§ Mr. TURTONasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether his attention has been called to the fact that since 1908 the annual block grant of £40,000 to county and county borough councils to cover the cost of collection of local taxation licences has proved to be utterly inadequate, and that in consequence the local authorities have suffered considerable, loss; and whether he is prepared to remedy this by either materially increasing the grant or by allowing the authorities to deduct the cost of collection by a flat rate on a percentage basis?
§ Mr. BALDWINAs my hon. Friend will be aware, the cost of levying carriage962W licences (including motor car licences), which was part of the work for which the £40,000 was given, is now being separately dealt with under the Road Acts, 1920. I have given careful consideration to the case of the other licences involved and I propose to ask Parliament to make the grant for levying these licences as from 1st April, 1921, £60,000 per annum. Legislation will, of course, be needed.