HC Deb 04 February 1949 vol 460 cc2013-6
2013
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Motion made, and Question proposed:
That, for the purposes of any Act of the present Session to repeal section seventy of the War Damage Act, 1943, and to make provision with respect to war damage to immovable property, goods and commodities which belonged to certain undertakings or in which both such undertakings and others had interests and to war damage causing obstruction in waterways, it is expedient to make provision for the following matters, that is to say:—
- (a) for the making, in respect of public utility undertakings as defined in the said Act of the present Session (in this Resolution referred to as "the Act"), being undertakings carried on during such period on or after the third day of September, nineteen hundred and thirty-nine, as may be specified in the Act, of contributions towards the expense of making war damage payments under the Act in respect of public utility undertakings, being contributions of amounts not exceeding in the aggregate, in the case of undertakings comprised in any group of public utility undertakings constituted under the Act, the following percentage of such sum as may be fixed by the Act as the aggregate of the amounts (reckoned before making any deductions therefrom provided for by the Act) of war damage payments to be made under the Act in respect of undertakings in that group, that is to say twenty-seven and one half per cent. in the case of each such group other than a group to be constituted thereunder to comprise harbour and dock undertakings and ten per cent. in the case of the last-mentioned group;
- (b) for imposing the liability to make a contribution to be made in respect of an undertaking (except in the case of contributions in respect of undertakings in any group to be constituted under the Act to comprise sewerage and sewage disposal undertakings or to comprise lighthouse undertakings) on the body by whom the undertaking was being carried on at the end of the said period, subject to any provision which may be made by the Act for determining that that contribution is to be made by another in any circumstances therein specified, for imposing the liability to make contributions to be made in respect of undertakings in any group to be constituted under the Act to comprise sewerage and sewage disposal undertakings on local authorities, their contributions as a whole being in respect of the undertakings comprised in that group as a whole, and for the determination by the Treasury of the bodies or local authorities to be liable as aforesaid and of the several amounts of their contributions with provision for giving effect to determinations made at any time on or after the first day of October, nineteen hundred and forty-eight;
2014
- (c) for the taking effect, as to the ultimate incidence of the liability for the contributions mentioned in paragraph (a) of this Resolution as between landlords, tenants and mortgagees of land so related to a public utility undertaking as may be specified in the Act, of provisions corresponding to the provisions of Part I of the War Damage Act, 1943, as to the ultimate incidence of the liability for contributions under the said Part I as between landlords, tenants and mortgagees of properties contributory under that Act;
- (d) for the taking effect of the said corresponding provisions in the case of requisitioned land which immediately before the beginning of the period of requisition was land so related as aforesaid to a public utility undertaking with such modifications as may be prescribed by regulations under the Act (including regulations having retrospective effect so far as may be requisite for securing their operation as regards any year in which instalments of contributions under Part I of the War Damage Act, 1943, fell due);
- (e) for the extension of the said provisions of the said Part I and of the said corresponding provisions so as to authorise the exercise of rights of recovery from and by tenants from and by tenants and licensees under short tenancies, and licences, as to which conditions specified in the Act are satisfied;
- (f) for imposing in respect of goods of certain undertakings other than public utility undertakings as defined in the Act liabilities to pay amounts equal to the premiums which bodies carrying on such undertakings would have been required to pay if, being as regards those goods, and as regards any period of insurance for the purposes of the business scheme operated under Part II of the War Damage Act, 1943, under the obligation to insure imposed by section eighty-six of that Act, they had insured them in accordance with that obligation;
- (g) for prohibiting the deduction in computing profits or gains or income for the purposes of any tax, or the inclusion for the purposes of any tax in computing expenses of managament or supervision or the cost of maintenance, repairs or insurance, of—
- (a) payments made in or towards the discharge of any liability or premium imposed or payable by or under the Act or the War Damage Act, 1943, or the joint operation of both, or
- (b) expenditure on making good war damage or detriment caused by war damage in so far as any person has received or is entitled, by virtue of the Act or the War Damage Act, 1943, or the joint operation of both, to a payment in respect of the damage or detriment or a payment deemed under the Act to be made in respect thereof, or expenditure on making good war damage of any class specified in the Act or on measures for meeting the circumstances created by an obstruction in a waterway or the approaches thereto,
for the recovery, by assessment or additional assessment made in such manner and at such
2015
time as may be specified in the Act, of amounts of past reductions of liability or repayments, in respect of any tax, effected by reason of deductions or inclusions of a kind prohibited; and for extending to payments under the Act provisions of the enactments relating to exceptional depreciation allowance as to payments under other enactments relating to war damage;
- (h) for the payment into the Exchequer of any moneys standing to the credit of any Account established under the Act, into which contributions mentioned in paragraph (a) of this Resolution are paid thereunder, on the winding-up of the Account; of payments for satisfying liabilities imposed as mentioned in paragraph (f) of this Resolution; and of any contribution in respect of coal-mining properties made by the National Coal Board under Part I of the War Damage Act, 1943, as modified by the Act."—[Mr. Glenvil Hall.]
