Mr Francis Douglas: I was merely giving an illustration of the way in which a cost had been met. Without developing it further I feel entitled to point out that in another Act of Parliament the cost of providing a public service was met by a charge which was distributed among the owners of the adjacent land roughly in proportion to the benefit received measured by the distance or other factors. It may have been...
Mr Francis Douglas: The Chancellor may certainly count himself fortunate that he is able in the fifth year of the war to introduce a Budget which makes no increase in taxation. That is a unique position. Not content with that, he has actually gone to the extent of making some remission, to which the hon. Member for Duddeston (Sir O. Simmonds) has referred, in the Excess Profits Tax, and a promise of more...
Mr Francis Douglas: When our proceedings were interrupted I was drawing attention to the extent to which the differentiation between Income Tax on earned and unearned incomes had been diminished during the course of the war. I want to go a little further with regard to that and to suggest that no adequate criterion has been devised to cover the whole range of differences between earned and unearned income, and...
Mr Francis Douglas: asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will consider introducing legislation to give those who have suffered loss by burglary or house-breaking the right to claim compensation from the police authority responsible for their protection.
Mr Francis Douglas: Would not such a Regulation have a salutary effect in many cases?
Mr Francis Douglas: asked the Secretary of State for War whether he is aware that English soldiers stationed in Scotland are paid in Scottish banknotes and that on returning to England they lose 1s. on exchanging each £1 note; and what steps has he taken to rectify this.
Mr Francis Douglas: Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that that, in fact, has not been observed?
Mr Francis Douglas: asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether any subsidies were granted last year to keep down the price of commodities other than foodstuffs; what were the commodities and what was the cost.
Mr Francis Douglas: I want to refer again to the question relating to a dependant of a pensioner, excluding a housekeeper. It is perfectly true that a housekeeper is not a dependant. A housekeeper is somebody who is employed, but that is not sufficient to get rid of the point which has been raised. The reason why the dependant is introduced in this matter at all, is because it is a test of need, and because if a...
Mr Francis Douglas: May I, in the first place, add my congratulations to the Government on the preparation of this White Paper, which certainly marks a very great extension and advance in our medical services? It opens up problems of administration and finance and other things which are complex and involved and it also raises the question of relations between the State, the local authorities and the medical...
Mr Francis Douglas: Will the Attorney-General explain the converse case of a man who is employed in Civil Defence work by a local authority, who is called up and goes into the Armed Forces? The Civil Defence Service will, of course, be disbanded after the war. Is the local authority then to be under the obligation of dismissing its permanent staff in order to make room for such men?
Mr Francis Douglas: The point arising out of that speech is whether, in case the Crown refuses to take back a Crown servant, he will have the opportunity of going to the Reinstatement Committee to have the question decided, and, if he is not going to have that right, what remedy will he have?
Mr Francis Douglas: Shall we have this statement before the proceedings on the Bill are completed?
Mr Francis Douglas: asked the Secretary of State for War whether, except in the case of battle injuries requiring immediate treatment, the civilian practice of obtaining written consent to an operation is followed before a soldier undergoes an operation.
Mr Francis Douglas: Is it not desirable that a written consent should be obtained?
Mr Francis Douglas: asked the Secretary of State for War what are the reasons why Mediterranean allowance has been substituted for field allowance and colonial allowance.
Mr Francis Douglas: Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that a captain gets a reduction of 17s. 6d. a week, though his expenses remain precisely the same?
Mr Francis Douglas: asked the Secretary of State for War whether his attention has been called to a case in which some children of Nine Elms, Battersea, were convicted of stealing bombs from an Army dump; and what steps are being taken to make such dangerous articles inaccessible to children.
Mr Francis Douglas: Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that these boys were only nine or 10 years of age?
Mr Francis Douglas: Before we take leave of the Bill, I should like to ask the Ministers who will be responsible for operating it, to do so without any hesitation. It has long been a scandal that our law has been worked on the principle that to waste the time of a judge for an hour or two is a dreadful offence, but that it does not matter if you waste the time of a score of litigants, lawyers and Witnesses and...