§ Sub-section (1) of Section one hundred of the Income Tax Act, 1918, shall have effect as if at the end thereof there were added the following paragraph:
§ (c) particulars of the amounts of any settlement or settlements made during the period of assessment, not being a settlement 980 of an amount less than fifty pounds per annum or a capital sum of one thousand pounds, as the case may be, together with the names and addresses of the person or persons on whose behalf the settlement or settlements shall have been made. For the purposes of this paragraph the expression "settlement" shall have the same; meaning as defined in paragraph (b) of Subsection (9) of Section twenty- one of the 981 Finance Act, 1936, that is to say, it shall include any disposition, trust, covenant, agreement, arrangement, or transfer of assets.—[Mr. Pethick-Lawrence.]
§ Brought up, and read the First time.
§ 5.35 p.m
§ Mr. Pethick-LawrenceI beg to move, "That the Clause be read a Second time."
This Clause arises out of a proposal that I made to the Chancellor of the Exchequer when the Budget Resolutions were under discussion. I am rather disappointed that the Chancellor of the Exchequer has not seen the value of the proposals, and incorporated, on his own initiative, some such Clause in the Finance Bill. I think it was an act of kindness and consideration on my part, as representing the Opposition, to suggest to the Chancellor of the Exchequer a method by which he might fortify his Revenue. I hope that, now I have put something down in black and white, it may make him see that he ought to adopt it, but the fact that he has not yet done so will not encourage me, if we are in the same position on a future occasion, to do the same thing.
When the Income Tax forms are sent out the taxpayer has, in accordance with the law, to answer certain questions; and on the answers, after they are checked by the Inland Revenue authorities, he is assessed for taxation. During the passage of this Finance Bill through Parliament, as has been the case during the passage of a number of other Finance Bills in the past, it has been made clear that a practice is arising of trying to find a way of evading taxation. The Inland Revenue, although it has a very shrewd suspicion of the extent to which this evasion has been practised in the past, can never be quite sure, for the simple reason that it never knows whether a person has evaded taxation. All that is known is that the person does not appear to come within the law as it is at present framed. It is of the utmost importance that the Inland Revenue should know when people have taken steps to put themselves outside the Income Tax law and the extent to which that has been done. It seems to me quite reasonable that the taxpayer should be required to answer questions which will supply that necessary knowledge to the Inland Revenue. The object of this Clause is to give the Chancellor an oppor- 982 tunity of calling upon the taxpayer to supply the information.
The Clause relates to one important method of evasion, that of settlements. It is proposed here that the taxpayer shall be called upon to state the amount of any settlements made during the period of assessment. With a view to not making it unduly harassing, a limit has been fixed so that information need not be given of settlements of an amount less than £50 per annum or £1,000 capital sum. The taxpayer is called upon to make disclosure of all settlements above those figures, together with the names and addresses of persons on whose behalf the settlements have been made. If the Chancellor takes exception to the Clause, I shall be interested to know on what grounds. It seems to me quite fair that the person should be called upon to disclose such facts. If he were hiding something which he ought to disclose, he would be committing an offence in failing to disclose it. There might be some objections to the limit fixed in the Clause, but that could be the subject of another Debate, when it would be easy to meet such objections.
§ 5.42 p.m.
§ Sir J. SimonI recall the suggestion which the right hon. Gentleman made when we were discussing the Budget at an earlier stage. On that occasion, I took note of the suggestion. Just as I am glad to receive contributions in a monetary sense from all quarters, so I am glad to receive contributions from people as experienced as the right hon. Gentleman with a view to making a tax work better. When the suggestion was made in the first place, I asked for it to be examined. So far from resenting, or not wishing to adopt, suggestions which might be useful because of the quarter from which they come, I am always ready to make use of them. The right hon. Gentleman knows the Treasury well enough to appreciate that. I will have the matter examined further, in the light of what the right hon. Gentleman has just said, but the examination which has been made leads me to think that the proposal, in this form, ought not to be adopted.
