§ Order for Third Reading read.
§ SIR HENRT WILLOUGHBYsaid, he wished to know from the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he had taken sufficient means for compensating by new taxation for the reductions which were proposed in existing duties?
§ THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUERsaid, that the statement which he made on the 10th of February of the proceeds of new impositions was affected to a certain extent by various minor changes which had been made in those particular impositions while Under discussion in that House. With regard to the proceeds of all now impositions, many of them were of a nature that defied computation. It was impossible to say what would be the proceeds of a penny stamp on a delivery order or a three penny stamp on dock-warrants, or what would be the proceeds from a licence duty for keeping a refreshment house for the sale of wine. Any opinion on those matters must necessarily be more or less speculative, for there were no data to go upon. The figures stated to the House were necessarily conjectural. As respected the duties contained in the present Bill, there was only one on which he reckoned any proceeds, and that 1353 was the duty upon contract notes. That was a very small affair, and whether it might produce £10,000 was a matter of conjecture. There was nothing else in the schedule for which any credit had been taken. All the new impositions were in the sense of relaxing the existing law, and making a certain remission of payments with respect to which they could confidently anticipate that, as far as they operated at all, they would operate in favour of the revenue as well as of the taxpayer. There was one exception—namely, the charge on promissory notes, and that was not a relaxation, but an assimilation of the law in regard to bills of exchange. As regarded certain duties of insurance, that was one case in which they were endeavouring to relax the law for the advantage of the trade and the taxpayer in general; but it must be admitted that the enactment was only a partial one, and which did not give a complete and uniform character to the law of insurance. What they had to consider was—what was the nearest analogy upon which they could safely found themselves, and they considered that to be railway passengers' insurance, and they had adopted that as the basis of the present enactment. He admitted there was a certain anomaly. The subject was one deserving of further attention, and he should be glad at any future time to receive any proposal by which the law of insurance might be reduced into a state of perfect consistency.
§ MR. AYRTONsaid, he wished to have a distinct assurance from the right hon. Gentleman that the exemption in favour of friendly societies from stamp duty would be continued.
§ THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUERreplied, that he could give that assurance without difficulty.
§ Bill read 3o and passed.