Tynwal D Court
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TYNWAL D COURT. DOUGLAS, THURSDAY, MAY 5, 1898. Present (in the Council): His Excellency the Lieut.-Governor (President of the Court), Deem ster Gill, the Attorney-General, the Receiver- General, and the Vicar-General ; (in the Keys) Messrs John Joughin (Acting-Speaker), A. W. Moore, T. Clague, T. Allen, .1. C. Crellin, D. Maitland, E. H. Christian, W. Quayle, J. R. Kerruish, J. A. Mylrea, J. T. Cowell, J. R. Cowell, James Mylchreest, W. Quine, J. Qualtrough, J. D. Clucas, E. T. Christian, J. J. Goldsmith, R. Cowley, R. Corlett, and F. G. Callow. Mr Story, Clerk to the Council, and Mr Gelling, Secretary to the Keys, were in attendance. PROCEDURE. 'The Governor : I propose that we should go on with the agenda as far as possible to-day, so as to lighten it when we next meet. The two important points are—first of all—the Bills Lw signature, in order to obtain the Royal assent, and the second important point is the resolution with regard to the Customs duties. I do not think either of those matters will take a long time, and afterwards we shall pi oceed as far as possible with the other business on the agenda. BILLS SIGNED. The following Bills were submitted for signa- ture ;—Merchandise Mc.rks; Bishop Barrow's Charity (Girls' High School); Port Erin and Port St. Mary Light ; Education ; St. Matthew's Church Bill. TITHE COMMUTATION BILL. The Governor : The Acting-Speaker has called my attention to some little inaccuracies in the wording of one of the Bills, and I have given directions that they shall be corrected according to the original Bill passed by both branches. Mr R. Cowley : May I be allowed to point out that there is another inaccuracy as well. The Bill has been before us on several occas- ions-- Procedure.—Bills Signed.—Tithe Commutation Bill. 350 TYNWALD COURT, May 5, 1898 . The Governor : I think I must interrupt thc, hon. member. It will be corrected according to the Bill signed by me, and passed by the House of Keys. (Hear, hear.) *Mr R. Cowley : There is a mistake which may have occurred through the Bill being passed several times through the House. The Governor : I am afraid we cannot dis- cuss this in the Court. I will see if there is any mistakes in the Bill, and see that they aro corrected myself. Mr R. Cowley : The mistake which I wish to point out The Governor: You cannot in this Court re- fer to a Bill that has been passed by the Legis- lature. If it is not according to that, it will he corrected; if it is according to that, it will go up for the Royal assent as passed by the Legislature. Tt is rot a question for discussion. *Mr R. Cowley : I wished to point out that there is an error in it as compared with what was passed by the House of Keys. rho Governor You cannot discuss that. Mr J. R. Cowell: Is the Bill before us now? The Governor : It is not. The matter dropped. TOBACCO DUTIES. The Governor : In consequence of the action which has been taken in the Parliament of Eng- land with regard to the Customs duty on tobacco, it will be my duty directly to call upon the Attorney-General to move the resolution which stands in his name. I do not propose to go at all into the details of this question to- day. The details will be put before you, as they should be, in due order, when I make my financial statement. I shall only say at present why I think it is necessary we should pass this resolution to-day. The Customs authorities tell me that if we do not agree to this arrangement, which has been made by the British Parliament, and fall in with the alteration in the duties they will have to take tobacco out of the com- promise and the allowance which is now made by virtue of the agreement which was come to, I think, in 1895 by my predecessor, Sir West Ridgeway, and which was certainly very good in many ways for the Island. I should be very sorry to see that agreement disturbed. Another reason is this, that I think it would be extremely inconvenient—almost impossible in fact—to levy a separate tax with regard to those duties with- out much expense, and I believe that the pre- Tobacco Duties. TYNWALD COURT, May 5, 1898. 