§ MR. HENRY TOLLEMACHEasked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury, Whether the Treasury have demanded, through the Commissioners of Inland Revenue, that the Corporation of the city of Chester, who are promoting the Chester Improvement Bill, shall pay ad valorem duty on the purchase money and transfer of mortgages in connection with the proposed freeing of the Dee bridges; whether there is any precedent for such demands being made in the case of works of public utility, such as the freeing of bridges; and, whether the Treasury still insist on these charges being made?
§ MR. COURTNEYYes, Sir; the. Treasury have refused to exempt this transaction from the statutory stamp. This course is in accordance with precedent in similar cases; and, however desirable the proposed improvements may be from a local point of view, I see no reason for making any contribution to it, oven indirectly, out of the National Revenue. In a Memorial received on the subject, it was practically admitted that a waiver of the duty would be tantamount to a contribution out of public funds.