HC Deb 31 January 1961 vol 633 cc930-2

That, for the purposes of any Act of the prefect session to reorganise the financial arrangements of the Post Office, it is expedient to authorize—

  1. (1) the payment into the Exchequer of the United Kingdom of—
    1. (a) any sums required by that Act to he paid by the Postmaster General for securing that there is contributed to the Exchequers of the United Kingdom and 931 Northern Ireland as nearly as may be what would be contributed thereto,—
      1. (i) by way of taxes, duties, fees and other imposts (except stamp duty) but for the exemptions which by law are enjoyed by the Postmaster General from liability thereto and from liability to comply with enactments compliance with which would involve the payment of imposts (with the exception aforesaid);
      2. (ii) by way of stamp duty, but for paragraph (9) of the list of exemptions set out in the First Schedule to the Stamp Acts, 1891, at the end of the heading "Bill of Exchange of any kind whatsoever (except a bank note) and Promissory Note of any kind whatsoever (except a bank note)", paragraph (3) of the list of exemptions set out, in that Schedule, at the end of the heading "Receipt", and section eighty-four of the Post Office Act, 1953;
    2. (b) any sums received by the Postmaster General by way of broadcast receiving licence revenue;
    3. (c) any sums received by the Postmaster General under section seventy-three of the Post Office Act, 1953 (both as originally enacted and applied by subsection (5) of section fourteen of the Wireless Telegraphy Act, 1949), and any sums received by him under section thirty-five of the Inland Revenue Regulation Act, 1890;
    4. (d) any sums received by the Treasury by way of the repayment of, or the payment of interest on—
      1. (i) any sum issued out of the Consolidated Fund for the purpose of fulfilling any guarantee given by the Treasury in respect of the repayment of the principal of, or the payment of interest on, any loan raised by the Postmaster General from the Bank of England; or
      2. (ii) any advance made by the Treasury out of the Consolidated Fund to the Postmaster General in order to provide him with money for meeting any expenditure incurred by him which is properly chargeable to capital account or with working capital;
    5. (e) any sums required by the said Act of the present Session to be paid by the Postmaster General by way of—
      1. (i) payment off of any amount shown in the last Post Office commercial accounts as representing liabilities of the Post Office to the Exchequer of the 932 United Kingdom (whether on capital or current account); or
      2. (iii) interest on so much of any such amount as remains for the time being outstanding; and
    6. (f) any sums required by the said Act of the present Session to be paid by the Postmaster General in respect of liabilities accruing to the Exchequer of the United Kingdom in respect of the payment of pensions, gratuities, allowances and other like benefits, in so far as those liabilities are referable to the service of persons in the Post Office; and
  2. (2) the raising, under the National Loans Act, 1939, of money required for any of the following purposes, namely,—
    1. (a) providing sums to be issued out of the Consolidated Fund for making advances to the Postmaster General in order to provide him with money for meeting expenditure incurred by him which is properly chargeable to capital account or with working capital;
    2. (b) providing so much of any sums to be so issued for paying the terminable annuities which, in consequence of the passing of the Post Office money enactments, are outstanding at the commencement of the said Act of the present Session in favour of the National Debt Commissioners as represents principal;
    3. (c) providing for the replacement of sums issued out of the Consolidated Fund for the purpose mentioned in sub-paragraph (a) of this paragraph or the replacement of so much of sums so issued for the purpose mentioned in sub-paragraph (b) of this paragraph as represents principal;
and that for the purposes of this Resolution "the last Post Office commercial accounts" and "the Post Office money enactments" shall be taken to mean respectively the accounts which, in pursuance of section five of the Exchequer and Audit Departments Act, 1921, are prepared in relation to the Post Office in respect of the twelve months ending with the thirty-first day of March, nineteen hundred and sixty-one, and the Acts passed during the years nineteen hundred and thirty-five to nineteen hundred and fifty-nine inclusive the short title of each of which consists of the words "The Post Office and Telegraph (Money) Act" followed by the year in which it was passed and section five of the Commonwealth Telegraphs Act, 1949.

Resolution agreed to.