351 sent arrangements under the agreement made— the compromise, as it is called by the Customs —is convenient to us, and also most beneficial to the Island. If I thought we could wisely help ourselves, I would not propose this reduc- tion. I do not think we could help ourselves ; I think we should hurt ourselves if we resist what we are asked to do. Otherwise I should at once ask you to refuse what we are asked to do. But I have thought very carefully over this question, I have used the greatest care and the greatest thought ss to what is best for this Island, and, personally, I have no doubt what- ever as to the wisdom of passing the resolution now before us. The Attorney-General : I beg to move:— That, in lieu of the duties of Customs now pay- able on tobacco, there shall, on and after the six- teenth day of May, one thousand eight hundred and ninety-eight, be charged, levied, and paid upon tobacco imported into this Is'e. the duties follow- ing (that is to' say):— Tobacco, manufactured, viz.:— Oigars, the pound £0 5 0 Cavendish or Negrohead, the pound 0 3 10 Cavendish or Negrohead, manufac- tured in bond, the pound 0 3 5 Other manufactured tobacco, the pound 0 3 5 Snuff containing more than thir- teen pounds of moisture in every one hundred pounds weight there- of, the pound 0 3 2 Snuff not containing more than thirteen pounds of moisture in every one hundred pounds weight thereof, the pound 0 3 10 Tobacco, unmanufactured, viz.:— Containing ten pounds or more of moisture in every one hundred pounds weight thereof, the pound 0 2 8 Containing less than ten pounds of moisture in every one hundred pounds weight thereof, the pound 0 3 0 This resolution, I think, must have been antici- pated by every member of the Court, and gen- erally by the public at large, as soon as the Chancellor of the Exchequer had made his Budget speech. It is quite obvious that in the matter of tobacco—and the same really applies to tea—that we cannot possibly have, under existing arrangements, a higher rate of duty than that prevailing in the United Kingdom That arises from the arrangements existing be- tween the Treasury and ourselves. Now, the present resolution is drawn up under the Isle of Man Customs Act of 1887—an Act of the Imperial Legislature. That Act enables the Tynwald Court to pass a provisional resolution Tobacco Duties, 352 TYNWALD COURT, May 5, 189?. with reference to the tariff of the Customs. I daresay it will be remembered that that Act was procured in order to enable the Tynwald Court to act with promptitude, instead of having to face the delay of procuring an Act of the Inn penal Legislature. By the provisions of the Act to which I have referred, the Tynwald Court is empowered "to impose, abolish, or vary any Customs duties in the Isle of Man, with the consent of the Commissioners of her Majesty's Treasury, by resolution passed by such Court." That resolution remains opera Live for six months, or, if Parliament be then sitting, until the end of the current session of Parliament, -unless it is terminated by an Act of the Imperial Parliament being passed pre- viously, or by the publication of a Treasury minute to the effect that it is not probable that such an Act shall be passed. I thought it better to remind the Court, as a matter of this sort does not often come before it, that that is the powe,: under which we are acting at the present juncture. Now, in order to see the inevitabilit, of this resolution, you have only to take a very cursory glance at the history of the duties on tobacco. It will be remembered that previous to 1892 the policy had always been to keep the duties in the Isle of Man lower than those in the United Kingdom. (Mr J. R. Cowell : Hear, hear.) That was done in order to secure the payment of the revenue in the Isle of Man. Unless we had adopted that policy, we should probably have lost the great bulk of our rev- enue, because there is practically no way of col- lecting it, unless you can hold out some induce- ment for the payment of duties here instead of in the United Kingdom, or under some such ar- rangement as that which was come to in 1895— an arrangement which, I submit, was very bene- ficial to the Isle of Man. In 1892 the duties were levelled up as regards tobacco and tea, and then it became necessary to adopt a differ- ent principle altogether with regard to the collection of the revenue. And, first of all, it will be remembered that a sum was fixed upon between the Government of the Isle of Man and the Customs, and that is the amount to be paid to us in respect of duty. Afterwards questions arose between us and the Imperial Government as to whether or not we were receiving too much.