As the right hon. Gentleman said, the Clause deals only with settlements. There are other elaborate and artificial arrangements for the purpose of avoiding taxation. The right hon. Gentleman's 983 definition of a settlement is taken from an earlier Act, and is very wide. It includes any transfer of assets. There is no virtue in settlements. There is already a requirement in the form that people must state what are the charges or settlements in respect of which they make a payment, and for which there is to be a deduction for Income Tax, and I think that, in practice, if a Surtax payer is seen to have a sudden drop in income, the revenue authorities do make inquiries. Therefore, the view is put to me by my advisers that this particular suggestion would not really be one of so much value as the right hon. Gentleman appears to think.
Broadly speaking, the reason why we have to try to stop the holes in legislation in elaborate ways is not that it is impossible to keep track of what is being done, but because what is being done, as things stand, is not outside the law. It is true that there is in this particular field money running to waste where tax is not being paid on little settlements. We have to devise a system of network which will catch these cases. These are the general considerations which are put to me. My advisers feel that the return form which is presented to every taxpayer of very different degrees of education and business experience ought to be as far as may be simple and suitable for all kinds of people to fill up. It is inevitable that the buff-coloured form should contain a lot of partitions and questions, but these are designed to obtain simple statements of sources of income and the amounts derived from them. I doubt whether it would be a satisfactory medium for obtaining detailed particulars of evasion. While I say that, and it is the view of my advisers, I do not wish to reject the suggestion without more thought. I certainly could not advise the Committee to adopt the suggestion to-day, but, at the same time, if in connection with the efforts which we are making to stop evasion and secure full information as to what we want to know, this or something like it turned out, on further examination, to be useful, I should only be too pleased to adopt the suggestion of the right hon. Gentleman.
§ 5.48 p.m.
§ Mr. MacquistenI cannot see that the Clause can achieve any purpose unless arrangements or settlements are made 984 whereby the money comes back to the person who makes the settlement. That would be fraud and conspiracy. The person who made the settlement would be making an incorrect return of Income Tax. When a man has given away his money the thing is done and finished and he has got so much less left. The more the funds are distributed the better. So long as a man does not follow King Lear and give everything away. Unless there is conspiracy and there is not a genuine settlement and there is an arrangement for a refund, there is no purpose in this Clause, for there would be no tax to evade or defeat.
§ 5.49 p.m.
§ Mr. BensonThe right hon. Gentleman said that the wording of this Clause was too wide, and that it would bring in all kinds of really extraneous operations under the phrase of "or transfer of assets," when, as he himself said, these words are definitely taken from the Finance Act, 1936, and specifically relate to settlements on children. That is the definition of a settlement there. If the Board of Inland Revenue are operating under a definition of settlement already, there is no reason why a similar definition should not be adopted in this respect. The Chancellor of the Exchequer said that wherever there is a drop in income which is not immediately obvious as to its cause, inquiries are to be made. That is true no doubt, but if you want to avoid disclosing a settlement you do not do it in such a way as to show a definite drop in income. You hide some casual profit. You can do it in an expanding year where you get a casual profit which does not come into the Income Tax return. Such as some windfall from the Stock Exchange, etc.
§ Mr. MacquistenThat does not happen. There has been no windfall on the Stock Exchange for the last three years.
§ Mr. BensonThe hon. and learned Gentleman says that does not happen, but how does he know? He is almost as wise as the Chancellor of the Exchequer in this matter. The Chancellor of the Exchequer himself is extraordinarily wise. He says, "We know the extent and the bounds of our own ignorance." The right hon. Gentleman said there are not many of these settlements that are not known. How does he know that? How can he measure the number of settlements that are not known to him?
§ Mr. MacquistenMay I point out that most of these settlements have to be stamped, and if the Inland Revenue adjudication stamp is on them, they know all about them.
§ Mr. MoreingIs it not that the right hon. Gentleman knows only what he wants to know, and not what he ought to know?
