§ Motion made, and Question proposed,
§ "That the following duties of Customs imposed by Part I. of the Finance (No. 2) 385 Act, 1915, until the first day of August, nineteen hundred and sixteen, shall continue to be charged until the first day of August, nineteen hundred and Seventeen, "that is to say:
| Duty | … | Section of Act. |
| Increased Duty on Tea | … | 1 |
| Additional Duties on Dried Fruit | … | 8 |
| Additional Duties on Tobacco | … | 9 (1) |
| Additional Duty on Motor Spirit | … | 10(1) |
| New Import Duties | … | 12" |
§ The FINANCIAL SECRETARY to the TREASURY (Mr. Montagu)My right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced this afternoon, in answer to my right hon. Friend who sits on the Front Bench opposite that he proposed this afternoon to move a Resolution which would enable him to incorporate in this Budget certain of the duties which expire on the 1st of August this year, which were imposed or included in the Finance Bill of last year. The Committee will remember that when the Chancellor of the Exchequer made his Budget Statement this year he proposed to put those into a separate Bill, but we have now got late into June. It will be at least another week, I fear, before we get this Bill. It would be a pity to start on another Finance Bill, and we can avoid it by including those duties on tea, dried fruits, tobacco, and motor spirit, and new Import Duties, in a new Clause in the present Bill.
§ Mr. LOUGHI may congratulate my right hon. Friend, and thank him also for the steps which he has taken. When I mentioned the desirability of avoiding another Budget my suggestion was rather coldly received by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer, but I can assure the Committee that a great deal of harm is done in commercial circles by the uncertainty created by bringing in these Bills constantly. I assume now that we are done with Budgets, at any rate for this Session, and a very simple Resolution, which I do not think will require much Debate, will cover the whole of these points. The relief that will be felt in the City will be very great. I said some time ago that forestalling would be avoided by the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he did not make such frequent changes and if, when he desired to make changes, he made them at once without creating a feeling of uncertainty. I am very glad that the Government have seen their way to adopt this 386 course, which is sure to be satisfactory to commercial classes, for whom it is a large measure of relief.
§ Sir J. D. REESI thoroughly agree with the right hon. Gentleman, and I am very glad indeed, as, I think, will be everybody concerned, that this question is settled. I expressed regret that the right hon. Gentleman had fallen from his virtuous attitude in taking the line he did as between tea and cocoa, but I will say nothing more about that, and I have only to express satisfaction that, at any rate, a certain duty has been fixed.
§ Mr. KINGI should like to be sure on one point, not as a commercial man, but as an ordinary citizen, who is entitled to know whether we are now to breathe freely, and with the idea that there will be no more additions to the Income Tax until next year. Is the meaning of this change, or development of policy, that there will be no more turning of the screw, that great engine of torture which is contained in the Chancellor of the Exchequer's whole system for screwing money out of the Income Tax payers, for another nine months?
§ Resolution agreed to.