CO129-378 - Governor Sir Lugard - 1911 [6-7] — Page 50

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the agitation on this subject until it was revived recently as

I have explained.

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4.

I repeated my views to Sir P. Chater and

his colleagues, and I understood that he, Mr. Keswick and Mr.

Osborne (I do not recollect to have had any conversation on the

subject with Ir. Stewart) agreed that the system I had proposed

of devoting a specified proportion of the margin between

Ordinary Revenue and Ordinary Expenditure would achieve the

result desired by Mr. Chamberlain, and remove the constant

friction and difficulty attendant on the present system of levy-

-ing the contribution on gross Revenue. Being myself of opinion

that the contribution is not excessive I proposed that the

proportion should be one-half of the margin which I estimated

would leave the average amount over a series of years practical-

-ly identical with what it is today. The majority however if

not all of the Unofficials were of opinion that that percentage

was too high. As I had stated in my speech in October, 1908,

that I had made calculations and sugestions on this subject

which I had submitted to your predecessor, the Unofficials

informed me that they proposed to ask me to lay these papers on

*

the Table. I accordingly telegraphed to ask your sanction to

449

do so,

but the terms of your reply (in which you deprecated

their

FRP 15449

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