Monday, 1 May 1922
The House met at a Quarter before Three of the. Clock, Mr. SPEAKER in the Chair.
Read the Third time, and passed.
"to confirm certain Pilotage Orders made by the Board of Trade under the Pilotage Act, 1913, relating to pilotage in the Pilotage Districts of Blyth and Buckie, and in those under the...
I beg leave to present a petition from the urban district council of Twickenham, calling attention to the burdens inflicted upon trade and commerce by the present high rate of taxation, and...
2. asked the President of the Board of Trade the value of Egyptian yarns over 40s.-counts exported from Lancashire to Germany in the year 1921; the value of fabric gloves exported from Germany to...
9. asked the President of the Board of Trade whether cheap lenses imported for use with pocket lamps are held by his Department to be liable to key industry duty; and, if so, on what grounds,...
10. asked the President of the Board of Trade whether he is aware of any price-fixing arrangements being in force amongst the manufacturers comprising the association which is seeking protection...
12. asked the President of the Board of Trade whether his attention has been called to the fact that, since the Safeguarding of Industries Act Committee held its public inquiry regarding imported...
21. asked the President of the Board of Trade if he can state the industries to which the committees appointed under the Safeguarding of Industries Act have recommended that Part II of the Act...
22. asked the President of the Board of Trade whether his attention has been called to a resolution passed by the National Farmers' Union to the effect that Part II of the Safeguarding of...
95. asked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury if he can state approximately the cost incurred in connection with the administration and defence of the Safeguarding of Industries Act up to...
Mr. L'ESTRAMGE MALONE: 3. asked the President of the Board of Trade whether his attention has been drawn to recent statements in the Press regarding the activities of the American and other...
5 and 6. asked the President of the Board of Trade (1) whether the Government policy is that all Customs tariffs should be published in clear terms, as set forth in the London memorandum of the...
7. asked the President of the Board of Trade whether he is aware that the Hungarian Government in 1881, 1895, and 1914, and the City of Budapest in 1910 and 1914, borrowed in London from British...
25. asked the Prime Minister whether he is now in a position to publish the Report made in January last by the committee of lawyers who were appointed in August last by the Supreme Council to...
30. asked the Prime Minister whether he will consider giving a day to the discussion of the Motion on the Order Paper in the name of the hon. Member for the Central Division of Kingston-upon-Hull...
76. asked the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs under what Treaty Bulgaria was promised an exit to the Ægean Sea?
71. asked the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs the total cost to date, approximately, of the Allied troops and commissions in Upper Silesia; what is the approximate monthly cost of...
Mr. DOYLE: 17. asked the President of the Board of Trade whether he can give a Return of the quantities of dyestuffs admitted by the Licensing Committee appointed under the Dyestuffs Act of the
11. asked the President of the Board of Trade if he can give the total value of imports of foreign manufactured goods for the months of January, February and March of 1914, 1920, 1921 and 1922;...
18. asked the President of the Board of Trade whether His Majesty's Government still holds $3,000,000 6 per cent, first mortgage 15-year gold bonds in the British America Nickel Corporation;...
Mr. DOYLE: 20. asked the President of the Board of Trade whether he is aware that in many countries almost entirely dependent on imports for their milk supplies the importation of machine-skimmed...
26. asked the Prime Minister whether his attention has been drawn to the fact that the only opportunity of discussing the grants to British universities, the position of women students and...
Mr. MALONE: 27. asked the Prime Minister whether he is aware that full particulars of the Russo-German agreement were published in the "Izvestia" in Moscow on 5th April; whether Mr. Hodgson,...
34. asked the Lord Privy Seal if the Russian Government claim the right to forbid fishing within 12 miles of the Russian coast; and if some of His Majesty's ships have been sent to protect...
Mr. GIDEON MURRAY: 39. asked the Lord Privy Seal whether his attention has been drawn to a statement in the Press that a sum of£500,000 has just been assigned by the executive of the Third...
Mr. G. MURRAY: 37. asked the Lord Privy Seal whether, in view of the illness of the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and his consequent inability to attend the Genoa Conference, any steps...
40. asked the Lord Privy Seal whether it is the intention of the Government to introduce legislation during the present Session to give effect to the recommendations of Lord Cave's Committee on...
Sir F. HALL: 43. asked the Lord Privy Seal whether his attention has been called to a letter, B/H548, recently published in the Press, which was sent on the 3rd July, 1919, by the Central Control...
45. asked the Secretary for Mines what was the total coal production for the first three months of this year; how the figures compare with the same months of 1921; can he state what were the...
46. asked the President of the Board of Education whether he can state how many of the 26,470 ex-service men who were sent to the universities for study at the expense of the State have been...
Sir SAMUEL ROBERTS: 49. asked the President of the Board of Education whether a teacher who is already qualified for a pension under the School Teachers (Superannuation) Act, 1918, in that he is...
50. asked the President of the Board of Education whether he is aware of the urgent need for the provision of facilities for secondary education in the industrial district of Bedlingtonshire,...
