§ MR. WEIRTo ask the Secretary to the Treasury, seeing that a sum of £367 4s. is placed on the Civil Service Supplementary Estimates under Class 7 as repayments to the Civil Contingencies Fund in respect of stamp duties payable on Letters Patent conferring knighthood on twelve persons resident abroad, will he state whether these gentlemen are British subjects; and, if so, will he explain why they are not required to pay their respective portions of the stamp duties.
(Answered by Mr. McKenna.) All the persons in question are believed to be British subjects. If they had been resident in the United Kingdom they would have received knighthood personally at the hands of the Sovereign, and Letters Patent would not have been necessary. In these circumstances they were relieved from the duties on the Letters Patent according to the usual practice in such cases.