§ SIR H. ROSCOE (Manchester, S.)I beg to ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he is aware that several prosecutions have been and are being conducted by the Inland Revenue against Gas Companies, especially that in Sunderland, and against certain chemical manufacturers of the products of coal gas, for infringing an Act passed in 1846 (9 and 10 Vic, c. 90) making it compulsory for every person keeping a "still" to take out a licence for the same, and pay a duty of 10s. per annum, and in default a penalty not exceeding £50; whether stills for the manufacture of gas products have been in use for upwards of thirty years without any attempt to tax them; whether such stills come under the Revenue Act for the prevention of the manufacture of spirits by unlicensed persons; and whether, if the Inland Revenue wish to tax a piece of apparatus which is not used for distilling spirit, he will direct the preparation of an Act of Parliament for the special purpose, instead of permitting an old Act to be used in such cases?
§ THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER (Mr. GOSCHEN,) St. George's, Hanover SquareThere has been a prosecution against the Sunderland Gas Company at the instance of the Commissioners of Inland Revenue for recovery of the penalty of £50 imposed by the Act 9 and 10 Vic, cap. 90, for keeping a still without a licence. The prosecution was heard on the 6th inst. and dismissed, and a special case is to be stated for the opinion of the Queen's Bench Division as to whether the still used by the Company is a still for the keeping of which a licence is required under the Act. In the opinion of the Board of Revenue these stills are capable of being used for the production of spirit. But as the matter is still sub judice, I will not express any opinion upon it.