§ Mr. BensonI would point out to the hon. and learned Gentleman the Member for Argyllshire (Mr. Macquisten) that the Chancellor of the Exchequer has said that they know most things, but that they do not claim to know all of them. According to the reasoning of the hon. and learned Member, they should know all. It is impossible to know how much the Inland Revenue know and how much they do not know. All that we are asking is that a certain amount of information should be made statutory so that the information as to settlements could be increased. We are not suggesting any imposition or burden, but simply asking that in respect of a case in which a very large amount of evasion has already taken place further information should be supplied to the Board of Inland Revenue. This is a perfectly reasonable Clause. The Chancellor of the Exchequer himself has not turned it down. He merely says that the Board do not think that they will get very much information, but how do they know until they try? I certainly hope that my right hon. Friend will press this very reasonable Clause to a Division
§ 5.54 p.m.
§ Mr. BrackenIt seems to be rather odd that the right hon. Gentleman the Member for East Edinburgh (Mr. Pethick-Lawrence) should want to be so helpful to the Chancellor of the Exchequer. The right hon. Gentleman and his supporters on these benches want to take away the cat from the Home Secretary and give it to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and to arm him with the thumb-screw as well. They say that you must harass the taxpayer even more. I cannot see how any sensible person would endow the Chancellor of the Exchequer with power to pry into every small settlement made by taxpayers. We are still a free country. When the Socialist party come along with a carefully devised Clause which exempts the great mass of the voters but gives another opportunity of harassing the so-called capitalist class. 986 who are poor and perfectly honest we should say to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who has been extremely mellow, not to say, kindly in giving the right hon. Gentleman's suggestion a certain amount of approval, that he really ought not to waste his time trying to pry further into settlements made by small people in this country. I never heard of such an unnecessary thing. If one listens to the Socialists one would imagine that the public were made for the Treasury, and not the Treasury for the public. It is time that we realised that a taxpayer has rights like anybody else and that there should not be set up a kind of Ogpu or Gestapo to pry into every taxpayer's settlement in the country. The right hon. Gentleman the Member for East Edinburgh wants to borrow from the policy of Dr. Goebbels —perhaps I should say from M. Stalin. We should not be doing our duty to our constituents or to this country if we failed to oppose this new Clause.
§ 5.56 p.m.
§ Mr. SilvermanI often listen with a great deal of interest to the hon. Gentleman the Member for North Paddington (Mr. Bracken), and I have never listened to him with greater interest than I did during the last part of his speech. I support the Clause, but I am very glad to see the hon. Member's new-found hatred of the State prying into the home life of the people. I hope that the next time the Minister of Labour's Vote is before the Committee we may call upon the hon. Member for North Paddington to join us in our indignant protest against the daily prying that goes on in the homes of the meanest and poorest of the people, those who are both honest and poor. Their honesty and poverty have placed them into such a position that the hon. Member and his friends think that it is right that every penny, halfpenny or farthing going into the small household should be subject to the closest and narrowest scrutiny before a grateful community doles out the small pittance necessary to keep its members alive
§ Mr. BrackenWhy do trade unions exercise supervision in administering their interests?
§ Mr. SilvermanI do not think that there is a single trade union in this country that would dare or desire to exercise against one of its own members the kind 987 of harsh and oppressive examination and scrutiny exercised in every relief office in the country and in every application under the Ministry of Labour's unemployment regulations. There is no trade union that does that.
§ Mr. G. GriffithsLet the hon. Member mention one.
§ Mr. SilvermanHe knows that he cannot.
§ Mr. MacquistenWill the hon. Member for Nelson and Colne (Mr. Silverman) consider this point. The money of the taxpayer is always taken from him by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whereas the person in receipt of unemployment benefit after his insurance is exhausted is getting money from the taxpayer.