Sir J. D. REES: 51. asked the President of the Board of Education whether his attention has been called to the difference between his estimate of£75,450,000 for cost to rates and taxes of...
52. asked the President of the Board of Education whether, having regard to the need to accelerate the repair of school furniture and as a means to provide employment in the furnishing trades, be...
53. asked the President of the Board of Education whether lie is aware that the new form on which the local education authorities require to submit their education accounts was not issued until...
62. asked the. Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs why the Foreign Office is refusing passports to Turkey to Members of Parliament when other people not in Parliament and not in...
63. asked the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if his attention has been directed to statements in the Press in the past few days to the effect that a section of the Greek army in...
56. asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Transport if he will state the aggregate amount of expenditure on roads and bridges obtained from local rates and from the direct taxation...
Mr. MALONE: 57. asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Transport whether he is aware of the discomfort and difficulty of travelling on omnibus and underground routes at certain...
60. asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Transport whether he has any reply from the railway companies as to whether they intend to grant during the ensuing holiday season any of...
61. asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Transport whether his Department can bring any pressure upon the railway companies in order to compel them to grant cheaper railway fares...
77. asked the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether his attention has been called to a report in the Press of a Japanese offensive against the Far Eastern Republic, 150 miles north...
78. asked the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether his attention has been called to the reports of a recrudescence of slavery and the slave trade in Abyssinia; whether any report...
Captain TERRELL: 79. asked the Minister of Agriculture in how many counties agreements between the farmers and the labourers have been registered; in how many agreements have been reached but not...
81. asked the Minister of Agriculture whether he is now in a position to report on the subject of the appointment of a committee of inquiry to investigate the question of the great disparity in...
84. asked the Minister of Agriculture if he is aware that the action of his Ministry in ordering the cessation of payment of travelling allowances to members of County Agricultural Committees...
Lieut-Colonel A. MURRAY: 85. asked the Minister of Agriculture whether his attention has been drawn to the prosecution recently at Nottingham of a retired police superintendent and a butcher for...
86. asked the hon. Member for the Pollok Division of Glasgow, as representing the First Commissioner of Works, whether, in view of the very long connection of the family of Mrs. Orford with the...
Lieut.-Colonel MURRAY: 88. asked the Secretary for Scotland when legislation will be introduced dealing with the recommendations of the Game and Heather Burning (Scotland) Committee?
Mr. G. MURRAY: 89. asked the Secretary for Scotland under what regulations clerks of education committees in Scotland have become pensionable officers; what amount is at present expended by the...
90. asked the Minister of Health whether his attention has been called to the growing frequency of notices that houses and rooms will not be let to tenants with children or with the possibility...
91. asked the Minister of Health whether his attention has been called to the frequent cases of poisoning by carbon monoxide gas; whether he has seen the statement that this is apparently due to...
92. asked the Minister of Health whether his attention has been called to the neglectful manner in which the Dental Board are dealing with applications for registry which have extended over...
93 and 94. asked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury (1) whether, for the purpose of selling the Gretna factory and townships en bloc, he has caused an independent valuation of the subjects...
96. asked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury what was the average price of issue of the 3½ per cent. Conversion Loan; what was the amount of Sinking Fund to be provided at the end of...
98. asked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury whether he is aware that a sum of£150 has been deducted for Income Tax from the capital sum of£500 which was awarded to Lieut.-Colonel...
99. asked the Minister of Pensions for what reasons widows of royal naval officers who served during the War, but who had previously retired, and, after being called up for the War, died as a...
Mr. TERRELL: 101. asked the Minister of Pensions whether the Government have now considered the proposals for the funding of pensions; and if he has any statement to make on the subject?
Sir F. HALL: 102. asked the Minister of Pensions whether wounded or disabled men who are in receipt of treatment allowances, if they have to absent them selves from treatment owing to illness not...
103. asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Admiralty when it is proposed to revert to the rates for commutation of retired pay that were in force prior to July, 1920?
(by Private Notice) asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the Treasury have issued an Order that senders of parcels posted in Northern Ireland for places in Great Britain and the Isle of...
asked the Lord Privy Seal (1) if he is aware of the facts which led up to the death of Mrs. W. J. Talbot, of Mount Talbot, County Roscommon, on 9th or 10th April; if so, will he state these facts...
Colonel NEWMAN: (by Private Notice) asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether he has been in communication with the Government of the Irish Free State as to the massacres of Protestants in...
Committee to consider of authorising the payment out of moneys provided by Parliament of any expenses of the Secretary of State under any Act of the present Session to make better provision for...
Resolved, That the Proceedings of the Committee of Ways and Means be exempted at this day's Sitting from the provisions of the Standing Order (Sittings of the House)."— [Mr. Chamberlain.]
Sir SAMUEL ROBERTS reported from the Committee of Selection: That they had added the following Members to Standing Committee A (in respect of the Local Government and other Officers'...
Considered in Committee.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER (Sir Robert Home): In presenting to the Committee my financial proposals for the current year, it is essential that I should give some brief survey of the year...
