HC Deb 23 July 1931 vol 255 cc1680-2
75. Mr. de ROTHSCHILD

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer the amount of the sums paid in each of the years 1929, 1930, and 1931 by the Commissioners of Inland Revenue, under the Inland Revenue (Regulation) Act, 1890, by way of reward to informers in cases of tax evasion; how much of these sums in each year was directly sanctioned by the Treasury and how many informers were so rewarded; what was the highest reward paid to any informer; and what total of taxation has been recovered in each of these years as a result of such information?

Mr. P. SNOWDEN

I will circulate information on the earlier parts of the question in the OFFICIAL REPORT. As regards the last part, it is not possible to allocate the total amounts of tax recovered in these cases as between sums directly attributable to the particulars furnished by the informers and sums attributable to the investigations by the officers of the Inland Revenue.

Following is the information:

the last available date; and the approximate number of people employed in the manufacture of these foreign articles?

The PRESIDENT of the BOARD of TRADE (Mr. William Graham)

During the period from the 1st January, 1930, to the 30th June, 1931, the total declared value of buttons and other hard haberdashery imported into the United Kingdom from foreign countries, amounted to £1,251,000. I have no information regarding the latter part of the question.

Mr. PERKINS

Is it not the fact that the number of people employed in the manufacture of these imported foreign goods is approximately equal to the number of people unemployed in this country?

Mr. GRAHAM

No. I am afraid all arguments of that kind are very misleading.

    cc1681-2
  1. WOOLLEN AND WORSTED INDUSTRY. 332 words