§ Brought up, and read the First time.
529§ The SOLICITOR-GENERALI beg to move, "That the Clause be read a Second time."
This Clause carries out the second purpose of the Bill. The Financial Secretary to the Treasury has mentioned the law against perpetuities, and this Clause is to exempt from the law against perpetuities a benevolent fund in order that it may accumulate for a longer time than the law against perpetuity allows and that it may in the end be used to pay off the National Debt.
§ Mr. D. HERBERTThis is rather an important matter. Nobody will quarrel with the proposal of a benevolent person to assist in reducing the National Debt, and we must take this as being a serious proposal if the Government consider it necessary to deal with it in this way. It would have been interesting if the Solicitor-General could have told us the number of years over which it is proposed that these funds should be accumulated. There is a certain danger in this. This Clause is not one which proposes to deal with this one particular case, but it proposes to allow anybody, as long as the ultimate object of the trust is the reduction of the National Debt, to provide for the accumulation of any sum of money for any length of time. I should propose to move—I do not know whether the Government would offer any objection—to put in some limit as to the amount or the number of years. Let hon. Members realise that if a few benevolent people make trusts of various sums of money, amounting in all to a sum of £1,000,000, and if these trusts continued for 105 years it would amount to no less a sum than £256,000,000.
The danger there is that you have funds managed by trustees who are not under the control of the Government, who, incidentally, I may point out, may receive large sums themselves by way of remuneration as trustees. I think the Solicitor-General will agree that it would be quite possible for an individual to make use of this Clause very largely for the benefits of members of his own family, who would be trustees of it instead of the Commissioners of the National Debt. Having every sympathy with the object of the Clause, I think it has been drafted rather hurriedly and widely and that the Committee should seriously consider 530 whether there should not be some limitation put upon it. I suggest two possible Amendments, one to limit the amount and, secondly, to limit the period over which it may be accumulated. I seriously suggest that a period of 50 years or 60 years at the outside would be sufficient.
§ The SOLICITOR-GENERALI think that my hon. Friend's fears are not well founded. The Clause provides for complete control in those untoward events which my hon. Friend has outlined.
§ Clause read a Second time, and added to the Bill.