4.0 P.M.
Having dealt with the fortunes of the year, I ought to give the Committee some indication of the Debt position. The surplus of revenue over expenditure in 1921–22, as I have said,...
I take external debt first. A year ago it stood at£1,161,563,000; in March, 1922, the figure was£1,090,184,000, a reduction of£71,379,000. All these figures are at par of exchange....
As regards the internal debt there has been a very satisfactory reduction both in the floating debt and in the amount of early maturing debt. As everyone can understand, these two forms of debt...
I now come to the financial year 1922–23, and I begin with the estimates of expenditure. The figures for the Supply Services are already before the Committee. They are for Ordinary...
Turning now to the subject of revenue, on the existing basis of taxation I estimate the revenue at£956,600,000, of which£866,600,000 is Ordinary revenue and£90,000,000 Special...
Before I address myself to the major questions upon which the Committee is probably anxious to obtain information, I will deal with certain minor modifications. As regards Entertainments Duty, a...
There is also a matter arising out of Corporation Profits Tax with which I must trouble the Committee. It will be in the recollection of the Committee that when the Corporation Profits Tax was...
There are also a few important alterations in the Income Tax law and a few minor modifications which I have to submit for the approval of the Committee. I will deal with them in order. A decision...
Turning now to another topic, hon. Members are, no doubt, aware that there has been no general re-assessment of land and house property to Income Tax, Schedule A, outside the Administrative...
I will now deal with a subject which is connected with agricultural burdens. The Committee will, no doubt, remember that this subject raised considerable Debate in this House last year. There...
I propose also to bring into force, concurrently with the re-assessment to which I have referred, that is, in 1923–24, certain provisions with regard to the allowances to be made in respect...
I turn to the subject of charity legacies. Representations have been made to me, particularly by the hospitals, as to the position which has arisen out of the decision of the House of Lords in...
Just a word with regard to the Excess Profits Duty. As I have explained to the House, there is a very large sum in arrear. I recognise one could do nothing but injury by being too exacting at the...
5.0 p.m.
When I have given effect to these various concessions, I am left with an estimated surplus of£38,300,000. The Committee will remember I have not found anything for the redemption of debt out...
I have to address myself to another consideration. Unemployment is widespread. It is breaking the hearts and embittering the lives of hundreds of thousands of our workmen. The professional and...
If that view be adopted it means that I shall be left with a surplus of£38,300,000 for the reduction of taxation. How ought it to be applied? I have not been without advice on this subject....
I now have left out of my surplus something under£6,000,000. What can I usefully do with it? Although I do not attach great importance, from the point of view of ultimate incidence, to the...
Accordingly the ultimate balance sheet for 1922–23 on the basis of my proposals will now be: Revenue … £910,775,000 Expenditure … £910,069,000 Leaving a balance...
Motion made, and Question proposed, That in lieu of the Customs Duty now payable on tea, there shall, on and after the fifteenth day of May, nineteen hundred and twenty-two, until the first day...
Resolved, That, in lieu of the existing Customs Duties on cocoa, there shall, on and after the fifteenth day of May, nineteen hundred and twenty two, he charged the following reduced duties, that...
Resolved, That, there shall, on and after the fifteenth day of May, nineteen hundred and twenty-two—
Resolved, That the duties of Customs specified in the first column of the following table, which were imposed by Part I of the Finance (No. 2) Act, 1915, and continued by Section one of the...
Resolved, That the additional duties of Excise upon medicines imposed by Section eleven of the Finance (No. 2) Act, 1915, and continued by Section two of the Finance Act, 1921, until the first...
Resolved, That the duty charged on payments for admission to entertainments shall extend to— (a) payments for admission to an entertainment, which are made to some person other than the...
Resolved, That— (a) Income Tax shall be charged for the year beginning the sixth day of April, nineteen hundred and twenty-two, at the rate of five shillings in the pound, and the same...
Resolved, That Income Tax chargeable under Case III of Schedule D shall be computed, in the case of the year of assessment in which the profits or income first arise, on the full amount of the...
Resolved, That— (a) Such profits or gains arising or accruing from an office, employment or pension as are now chargeable to Income Tax under Schedule D (other than profits or gains...
Resolved, That any income— (a) of which any person is able, or has at any time since the fifth day of April, nineteen hundred and twenty-two been able, by the exercise of any power of...
Motion made, and Question proposed, That where a reasonable proportion of the actual income from all sources for any period ending on any date subsequent to the fifth day of April, nineteen...
Motion made, and Question proposed, That— (a) Interest at the rate of 5 per cent, per annum without deduction for Income Tax shall be charged on Excess Profits Duty and Munitions Exchequer...
Motion made, and Question proposed, That it is expedient to amend the law relating to the National Debt, Customs, and Inland Revenue (including Excise), and to make further provision in...
Order for Second Reading read.
Resolved, "That this House do now adjourn."—[Colonel Leslie Wilson.]
Debates in the House of Commons are an opportunity for MPs from all parties to scrutinise government legislation and raise important local, national or topical issues.
And sometimes to shout at each other.