§ Mr. SilvermanThat is a very important distinction, and I am grateful to the hon. and learned Member for drawing my attention to it. When the State takes Income Tax from a man he has very considerable income left and is able to carry on. I should not mind in the least paying Super-tax and every other tax provided I had the income with which to pay it and was left in peaceful enjoyment of the remainder. What matters in taxation is not what is taken away, but what is left. The hon. and learned Member has a right to point out this kind of scrutiny, but at the other end of the scale scrutiny is going on against people who have nothing whatever. I think that the distinction is good and sound and I ask him to think it over. I hope, at the same time, he will examine his interjection of a few minutes ago when he suggested that the Treasury knew all about every one of the settlements because there is a stamp on the deeds. I understand that the hon. and learned Member was once a member of that department of the profession to which I belong. I have had a certain amount of experience of going into offices with deeds. These are examined by a clerk who assesses what stamp is due, and the stamp is bought and put on the document, but I have never observed that there has ever been any record of the document. It is perfect nonsense, and I am sure the hon. and learned Member must know that what I am stating is the case.
§ Mr. MacquistenCertainly not.
§ Mr. SilvermanThere was, at any rate, a time when the hon. and learned Member did know. He knows that what I have said it true.
§ Mr. MacquistenI contest that statement. The document has to go to the Inland Revenue Department and is carefully examined, and you find that all Government Departments are in communication.
§ Mr. SilvermanThe hon. and learned Member can deceive himself as much as he likes, but he cannot deceive me. I say that there are a great many of these documents which are not stamped at all, and I challenge him to deny my assertion that no record of a document is kept by the Stamp Office when the stamp is attached to it.
§ Mr. MacquistenA record is kept. We record them in Scotland. If they are not stamped they are not binding till they are stamped.
§ Mr. SilvermanIt may be that in Scotland measures have been found necessary that are not necessary in other parts of the United Kingdom. Certainly, that is not true anywhere else. If the hon. and learned Member tells me that the practice is different in Scotland, I must accept that, but he must also accept the statement from me that it is not the practice in England. I should like to say a few words in reply to the hon. Member for North Paddington (Mr. Bracken). If he were to be more consistent in regard to this kind of business one could listen with more sympathy to what he says, but when we find him voting in favour of the means test and all that it means, when there is an opportunity of voting against it, and then when it comes to a proposal of this kind he protests against a man who, ex hypothesi, is in possession of considerable capital and income, disclosing to the State what he has done with that capital or income in any particular year, then we find him as unjust as he is inconsistent. Let him consider also that the kind of objection he raises to this new Clause is not shared by the right hon. Gentleman, the Chancellor of the Exchequer. I do not suppose that makes any difference to him, but it is of some interest to note the fact that we have not found the Chancellor of the Exchequer or any member of the Government too 989 anxious to press these matters. There is a time lag in the year and I think there is a lag in will as well as in time; but when we find the right hon. Gentleman not bringing forward the kind of objection which has been advanced by the hon. Member, then I think we are entitled to take notice of the inconsistency.
§ Mr. BrackenThe right hon. Gentleman is more moderate than I am
§ Mr. SilvermanPerhaps he does not want to take as much as the hon. Member would like to give.
§ Mr. BrackenI mean, by training, by reputation, by character and by learning.
§ Mr. SilvermanI do not know whether the hon. Member suggests that the right hon. Gentleman is more moderate in character, but perhaps we had better
§ not pursue that too far. It comes to this that the right hon. Gentleman's objection is not based on any kind of objection to the nature of the inquiry. He cannot object to it for that reason, because the Clause is to be found being used for other purposes in previous Finance Acts. The only question at issue is whether or not the Clause will strengthen his hands. I certainly support the arguments of those hon. Members who have spoken in favour of the Clause, and who have said that it cannot weaken his hand but will give him some powers which he has not at present. If he really means business, he will take that power.
§ Question put, "That the Clause be read a Second time."
§ The Committee divided: Ayes, 115; Noes, 207.
