84. Captain CRAIGasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he can state the reason why Death Duties will not be received at the Belfast Custom House any longer; is he aware of the inconvenience and delay caused to the North of Ireland by having to correspond with the collector of Customs and Excise, Dublin; and whether the new arrangement has been in stituted for the purpose of swelling the Dublin receipts from Death Duties at the expense of Belfast and the North of Ireland?
§ Mr. LLOYD GEORGEThe new arrangements, which affect the whole of the United Kingdom, and not Belfast alone, involve that Death Duty accounts and duty shall be sent direct by post to London, Edinburgh, or Dublin, as the case may be, to be dealt with in the Estate Duty Office, instead of being lodged with the local collector of Customs and Excise, who is not an officer of the Inland Revenue Department. These arrangements merely remove an intermediary belonging to another Department; all Irish Death Duties have always been accounted for to Dublin, and paid into the Exchequer as a single fund. As I stated in reply to a similar question relating to Glasgow, put by the hon. Member for the Tradeston Division of Glasgow on the 16th instant, I shall be willing to give further consideration to the matter if steps are taken to make me acquainted with the precise nature of the objections that are raised to the new arrangement. I have consented to receive a deputation from Glasgow on the subject on the 29th October, and shall be glad to include representatives from Belfast if the hon. Member so desires.