§ Sir GEORGE YOUNGERasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer in how many cases the Commissioners of Customs and Excise had given relief to licence holders in respect of minimum duty under Section 5 of the Finance Act, 1911?
§ Mr. MASTERMANAs the hon. Member is probably aware, Section 5 of the Finance Act, 1911, only affects certain publicans' and beerhouse licences taken out after the passing of the Act, and as these classes of licences are not due to be renewed until the 29th May in Scotland and the 1st October in England and Ireland, only a few of the applications under the Section have, up to the present, been dealt with by the Commissioners of Customs and Excise.
§ Sir GEORGE YOUNGERasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much of the estimated total of £50,000 had been actually refunded to licence holders under the provisions of Section 4 of the Finance Act, 1911; whether he was aware that applications for relief under that Section had been under the consideration of the Board of Customs and Excise since the passing of the Act, and that no adjudication had taken place in spite of repeated applications from the parties interested or from their representatives; whether he had any explanation to offer for this delay; and whether he would give instructions that immediate steps be taken to deal with those claims according to law?
§ Mr. MASTERMANI am unable to state how much has been paid to licence holders under the provisions of Section 4 of the Finance Act, 1911, either by actual refund of duty-paid or by adjusting the charge of Licence Duty for the year 1911–12. I am informed by the Commissioners of Customs and Excise that since the Section became law on 16th December last relief has been given in many cases. Points of difficulty arise in connection with a considerable number of cases, and it is quite possible that in some of the cases more than one application has been made by the parties interested; but I am assured that there has been no unnecessary delay in dealing with the matter.