§ Mr. NORMAN CRAIGasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he is aware that a society registered under the Industrial and Provident Societies Act, 1893, is at liberty to trade to any extent with non-members without becoming chargeable under Schedules C and D of the Income Tax Acts, provided the number of its shares is not limited by its rules or its practice; whether any action has been taken on the Report of the Departmental Committee in 1905 that it had been brought to their notice that large and varied enterprises in the way of manufacture, shipping, insurance, and banking, involving in some cases considerable and regular dealings with the outside public, were then carried on under the Industrial 1681W and Provident Societies Act, 1893, and that it might be worth consideration whether further inquiry should be made into the conditions under which the privilege of registration under that Act is conferred; whether he is aware that the volume of business conducted with the outside public by societies so registered has largely increased since 1905; and whether he is prepared to initiate further inquiry into the matter?
§ Mr. LLOYD GEORGEThe answer to the first part of the question is in the affirmative. I would remind the hon. Member that the Committee in question reported against any alteration of the Income Tax laws in this respect. As regards the latter part of the question, no action has yet been taken on the suggestion thrown out by the Committee in the last paragraph of their Report, and I cannot at present give any undertaking on the subject.