchequer, in answer to an inquiry,
announced to the House of Commons that in the year 1903-4, the latest
for which figures were available, the proportions of tax revenue derived
from direct and indirect taxes were:--

Great Britain Ireland
Direct Taxes 50.6 per cent. 27.8 per cent.
Indirect Taxes 49.4 per cent. 72.2 per cent.

These figures show very clearly to what an extent in Ireland taxation
falls, not on the luxuries of the rich, but on the commodities which are
to a great extent the necessaries of the poor. The manner in which this
state of things is maintained was expressed by Sir Robert Giffen in his
evidence before the Royal Commission:--

"It is only evident that in matters of taxation Ireland is virtually
discriminated against by the character of the direct taxes which happen
to be on articles of Irish consumption."

The heavy duties on tea, tobacco, and alcohol--articles which form a
larger part of the family budget of the Irish peasant than of the
English labourer--are the causes of this burden. The reasons for the
larger consumption of what may be roughly called stimulants by the
Irishman is undoubtedly to be found in climatic conditions, and also in
the smaller amount of nourishing food which he is able to afford. With
regard to alcohol, the form in which it is most used in England--namely,
beer--is subjected to a special exemption at the expense of the
whiskey-drinking people of Ireland and Scotland. Cider is not taxed. The
tax on whiskey is between two-thirds and three-fourths its price, while
that on beer is one-sixth of its price; so that sixty gallons of beer
bear the same weight of taxation as does one gallon of whiskey. The
usual standard of taxation of liquor is its alcoholic strength, but the
special treatment accorded to the Englishman's principal drink
reduced--according to the Royal Commissioners--the taxation to which, in
proportion to its alcohol it should be subjected, from 1s. to 2d. per
gallon. Even in respect of tea and tobacco, the inequitable treatment of
Ireland is obvious to any one who considers that what is spoken of as
equality of taxation is, in reality, identical taxation on articles
consumed in vastly different proportions in Great Britain and Ireland.

The argument by which the charge that Ireland