§ COLONEL DENNY (Kilmarnock Burghs)To ask Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer whether any facilities are given for manufacture of alcohol for industrial purposes under special Excise regulations, so as to make the duty as small as possible; what is the minimum duty charged upon alcohol after denaturalization; and how does this duty compare with that exacted in Germany, Frances, Austria, Belgium, Holland, and Italy upon spirit used for industrial purposes, including alcohol engines.
(Answered by Mr. Austen Chamberlain.) There are no special facilities given for the manufacture of alcohol used for industrial purposes. There is no duty charged upon spirit of British manufacture used for methylation or for purposes sanctioned under Section 8 of the Finance Act, 1902, but upon foreign spirits so used a differential duty of 5d. per proof gallon is charged. About three years ago the Board of Inland Revenue obtained through the Foreign Office information as regards the terms upon which alcohol may be used for industrial purposes in the principal countries of the Continent and in the United States of America; and, so far as they can judge from the returns then made, no duty is charged upon alcohol so used in any of the countries named. It is, however, difficult to say whether this would be true in all cases, as in some countries the tax on alcohol is not a single tax, but a combination of several duties chargeable at different stages of manufacture or of sale, and it is not certain that all of these are remitted in all cases of use of alcohol for industrial purposes.