§ Sir J. GILMOURI beg to move, in page 22, line 39, at the end, to insert the words:
(c) in the proviso to sub-section (1) of section three of this Act references to a cereal year shall be construed as references to the first accounting period.662 This Amendment is designed to secure that any exemption certificates issued to provender millers under the terms of the proviso to Clause 3, Sub-section (1) may, for the period ending 31st July, 1933, cover the same period as that for which quota payments will be recoverable from other millers, that is, the first accounting period. It is really a drafting Amendment to provide for the correct application of the Bill to provender millers during the first accounting period.
§ Amendment agreed to.
§ Motion made, and Question proposed, "That the Clause, as amended, stand part of the Bill."
§ Sir S. CRIPPSI wish to ask the right hon. Gentleman whether the only object of this procedure is to make it appear, during the first period, that the subsidy paid by the consumer is less than it will be in a normal year. Assuming that this Bill becomes an Act of Parliament shortly after the Easter Recess, I understand that under this procedure there will be some 15 or 16 months in which to collect the subsidy on one year's output of wheat, and therefore there will be a less proportion of subsidy per sack of flour in the first year than in any following year, provided the price of flour remains the same; and I am not certain whether there is any other reason for this complicated procedure than that of easing the burden upon the consumer at the start, in order that he may not cry out too loudly at the imposition which is being put upon him.
§ Sir J. GILMOURThe sole object is to take practical steps to case the burden where it is possible to do so.
§ Question, "That the Clause as amended, stand part of the Bill," put, and agreed to.