STAMP DUTIES BILL. (Hansard, 31 July 1854)

§ MR. HADFIELD
moved that the House adjourn.

§ THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER
said, that at that period of the Session it was usual to sit a little late, in order to accomplish the business of Parliament in anything like a reasonable period.

§ MR. HADFIELD
moved the addition of the following clause— And whereas doubts have arisen whether, under the provisions of the said Art of the 13th and 14th years of Her present Majesty, chapter 97, leases, whereby there is reserved a peppercorn or other nominal rent, are subject to the Stamp Duty of sixpence by the said Act imposed on leases where the rent shall not exceed five pounds, or to a Stamp of some other and greater amount, and it is expedient that the said doubts should be set at rest, Be it Enacted, That where, by any lease or tack of any lands, tenements, hereditaments, or heritable subjects, for any term of years, there shall be reserved the rent of a peppercorn, or any other nominal rent, such lease or tack shall, in respect of such nominal rent, only be subject to the said Stamp Duty of sixpence and no more.

§ MR. J. WILSON
said, he must oppose the introduction of the clause.

§ MR. G. A. HAMILTON
moved the clause of which Lord Naas had given notice— Stamp Duties now payable on Matriculations, Degrees, and Certificates of Degrees, in each and every University in the United Kingdom, shall be 1058 abolished so soon as provision shall have been made, to the satisfaction of the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury, in lieu of any monies heretofore voted annually by Parliament for any of the said Universities. He would remind the House that he had himself proposed a clause to the same effect, but applicable only to the University of Dublin. The Chancellor of the Exchequer had objected to that clause on the grounds that he (Mr. Hamilton) was showing favouritism to one University. He was not ashamed to acknowledge that he felt it his duty to attend particularly to the interests of the body whom he represented; but his noble Friend (Lord Naas) having given notice of a clause more general in its application, he was quite as ready to propose it. The case could be explained in a few words. The Commissioners for the three Universities had recommended the abolition of the stamp duties. The Commissioners for Cambridge state— These taxes on degrees and matriculations are levied only on the students and graduates of Oxford, Cambridge, and Dublin, and with the single exception of the M.D. degree of the Scotch Universities, upon which we are informed there is a stamp duty of 10l., there is, we believe, no similar tax upon students in any other University in the United Kingdom. The Oxford Commissioners state— We are of opinion that the stamp duty now charged on matriculation and degrees, and the heavy tax of 10l. on the certificate of a degree, should be repealed. It seems anomalous that Government should take from a place of education no t less than 2,400l. a year. The Dublin University Commissioners state— Stamps on matriculation and degrees seem to us to violate the fundamental principles of taxation. In the first place, they bear no proportion to the means of the taxpayer; the parents of the sizar, or the sizar himself—exempt from the fees to the college on account of poverty—is taxed at the same rate as the parent of a fellow-commoner, who pays to the college double fees; in fact, they have all the evils of a poll tax. In the next place, they are imposed at the time when it is most inconvenient for the contributors. To any one with moderate means, who thinks it his duty to give his son a University education, or any hard-working student supporting himself by tuitions, the period of education is the one when money can least be spared; every pound is then of value. The Chancellor of the Exchequer had objected to his (Mr. Hamilton's) clause, as if the remission of the stamps would be so much given to the University of Dublin, but it was nothing given to the University of Dublin. The tax was a student's tax, payable by students, not by the University. It was a tax upon education, and it placed 1059 the University of Dublin in an unfair position as compared with the Queen's University in Dublin, where there were no stamps payable upon matriculations or degrees.

§ THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER
said, he hoped the House would leave the Government to deal with the question, which was one of considerable complexity—and he was prepared to say that the Government would deal with it. These degrees divided themselves into two classes; the duties upon one of these classes he admitted, as stated by the hon. Member for the University of Dublin (Mr. Hamilton), were taxes upon education; but the duties on the other class, such, for example, as the medical degrees, were duties upon a franchise, which opened the door to a lucrative profession; and if they remitted the duty upon the medical degree conferred by Universities, they must legislate in a similar manner with respect to the College of Physicians. There were also the Inns of Courts, and they must deal with the duty paid on admission to the degree or privileges of a barrister, and then they would have also to consider the claims of their old friends the attorneys. The stamp duties were not at present to be remitted at Oxford; as a condition for remitting them, Government would require from the University the endowment of certain professorships. He hoped, for these reasons, the hon. Member would be induced to trust the matter in the hands of the Government.

COLONEL DUNNE
said, he thought that no case had been made against the proposition of the hon. Member (Mr. Hamilton), and he would support him on a division.

§ MR. G. A. HAMILTON
said, he would ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he would consent to remit the stamp duties now upon matriculations and degrees in arts? He believed he might be allowed to say that the board of Trinity College were about, of their own accord, to endow certain open scholarships, which ought to entitle them to the same remission as Oxford.

§ LORD JOHN RUSSELL
said, the Government had at present no official knowledge of this, and it would be necessary to see in what manner these scholarships were to be arranged; but the subject should be dealt with by Government.

§ MR. G. A. HAMILTON
said, that under these circumstances he would not press his clause to a division.

§ MR. HADFIELD
said, he knew that he rose under great disadvantages at such an hour (half-past one), when the Treasury bench was the only bench that contained any considerable portion of occupants. However he would beg to move another Amendment of which he had given notice.

§ MR. J. WILSON
said, he must decline to argue the question, since it had already been decded by the House.