The War Damage Bill
In view of the magnitude of the measure and its highly tech- nical difficulties the War Damage Bill may be held to have had an extraordinarily quick passage through all stages in the House of Commons. Property-owners who have suffered loss through enemy action now know within reasonable limits where they stand. For the vague promise given in the first place that the Government would pay compensation at the end of the war to the best of its capacity is substituted an exact undertaking based partly on insurance and partly on Govern- ment compensation. Since the compulsory insurance premiums on fixed property are in effect a tax levied on all property-owners it may be held that the letter as well as the spirit of the original promise is fulfilled. It was objected in the Committee stage that the Bill, as at first drafted, did less than justice to those whose property was totally destroyed, offering them only a value-payment " based on the pre-war value, which might at the end of the war be much less than the replacement cost. The difficulty is to be met by empowering the War Damage Commission to increase the payment with the approval of the Treasury and of Parliament. The limit of advances against urgent need is raised from £5oo to £800, and the liability of mortgagees to insurance contributions has been revised upwards.
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