§ Sir R. GOWERasked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury whether he will consider the desirability of providing, by legislation or otherwise, that a licence to an individual to keep a dog shall expire 12 months from the date of its issue, and not at the end of the year in which it is issued, as at present?
§ Mr. HORE-BELISHAThe Dog Licence Duty in England and Wales is not an Imperial, but a local taxation duty. The conditions affecting dog licences are such that I doubt whether my hon. Friend's proposal would be practicable or desirable, but in any case I could not consider the initiation of the legislation which would be necessary to give effect to it unless it were supported by the various local authorities concerned.