On Wednesday Clause XXXII., which provides that in the case
of " tied " houses a certain proportion of the enhanced duty shall be recoverable by the license-holder from the brewer, led to a prolonged discussion before it was agreed to. As indirect as well as direct obligations are specified as the ground for such recovery, critics of the clause had no difficulty in showing that it would lead both to evasion and oppression. Clause XXXIII., which gives relief to license- holders who have bought their licenses under the Act of 1904, followed. Here Mr. Balfour and others contended that, in addition to the money payments, the value of surrendered licenses should also be taken into account ; but the Solicitor- General refused to give way, on the ground that it was impossible in such cases to reduce the " consideration " to a cash value. The proposal was impracticable because it would necessitate the valuation of things which a valuer had never seen and could not see,—an indiscreet argument which provoked Mr. F. E. Smith's pertinent query : " Had not the Chancellor of the Exchequer at one time contemplated the valuation of unseen and ungotten ' minerals ?"
Previous page
