HC Deb 03 July 1917 vol 95 cc1045-7

Section fourteen of the Finance Act, 1900, as extended by the Death Duties (Killed in War) Act, 1914, and Section forty-six of the Finance (No. 2) Act, 1915, shall apply in the case of a master or a member of the crew of a ship or a fishing boat dying, whether before or after the passing of this Act, from causes arising out of the operations of the present War and within twelve months from the occurrence to which death is due, in like manner as it applies in the case of a person dying from such wounds, accident, or disease as are mentioned in the said Section fourteen, with this qualification, that the Treasury shall act on the recommendation of the Board of Trade instead of on that of the Secretary of State or the Admiralty.

Mr. PETO

I beg to move to leave out the words "and within twelve months from the occurrence to which death is due."

11.0 P.M.

I think I can show in a very few words that these words are quite unnecessary and utterly confusing. I want to go shortly into the history of the concession that is embodied in this Clause for which I am very grateful to the Chancellor of the Exchequer. This Clause extends to the case of the master or a member of the crew of a ship or a fishing boat who dies from causes arising out of the operation of the War, the concession which was granted by the Death Duties (Killed in War) Act, 1914, which, in turn, was an extension of Section 14 of the Finance Act, 1900, a portion of which I should like to read to the Committee. That Section, which starts the whole of this legislation, says: Where any person dies from wounds inflicted, accident occurring or disease contracted, within twelve months before death, while on active service against an enemy, whether on sea or land, and was, when the wounds were inflicted, the accident occurred, or the disease was contracted, either subject to the Naval Discipline Act or subject to military law, whether as an officer, non commissioned officer, or soldier, under Part V. of the Army Act, the Treasury may, if they think fit, on the recommendation of the Secretary of State or of the Admiralty, as the case requires, remit— I would call the attention of the Committee to the words or in the case of duty already paid, repay, up to an amount not exceeding one hundred and fifty pounds in any one case, the whole or any part of the death duties.… There was a special Act passed in 1914, which made no reference to these words I have read and which occur in this Clause, which provide that the death must have occurred within twelve months of the wounds, accident or disease. It simply says: Section fourteen of the Finance Act, 1900 (which relates to the remission of Death Duties in case of persons killed in war), shall have effect as respects the present War as if it applied to property passing to lineal ancestors as well as to-property passing to the widow or lineal descendants, and as if the amount of the duty to be remitted or repaid under that Section were, instead of the amount therein mentioned, the following amounts: It goes on to provide that where the estate is less than £5,000 the whole of the Estate Duty is remitted. As the estates dealt with in this Clause are almost in every case of very small amount and less than £5,000, it really provides for complete remission. I do not see why these governing words and within twelve months from the-occurrence to which death is due should be brought in now and specially mentioned, when they are the governing words of the original Section. From the condition precedent these are included in the Death Duties (Killed in War) Act. 1914, and it was not considered necessary to repeat them in the case of soldiers and sailors in His Majesty's Navy and Army, but they are brought in now, when we art dealing with the merchant service. I dc not see that they make the matter any clearer. This Clause says that Section 14 of the Finance Act, 1900, as extended by the Death Duties {Killed in War) Act, 1914, shall apply to a master or a member of a ship now in the merchant service or a fishing boat. That being so, of course, the whole of what is provided in Section 14 of the Finance Act, 1900, is made applicable to these merchant seamen, as it was in the 1914 Act made applicable to the sailors and soldiers in His Majesty's Navy and Army. Although, therefore, it may only be in the nature of a drafting Amendment I think I am entitled to press upon the Treasury that if these words were not necessary to be repeated when the Clause was extended and applied to soldiers and sailors in the Army and Navy it cannot be necessary especially to bring them in in the present Bill. I would therefore ask the hon. Gentleman to allow me to leave out these words, which seem to discriminate against the merchant service, and repeat a condition which is really applicable to every case where the Death Duties (Killed in War) Act is applied.

Mr. BALDWIN

It is not our intention to make any discrimination at all, and in putting in these words our sole intention is to put the fishermen in exactly the same position as the soldiers and sailors were in. We will consider the matter between now and the Report stage, and if we find they are unnecessary they shall be omitted.

Mr. PETO

I beg to ask leave to withdraw my Amendment.

Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.

Clause ordered to stand part of the Bill.