§ 75. Sir Leonard Lyleasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether, in view of the fact that the Treasury under the War Damage Act has paid out more in compensation than it has received in premiums and contributions, this position corresponds with anticipations; what is the difference referred to which the Treasury has met; what is the amount of unpaid contributions; and whether the War Damage Commission consider that any variation of the amount of future contributions will be entailed?
§ Sir K. WoodAs the answer is rather long, I will, with my hon. Friend's permission, circulate it in the OFFICIAL REPORT.
§ Following is the answer:
§ The position when the original War Damage Act was introduced was too uncertain for estimates of expenditure to be made. The Act therefore provided in Section 22 for an eventual review by the Treasury of the amount of the contribution to be exacted under Part I. Premiums under Part II are fixed from time to time in the light of experience. It is much too soon for the review under Section 22 to be undertaken, but as I 1833 said when moving the Second Reading of the amending Act last year, my present inclination, if any variation of the total contribution were necessary, would be to alter the number rather than the amount of the annual instalments. In reply to the second part of the Question, I would refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave on 15th April to the hon. Member for Ipswich (Mr. Stokes). The amount of contributions outstanding is £7,500,000. Part of this amount will be recovered by deduction from value payments when they are made, and a further part is not recoverable so long as the Inland Revenue Department is satisfied that by reason of war damage properties are unfit for their normal use.