991| Division No. 213.] | AYES. | [6.5 p.m. |
| Acland, Sir R. T. D. | Grenfell, D. R. | Owen, Major G. |
| Adams, D. M. (Poplar, S.) | Griffith, F. Kingsley (M'ddl'sbro, W.) | Paling, W. |
| Alexander, Rt. Hon. A. V. (H'lsbr.) | Griffiths, G. A. (Hemsworth) | Parkinson, J. A. |
| Anderson, F. (Whitehaven) | Guest, Dr. L. H. (Islington, N.) | Pethick-Lawrence, Rt. Hon. F. W. |
| Banfield, J. W. | Hall, J. H. (Whitechapel) | Poole, C. C. |
| Barnes, A. J. | Hardie, Agnes | Price, M. P. |
| Bartlett, C. V. O. | Harris, Sir P. A. | Pritt, D. N. |
| Batey, J. | Harvey, T. E. (Eng. Univ's.) | Ritson, J. |
| Bellenger, F. J. | Hayday, A. | Roberts, W. (Cumberland, N.) |
| Benn, Rt. Hon. W. W. | Henderson, J.(Ardwick) | Sanders, W. S. |
| Benson, G. | Henderson, T. (Tradeston) | Seely, Sir H. M. |
| Bevan, A. | Hills, A. (Pontefract) | Shinwell, E. |
| Broad, F. A | Hopkin, D. | Silkin, L. |
| Brown, C. (Mansfield) | Isaacs, G. A. | Silverman, S. S. |
| Burke, W. A, | Jagger, J. | Simpson, F. B. |
| Charleton, H. C. | Jenkins, Sir W. (Neath) | Sinclair, Rt. Hon. Sir A. (C'thn's) |
| Chater, D | Jones, Sir H. Haydn (Merioneth) | Smith, Ben (Rotherhithe) |
| Cluse, W. S. | Kennedy, Rt. Hon. T. | Smith, E. (Stoke) |
| Clynes, Rt. Hon. J. R. | Lansbury, Rt. Hon. G. | Smith, Rt. Hon. H. B. Lees- (K'ly) |
| Cocks, F. S. | Lathan, G. | Smith, T. (Normanton) |
| Collindridge, F. | Leach, W. | Sorensen, R. W. |
| Cove, W. G. | Leslie, J. R. | Stephen, C. |
| Cripps, Hon. Sir Stafford | Logan, D. G. | Stewart, W. J. (H'ght'n-le-Sp'ng) |
| Daggar, G. | Lunn, W. | Strauss, G. R. (Lambeth, N.) |
| Dalton, H. | Macdonald, G. (Ince) | Summerskill, Dr. Edith |
| Davies, R. J. (Westhoughton) | McEntee, V. La T. | Thorne, W. |
| Davies, S. O. (Merthyr) | McGhee, H. G. | Tinker, J. J. |
| Day, H. | McGovern, J. | Viant, S. P. |
| Dunn, E. (Rother Valley) | MacLaren, A. | Watkins, F. C. |
| Ede, J. C. | Mainwaring, W. H. | Westwood, J. |
| Edwards, A. (Middlesbrough E.) | Maxton, J. | Whiteley, W. (Blaydon) |
| Edwards, Sir C. (Bedwellty) | Messer, F. | Wilkinson, Ellen |
| Fletcher, Lt.-Comdr. R. T. H. | Montague, F. | Williams, T. (Don Valley) |
| Foot, D. M. | Morgan, J. (York, W.R., Doncaster) | Wilmot, John |
| Frankel, D. | Morrison, R. C. (Tottenham, N.) | Wilton, C. H. (Attercliffe) |
| Gardner, B. W. | Muff, G. | Windsor, W. (Hull, C.) |
| George, Megan Lloyd (Anglesey) | Naylor, T. E. | Young, Sir R. (Newton) |
| Gibson, R. (Greenock) | Noel-Baker, P. J. | |
| Greenwood, Rt. Hon. A. | Oliver, G. H. | TELLERS FOR THE AYES.— |
| Mr. Mathers and Mr. Groves. | ||
| NOES. | ||
| Acland-Troyte, Lt.-Col. G. J. | Astor, Viscountess (Plymouth, Sutton) | Bennett, Sir E. N. |
