RESOLUTION. (Hansard, 4 March 1864)

MR. DARBY GBIFFITH
said, he took that opportunity of again bringing forward a subject which he had had the honour of submitting to the House last year, and which, he was bound to say, had been treated in a fair and straightforward manner by the right hon. Gentleman the Chancellor of the Exchequer. The question involved considerations of great importance, but for that he would not have troubled the House to consider it. When a franchise was granted it was right it should be exercised as freely as possible. The system of taking votes by proxy, though altogether unknown in that House, was yet in full operation elsewhere. In the case of railway companies, for instance, a voter, if he intended to vote, and was not able to attend a meeting perso- 1460 nally, had no means of exercising his vote except by proxy, and he must either provide himself with a particular kind of stamp at his own expense, or he must depend upon the Board of Directors for it. He was aware that directors had been in the habit of paying for these proxy stamps out of the funds of the railway companies, and of requesting the proprietors who did not make use of them to return them. It appeared, however, that some directors had at length felt doubts as to the legality of that practice. The expense of the proxies, at the present price of the stamp, was very considerable. The number of the shareholders in the Great Western Railway Company was 15,000, and proxy stamps for that number, at the present six-penny rate, would cost about £370. In addition there was the penny postage stamp on the envelope containing the proxy, together with another penny stamp enclosed for the purpose of franking the return of the proxy, so that between £400 and £500 might be expended for the purpose of obtaining an expression of opinion on the part of the shareholders. If there existed a difference of opinion between the directors and shareholders, it became a serious matter to a few shareholders to find £400 or £500 for the proxy stamps, while the directors paid for the proxies which they issued out of the funds of the company. If he had sufficient influence, he would attack the whole system of voting by proxy, for nothing could be more anomalous than that such a privilege as that enjoyed by the Members of the other House of Parliament should be exercised in reference to the affairs of a private commercial company. A law had been passed allowing electors in the case of the Universities to vote for Members of Parliament by means of voting papers, but no tax was required for those papers; and the proxy papers used in the case of charities also paid no tax, though it was a remarkable anomaly that proxies for the election of the officers of those very charities were subject to the tax. The proxy stamp operated as a great inconvenience, for when a person wanted to obtain one he scarcely knew where to go to buy it; probably nothing less than a law stationer could supply it; and the Excise Department had decided that the use of six penny stamps was not allowable in lieu of one six-penny stamp. The maximum loss to the revenue in consequence of the change which he advocated, would be, perhaps, 1461 £19,500, but the actual loss would probably be much less. Even if it were some £10,000 or £15,000 a year, he thought the sacrifice would not be too great, in order to secure to railway and other shareholders the opportunity of exercising more effectual control over the management of their affairs. He, therefore, begged to move that the Stamp on Proxy Papers, used for the purpose of voting in Public Companies, Associations, and Charities, being a Tax which impeded the exercise of a franchise, might be conveniently reduced to one penny.

§ MR. HADFIELD
begged to second the Motion. He believed that at that moment the sum of £400,000,000 was invested in railway and other joint stock companies in this country, and with the view of enabling shareholders to exercise their right of voting with greater facility, which would infuse more spirit into those companies, he would recommend the right hon. Gentleman the Chancellor of the Exchequer to reduce the amount of the stamp to a penny. He believed that such a reduction would occasion no loss to the revenue, because thousands of shareholders who hitherto had not used the sixpenny proxy stamp would then avail themselves of their privilege of voting through the medium of a penny stamp.

§ MR. DUTTON
said, it would not, in his opinion, be expedient to reduce the amount of the stamp, as such reduction would have little influence upon the holders of property of the description to which these stamps applied. He thought, however, that the suggestion of his hon. Friend with regard to the substitution of stamps of another denomination, if adopted by the right hon. Gentleman the Chancellor of the Exchequer, would be a great convenience to shareholders generally.

§ THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER
said, he had referred to the discussion which took place on this subject towards the close of last Session. It was a 1462 matter of secondary importance, as far as finance was concerned, but he thought it-was one which the House might well consider with reference to its bearing on another matter which was becoming of increasing weight, he meant the administration of joint stock companies. As the principles of joint stock association spread from one description of business to another, and as those companies were largely multiplied, it became most material to consider the best means for securing the internal order and good administration of such concerns. He was very desirous of being favoured with the views of hon. Gentlemen in that House having practical experience on the subject. He had, on a previous occasion, tendered his acknowledgments to the hon. Member for the manner in which he had brought the question before the House. To-night he had very properly pointed out that there were two distinct matters to be dealt with—one being the amount of the stamp, and the other the increased facility of access to that stamp. He had already taken into consideration, as far as very small stamps were concerned, the possibility of rendering them interchangeable. He trusted, however, that the hon. Member and the House would permit him to adhere to the usual and convenient rule of reserving anything he had to say until he made his financial statement. If that rule were once broken it would lead to other inquiries and cause much inconvenience. He could assure the hon. Member that he was very desirous of dealing in the best manner in his power with the real merits and bearings of the question.

§ MR. DARBY GRIFFITH
said, he would, with the permission of the House, withdraw his Motion.