HC Deb 24 October 1916 vol 86 c952
82. Mr. CURRIE

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will introduce legislation, if necessary, to prevent the Bank of England from declining to accept as evidence of death an official extract death certificate of a domiciled Scotsman issued by an official registrar under the 1854 Act applicable to Scotland; whether that Act enacts, and was passed for the purpose of enacting, that such an extract shall be admissible as evidence in all parts of Her Majesty's dominions without any other or further proof of such entry; whether, notwithstanding this, the bank habitually refuses to accept such extract unless the certificate of the public official is endorsed on the back by the gravedigger; whether frauds upon the bank such as took place prior to the existence of official registrars in connection with the old and loosely-kept ecclesiastical registers of death, and justified the bank in taking precautions at that time, have ever been perpetrated in connection with official registrars' certificates; and whether he is aware that no corporation in the United Kingdom except the Bank of England declines to comply with the 1854 Act?

Mr. McKENNA

I am in communication. with my right hon. Friend the Secretary for Scotland on this matter.