§ Mr. Garro Jonesasked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury when the Government intends to make a statement of its policy upon the findings of the 1937 Committee on Medicine Stamp Duties?
§ Captain WallaceI would refer the hon. Member to the statement which my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer made on this matter in his last Budget speech, to which he is not at present in a position to add.
§ Mr. Garro Jonesasked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury whether he will state the references to the last six law actions by the Inland Revenue against firms, companies, or persons under the Medicine Stamp Acts; whether the commissioners have ever issued rulings upon the interpretation of those Acts; and, if so, whether such rulings are now available for reference by persons interested?
§ Captain WallaceI regret that it is not possible to state the references to the last six cases under the Medicine Stamp Acts, which were heard by courts of summary jurisdiction, without inquiry of the courts concerned, as such cases are not as a rule reported. If the hon. Member is referring to the leading judicial decisions on this subject he will find a list in the "Memorandum on the law relating to the Medicine Stamp Duties" prepared by the Board of Customs and Excise for the information of the Select Committee on Medicine Stamp Duties which reported in 1937. The memorandum is reproduced at page r of the Minutes of Evidence—House of Commons Paper 54 of 1937.
As regards the second and third parts of the question, I am sending the hon. Member a copy of an explanatory leaflet on the subject of the Medicine Stamp Duty which is published by the Board of Customs and Excise.