§ GENERAL RUSSELL (Cheltenham)I beg to ask Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer whether it is the intention of the Board of Inland Revenue to exclude from the exemption from estate duty, conferred under Section 8 (1) of the Finance Act, 1894, estates of non-commissioned officers above the rank of corporal, dying in Her Majesty's service during the present war; and, it so, is such exclusion in accordance with any legal decision; and what is the ground for making a distinction between one kind of non-commissioned officer and another.
§ *SIR M. HICKS BEACHSection 8 (1) of the Finance Act, 1894, makes applicable to estate duty the 'existing 731 law and practice" with respect to "the exemption of the property of common seamen, marines, or soldiers who are slain or die in the service of Her Majesty." The practice in the past, dating from the beginning of the century, has been to exclude from such exemption the property of non-commissioned officers in the Army above the rank of corporal, and the Act of 1894 confers no power to alter the practice.