242 LIFE OF SIR JOHN LUBBOCK «.. 



c'dtait un imp6t nouveau. A mon avis, il est toujours 

 injuste de changer le syst^me des imp6ts. Quand il y 

 a longtemps qu'ils existent, tout s'accorde avec eux — 

 les gages, les heures et les conditions du travail, etc. ; 

 mais en introduisant un nouveau syst^me, on boule- 

 verse, on derange tout ; on comble les uns de bienfaits 

 et on accable les autres de nouveaux fardeaux. 



Lorsque c'est absolument necessaire, comme en temps 

 de guerre par exemple, on est oblige de prelever de 

 nouveaux imp6ts afin de distribuer les charges de I'Etat 

 aussi justement que possible. Quand on le fait, non 

 par besoin, mais pour faire orofiter les uns aux depens 

 des autres, alors il me semble que ce n'est ni juste ni 

 sage. AvEBURY. 



Although his various activities were still so 

 many, we find him yet again this year declining 

 several suggestions that he would almost certainly 

 have complied with when he was a little younger. 

 He was invited to deliver the " Herbert Spencer " 

 lecture at Oxford, but did not feel that he was 

 able to undertake it, and it was again suggested 

 to him that he should accept the Chairmanship 

 of the London County Council, but this also he 

 felt obliged to decline. Mr, Hugh Chisholm, then 

 editing the new edition of The Encyclopaedia 

 Britannica, wrote asking him to contribute two 

 articles, one on Representation and the other 

 on the Vote, but he replied that he did not feel 

 that he had the needful leisure for their writing. 



He continued, however, to take the chair 

 at very many meetings and dinners. On April 

 15, for instance, he was in the chair at a meeting 

 in Exeter Hall on the income tax, and this, 

 incidentally, led to his taking the presidency of 

 the Income Tax Reduction League. A week 

 later he gave his presidential address to the 

 Society of Antiquaries, and in the evening took 



