§ SIR JAMES FERGUSSONsaid, he would beg to ask Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer, Whether instructions have been recently given by the Board of Inland Revenue to exact a Stamp Duty of five shillings on marriages celebrated by clergymen in England or Scotland; and what has been the Revenue from that source in the years 1863 and 1864?
§ THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUERsaid, in reply, that no instructions had been given by the Board of In land Revenue on the subject, but an inquiry had been addressed to them to know whether in their judgment a duty of five shillings upon certificates of marriage signed with the name of the officiating clergyman was exigible or not. The reply was, that in their opinion it was be yond all doubt. That, he apprehended, was the state of the law, and beyond that neither he nor the Board of Inland Re venue had any knowledge whatever. The certificates of the performance of any other religious office were charged with a similar duty; but the case had been pro vided for by law, inasmuch as the duty on extracts from the marriage register, which answered the same purpose, was only liable to a duty of one shilling.
§ SIR JAMES FERGUSSONsaid, he wished to know, whether the solicitor to the Board of Inland Revenue had not intimated to the clergy of Scotland that this duty would be charged from henceforth, and whether it was not a fact that there had been no such practice for fifty years?
§ THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUERsaid, he knew nothing about that, but undoubtedly if it became known to the Controller of the Inland Revenue in Scot- 299 land that a certain duty was exigible by law his duty would be immediately to see that it was charged.