| Adams, S. V. T. (Leeds, W.) | Baillie, Sir A. W. M. | Bird, Sir R. B. |
| Albery, Sir Irving | Balfour, Capt. H. H. (Isle of Thanet) | Boulton, W. W. |
| Alexander, Brig.-Gen. Sir W. | Balniel, Lord | Bracken, B. |
| Allen, Col. J. Sandeman (B'knhead) | Beamish, Rear-Admiral T. P. H. | Braithwaite, J. Gurney (Holderness) |
| Amery, Rt. Hon. L. C. M. S. | Beaumont, Hon. R. E. B. (Portsm'h) | Briscoe, Capt. R. G. |
| Anstruther-Gray, W. J. | Beechman, N. A. | Brooke, H. (Lewisham, W.) |
| Aske, Sir R. W. | Beit, Sir A. L. | Brown, Rt. Hon. E. (Leith) |
| Brown, Brig.-Gen. H. C. (Newbury) | Hepworth, J. | Reid, W. Allan (Derby) |
| Bull, B. B. | Herbert, A. P. (Oxford U.) | Remer, J. R. |
| Burton, Col. H. W. | Hopkinson, A. | Rickards, G. W. (Skipton) |
| Cary, R. A. | Horsbrugh, Florence | Ropner, Colonel L. |
| Cayzer, Sir C. W. (City of Chestor) | Howitt, Dr. A. B. | Rosbotham, Sir T. |
| Cazalet, Thelma (Islington, E.) | Hudson, Capt. A. U. M. (Hack., N.) | Ross, Major Sir R. D. (Londonderry) |
| Cazalet, Capt. V. A. (Chippenham) | Hulbert, Squadron-Leader N. J. | Royds, Admiral Sir P. M. R. |
| Chamberlain, Rt. Hn. N. (Edgb't'n) | Hume, Sir G. H. | Ruggles-Brise, Colonel Sir E. A. |
| Channon, H. | Hunloke, H. P. | Russell, Sir Alexander |
| Chapman, A. (Rutherglen) | Hunter, T. | Russell, S. H. M. (Darwen) |
| Chapman, Sir S. (Edinburgh, S.) | Hutchinson, G. C. | Salmon, Sir I. |
| Chorlton, A. E. L. | Kellett, Major E.O. | Salt, E. W. |
| Clarke, Colonel R. S. (E. Grinstead) | Kerr, Colonel C. I. (Montrose) | Sandeman, Sir N. S. |
| Clarry, Sir Reginald | Kerr, Sir J. Graham (Scottish Univ.) | Sanderson, Sir F. B. |
| Cobb, Captain E. C. (Preston) | Keyes, Admiral of the Fleet Sir R. | Scott, Lord William |
| Conant, Captain R. J. E. | Kimball, L. | Selley, H. R. |
| Cooke, J. D. (Hammersmith, S.) | Lamb, Sir J. Q. | Shaw, Captain W. T. (Forfar) |
| Cooper, Rt.Hn.A. Duff (W'st'r S.G'gs) | Lambert, Rt. Hon. G. | Simon, Rt. Hon. Sir J. A |
| Cooper, Rt. Hn. T. M. (E'nburgh, W.) | Lancaster, Lieut.-Colonel C. G. | Sinclair, Col. T. (Queen's U, B'tf'st) |
| Courthope, Col. Rt. Hon. Sir G. L. | Leighton, Major B. E. P. | Smiles, Lieut.-Colonel Sir W. D. |
| Cox, H. B. Trevor | Lennox-Boyd, A. T. L. | Smith, Sir R. W. (Aberdeen) |
| Craven-Ellis, W. | Liddall, W. S. | Smithers, Sir W. |
| Crooke, Sir J. Smedley | Little, J. | Somervell, Rt. Hon. Sir Donald |
| Crookshank, Capt. Rt. Hon. F. C. | Lloyd, G. W. | Somerville, Sir A. A. (Windsor) |
| Cross, R. H. | Mabane, W. (Huddersfield) | Southby, Commander Sir A. R. J. |
| Crossley, A. C. | M'Connell, Sir J. | Spears, Brigadier-General E. L. |
| Davies, C. (Montgomery) | McCorquodale, M. S. | Spens, W. P. |
| Davison, Sir W. H. | MacDonald, Sir Murdoch (Inverness) | Stanley, Rt. Hon. Oliver (W'm'I'd) |
