§ MR. SEARS (Cheltenham)I beg to ask Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer if he is aware that the legal fees in Scotland in respect of estate duty, when the estate does not exceed the value of £500, are received by Inland Revenue officers, and paid to commissary clerks for their own use, although they may have had nothing to do with passing the accounts; and will he give the legal or other authority under which this is done.
§ The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER (Mr. Asquith, Fifeshire, E.)The procedure followed in Scotland with regard to estate duty on estates not exceeding £500 in value is that prescribed by the Acts 39 and 40 Vict., Cap. 24, Section 3, as amended by 57 and 58 Vict., Cap. 30, Section 16, sub-section (1), and 63 and 64 Vict., Cap. 55, Section 9. The 398 last-mentioned section defines the functions which may be discharged by officers of the Inland Revenue. Commissary clerks are remunerated by salary, and all fees received by them in their official capacity are accounted for and paid over to the Exchequer.