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1.5 p.m.
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Mr. Assheton
Could the right hon. Gentleman inform us whether it is intended to take this Bill on the Floor of the House or upstairs?
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The Deputy-Chairman (Mr. Bowles)
That question does not arise on a Ways and Means Resolution.
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Mr. R. A. Butler
This is the Committee stage of the Money Resolution, and—
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The Deputy-Chairman
No, it is a Ways and Means Resolution.
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Mr. Butler
Is it permissible to discuss the terms of this Resolution?
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Mr. Butler
Perhaps the Solicitor-General or the Financial Secretary to the Treasury would give us a further explanation of the terms of this Resolution.
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Mr. Glenvil Hall
A Ways and Means Resolution is necessary here, although it was not necessary when the War Damage Bill of 1941 was going through, because it imposes certain liabilities to pay contributions and other payments. In 1941, the contributions payable under the Bill then before the House were looked upon as being analogous to insurance premiums. In this Bill, we cannot look upon them as premiums for some eventuality or risk yet to come. The risks, for which the contributions will be paid, have already been incurred. Therefore, under the procedure of this House, it is essential that this Ways and Means Resolution should be agreed to. I do not know whether it is essential for me to go
2016
through the Resolution paragraph by paragraph. Like the other Resolution, and indeed like the Bill itself, it is extremely technical. I can assure the right hon. Gentleman that what it does is to cover the contributions which will have to be paid in relation to risks which have already passed and damage which was incurred in the war years.
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Mr. Assheton
I gather from what the right hon. Gentleman has told us that since the risks which were being guarded against have already passed, this becomes a tax on the particular undertakings who are now to pay it, and that is why it is done in this particular form. I should like to ask the right hon. Gentleman whether there is any provision with regard to certain mineral undertakings like quarries. In their cases there was not any risk at all, but none the less they are being asked to contribute. Many quarries would have been better off if a bomb had dropped in the middle of them, because it would have saved the labour of those who have to cut the stone.
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Mr. Glenvil Hall
It is true that, under the 1941 Act, a very large number of people paid contributions towards war damage, although it was almost impossible to contemplate their running any considerable risk. However, they shared the risk of the citizens of this country and they paid their contributions. Here we have applied the same argument. I agree with the right hon. Gentleman that it is difficult to imagine much damage being done to a quarry from a bomb, and it may even help by breaking up the material that is being quarried, so that it can be used with greater celerity. Nevertheless, all undertakings have to pay. That being so, it is necessary to include them within the ambit of this Bill, just as other forms of property and proprietors were included under the Acts of 1941 and 1943.
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Mr. Assheton
Were any forms of property included under those Acts which should not, in fact, have suffered any damage if they had been bombed?
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Question put, and agreed to.
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Resolution to be reported upon Monday next; Committee to sit again upon Monday next.
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Motion made, and Question proposed, "That this House do now adjourn."—[Mr. R. Adams.]