| Da la Bère, R, | Macdonald, Capt. P. (Isle of Wight) | Stourton, Major Hon. J. J. |
| Denman, Hon. R. D. | McEwen, Capt. J. H. F. | Strauss, H. G. (Norwich) |
| Denville, Alfred | McKie, J. H. | Strickland, Captain W. F. |
| Doland, G. F. | Macnamara, Lieut.-Colonel J. R. J. | Stuart, Lord C. Crichton- (N'thw'h) |
| Donner, P. W. | Macquisten, F. A. | Stuart, Rt. Hon. J. (Moray and Nairr) |
| Dugdale, Captain T. L. | Makins, Brigadier-General Sir Ernest | Sueter, Rear-Admiral Sir M. F. |
| Duggan, H. J. | Manningham-Buller, Sir M. | Tasker, Sir R. I. |
| Edge, Sir W. | Margesson, Capt. Rt. Hon. H. D. R. | Taylor, Vice-Adm. E. A. (Padd., S.) |
| Edmondson, Major Sir J. | Marsden, Commander A. | Thomas, J. P. L. |
| Ellis, Sir G. | Meller, Sir R. J. (Mitcham) | Thorneycroft, G. E. P. |
| Emmott, C. E. G. C. | Mellor, Sir J. S. P. (Tamworth) | Thornton-Kemsley, C. N. |
| Emrys-Evans, P. V. | Mills, Sir F. (Leyton, E.) | Touche, G. C. |
| Entwistle, Sir C. F. | Mills, Major J. D. (New Forest) | Tree, A. R. L. F. |
| Errington, E. | Mitchell, H. (Brentford and Chiswick) | Tryon, Major Rt. Hon. G. C. |
| Evans, Colonel A, (Cardiff, S.) | Moreing, A. C. | Tufnell, Lieut.-Commander R. L. |
| Everard, Sir William Lindsay | Morgan, R. H. (Worcester, Stourbridge) | Walker-Smith, Sir J. |
| Findlay, Sir E. | Morrison, G. A. (Scottish Univ's.) | Wallace, Capt. Rt. Hon. Euan |
| Fox, Sir G. W. G. | Morrison, Rt. Hon. W. S. (Cirencester) | Ward, Lieut.-Col. Sir A. L. (Hull) |
| Fyfe, D. P. M. | Munro, P. | Ward, Irene M. B. (Wallsend) |
| Gluckstein, L. H. | Nicholson, G. (Farnham) | Wardlaw-Milne, Sir J. S. |
| Gower, Sir R. V. | Nicolson, Hon. H. G. | Warrender, Sir V. |
| Graham, Captain A. C. (Wirral) | O'Connor, Sir Terence J, | Waterhouse, Captain C |
| Grant-Ferris, Flight-Lieutenant R. | O'Neill, Rt. Hon. Sir Hugh | Wayland, Sir W. A. |
| Greene, W. P. C. (Worcester) | Orr-Ewing, I. L. | Wells, Sir Sydney |
| Gridley, Sir A. B. | Palmer, G. E. H. | Whiteley, Major J. P. (Buckingham) |
| Grigg, Sir E. W. M. | Pickthorn, K. W. M. | Williams, Sir H. G. (Croydon, S.) |
| Grimston, R. V. | Pilkington, R. | Willoughby de Eresby, Lord |
| Guinness, T. L. E. B. | Plugge, Capt. L. F. | Windsor-Clive, Lieut.-Colonel G. |
| Gunston, Capt. Sir D. W. | Ponsonby, Col. C. E. | Winterton, Rt. Hon. Earl |
| Hammersley, S. S. | Procter, Major H. A. | Womersley, Sir W. J. |
| Hannah, I. C. | Radford, E. A. | Wood, Hon. C. I. C. |
| Haslam, Sir J. (Bolton) | Raikes, H. V. A. M. | |
| Hely-Hutchinson, M. R. | Rathbone, J. R. (Bodmin) | TELLERS FOR THE NOES— |
| Hepburn, P. G. T. Buchan- | Reed, Sir H. S. (Aylesbury) | Mr. Furness and Lieut.-Colonel Harvie Watt. |