MR. J. B. SMITHsaid, in reference to the reduction of the Duty on Tea, he would beg to ask Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer, Whether he will allow a drawback; and whether, if not, he will extend the time when the reduction will come into operation?
§ THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUERSir, with regard to the first question asked by my hon. Friend, whether a drawback will be allowed upon stocks of tea which would have, by some 1241 process quite unknown to our usages, to be ascertained as being in the possession of every retail grocer throughout the country, I may say that to allow such a drawback would be entirely foreign to the usage and the practice of Parliament, and I very much doubt, if such drawback were allowed, whether it would be possible for us to proceed with the reduction of the Income Tax by 2d. Under these circumstances, I hope that the subject will not be renewed. The time for the reduction of the Tea Duty will be decided according to the pleasure of the House. I propose on Thursday evening next to proceed with a Resolution upon this subject, and supposing it receives the consent of the Committee, the usual course is to report the Resolution to the House on the following evening, and for the reduction of the duty to come into operation the day after. It is, of course, in the power of the House to fix the time when the reduction should come into operation, or to interpose any time they may think proper between the sitting of the Committee, and the reporting the Resolution to the House. My hon. Friend asks me if we will agree to insert in the Resolution some clause providing that the reduction of the duty should come into operation at some distant period. I am sorry to answer my hon. Friend in the negative. If we did, I believe the effect would not be to remedy the inconvenience which I grant may in some instances be felt from the alteration of Customs like this—an inconvenience, too, which I should really be very glad to remedy if I could—but to cause a general paralysis of the trade and revenue in connection with tea. The buyer and the householder would postpone their purchases, the trade would be paralyzed, and the object desired by these gentlemen would not be attained. We, therefore, intend to adhere to the usual course, and to propose that the reduction of the duty shall take immediete effect. I wish now to remedy an omission of which I was guilty the other evening when making my financial statement. That omission related to the Bill for the renewal of the Income Tax, and I should have mentioned that in the discussion on the subject last year my hon. Friend the Member for Buckingham (Mr. Hubbard) pointed out a great defect in the working of what is known as the 133rd, or the Average Clause. By that clause, as it now stands, it may be possible for parties who have 1242 made any exceptional gain in any one particular year to exempt those exceptional gains from taxation. We shall propose a clause for curing this anomaly, and for bringing in those gains for the purpose of assessment.
MR. J. B. SMITHsaid, he wished to know, whether, on a previous occasion, when the duty on tea was reduced, the time had not been extended until July?
§ THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUERI believe that I may confidently answer the question in the negative.