§ MR. MARNHAM (Surrey, Chertsey)I beg to ask Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer whether his attention has been called to the fact that, on 13th February, 1907, the Chertsey bench of magistrates granted, as prescribed in Section 5 of the. Dogs Act, 1906, eighty-eight certificates of exemption to owners of sheep dogs under Section 22 of the Customs and Inland Revenue Act, 1878, without having first had laid before them evidence of the genuineness of the grounds for such exemptions; and whether, in view of the statement of the local supervisor of Inland Revenue on the above occasion, to wit, that the authorities at Somerset House had instructed its officers to do nothing in these cases, arid in view of the 1433 high percentage of exemptions in a part of the country where very few sheep or cattle are reared or fed, he will confer with the Secretary of State for the Home Department as to the desirability of the police being instructed in future to make full inquiry into each such application for exemption, and to report to the magistrates thereon before such certificates are granted.
§ MR. ASQUITHThe Act of last session prescribed the reference of exemption claims to petty sessions in the first instance, as an additional check, and it left unimpaired the discretion of the Board of Inland Revenue to refuse the exemption. I quite agree, however, that the additional check ought to be a real one, and I will consult the Secretary of State for the Home Department on the subject, as my hon. friend suggests.