HC Deb 29 April 1935 vol 301 cc105-7

(1) Rules may be made by the Governor for the purpose of securing that all moneys received on account of the revenues of Burma shall, with such exceptions, if any, as may be specified in the rules, be paid into the public account of the Government of Burma, and the rules so made may prescribe or authorise some person to prescribe the procedure to be followed in respect of the payment of moneys into the said account, the withdrawal of moneys therefrom, the custody of moneys therein, and any other matters connected with or ancilliary to the matters aforesaid.

(2) In the exercise of his lowers under this section the Governor shall exercise his individual judgment.—[Dr. Butler.]

Brought up and read the First time.

7.4 p.m.

Mr. BUTLER

I beg to move, "That the Clause be read a Second time."

This Clause is exactly the same as the one which was moved into the Bill in relation to India, dealing with the custody of public moneys in India. For that reason I beg to move without further explanation that the Clause be read a Second time, but if it be the wish of the Committee I will give a further explanation of its provisions.

Mr. H. WILLIAMS

I took some part in the debate on the corresponding Clause with regard to India, and I wanted to know what paying into the public account meant. I was then told, in effect, that it would be all right because the Government meant the new Central Reserve Bank of India. Have we set up a similar bank for Burma? It is a little difficult to keep track of everything that happens, but my impression is that we have not got a central bank for Burma, and therefore there is no institution that meets the case. In fact, we have not got a public account in Burma. It would appear that this is not quite the same as the India clause, because the circumstances are different. Burma is not a Federation; it is going to be a unitary State, with no federal reserve system up to now, and with no organised system of accounts, unless the Indian Federal Reserve Bank is to have a branch in Burma. In these circumstances, I think we ought to have a more adequate explanation from the Under-Secretary than he has vouchsafed.

7.6 p.m.

Mr. BUTLER

I thought it was understood, and that the Committee agreed, that where there had beep an Amendment with regard to India we did not debate at any great length an identical Amendment made with regard to Burma. That was why I did not give a fuller explanation in the first place. With regard to the question raised by the hon. Member, it is the Treasury of Burma that is referred to here; and it is the current account which the Government will keep at the central Treasury into which it is desired that public money should be paid, instead of being left in the hands of an individual department or an individual officer. The Committee will remember that it was thought undesirable that an individual department should credit to itself extra sums over and above the grant made to it; so that an individual department might be suddenly richer by the sale of a piece of land, for instance, and thereby receive more than was originally appropriated to it. In the same way, it was decided in the case of a public officer that it was undesirable, in view of the scattered nature of the Treasuries in India and Burma, that sums of money should be lying about in the hands or individual officers. It was therefore thought desirable that such moneys should be paid into the central account of the Province or the Federation. In this case it is the central account of the Government of Burma, and none of the more complicated questions raised by the hon. Member with regard to reserve banks arise. What is referred to is simply the central bank account of the Government of Burma.

Mr. H. WILLIAMS

But what banks will it be? You have not set up any Government bank in Burma, and I want to know with what bank this transaction will be. We are now told that money is to be paid into the central Treasury. They do not keep a box in our Treasury in Whitehall. What do the Government mean by the central account?

Mr. BUTLER

The bank concerned will be the bank where the Government of Burma keeps it account. I do not know the exact method by which the Government of Burma keeps accounts at the present moment, but, obviously, it must have some banking arrangement. The object of the new Clause is not to affect the banking arrangement, but to secure the centralisation of receipts in the circumstances which I have described.

7.9 p.m.

Sir REGINALD CRADDOCK

I should like to ask the Under-Secretary how far this refers only to a separated Burma, and how far it refers to an interim period while we are getting rid of the old Act and entering upon the new one. Is this affected in any way by the question of Burma being separated or not by a given date? The country's financial condition is far from flourishing at the present moment, and I am wondering whether this section will be equally applicable whether or not for the time being it is found practicable to separate Burma from the rest of India?

Clause added to the Bill.