§ LORD LEATHERLANDMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the first Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ [The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government whether, in any review of the excise duty on motor vehicles, consideration will be given to the advantages of a graduated scale, so that private owners with more than two cars pay duty at a higher rate on the third, fourth and fifth cars than on the normal owner's one or two.]
§ LORD BESWICKMy Lords, Her Majesty's Government will bear in mind the noble Lord's suggestion.
§ LORD LEATHERLANDMy Lords, while thanking my noble friend for that very carefully phrased Answer, may I ask whether he does not think that some of these people with five cars not only cause congestion on the roads but are also troublesome in wasting the time of Ministries and civil servants? Does he not also agree that to recompense the Exchequer for the expense involved it would be a good thing to "nab" them in the way suggested?
§ LORD BESWICKMy Lords, if my noble friend has in mind ostentatious behaviour, rather than traffic congestion, I should think that public opinion was a better antiseptic than Treasury men.