asked the Prime Minister the total sum of revenue received from the Entertainments Duty since its commencement to the end of the last financial year; what the amount was for that year; and whether, in view of the tax being continued, he can now take steps to encourage and assist deserving movements in dramatic art and education and, as some acknowledgment of our great indebtedness to Shakespeare, undertake to provide from the Entertainments Tax revenue an adequate sum to endow the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in Stratford, and establish and maintain a national theatre in London?

The reveue derived from the Entertainments Duty since its imposition seven years ago is £57,606,000, of which £9,603,000 was collected in the last financial year. I do not favour the extension of Government enterprise to art suggested in the last part of the question, and I am not prepared to regard specific revenues raised for public expenditure generally as in any way connected with particular forms of expenditure.

asked the Chancellor of the exchequer if he is aware that the promoters of an opera for the benefit of a German widow living in Germany are endeavouring to get special concessions in regard to the Entertainments Duty; and whether, in view of the many widows of British soldiers who are in equally poor circumstances, he will assure the House that no concessions will be made?

The Commissioners of Customs and Excise cannot trace any application of the kind described in the question. Such an application, if received, would be dealt with in accordance with the law.