HC Deb 01 May 1877 vol 234 cc149-50
MR. MACKINTOSH

asked the Financial Secretary of the Treasury, Why the conditions of the Act 31 and 32 Vic. c. 64, s. 25, regarding the reduction of fees in the Sasine Office, Edinburgh, providing— That it shall be in view that the fees to be drawn from the said department shall not be greater than may reasonably be held sufficient for defraying the expenses of the said department, or the improvement of the system of registration, have not been carried out, it appearing from the Estimates that for many years the surplus fees amounted to upwards of £10,000 per annum?

MR. W. H. SMITH

In accordance with the Act 31 & 32 Vic. c. 64, the fees taken in the Sasines and Searching departments of the General Register House were revised in 1873 and a reduced scale was sanctioned, to take effect from the 1st of April of that year, the loss to the Exchequer amounting to £16,850. The new scale was calculated to produce only such a sum in each year as would be sufficient to cover the expenses of the Department, including in those expenses not merely salaries, as shown in Vote 20 of Class III. of the Civil Service Estimates, but also pensions of retired officers, office rent, rates and taxes, and cost of books and stationery. The extra receipts mentioned on page 227 of the Estimates include the fees of all the departments of the Register House, many of which are not within the operation of Section 25 of the Act of 1868. It should be added that there are now proposals before the Treasury for an increase of the staff of the Searching department, which if sanctioned would materially increase the existing cost.