CHANCELLOR FINDS BETTING TAXATION DIFFICULT TO GET

Manawatu Times, Volume LIII, Issue 6666, 20 July 1928, Page 7

CHANCELLOR FINDS BETTING TAXATION DIFFICULT TO GET

Drastic Reductions In the Budget Scheme SURRENDER OP £1,250,000 INVOLVED Aust. Press Assn. —United Service. Received, Thursday, 7.5 p.m. LONDON, July 18. The House of Commons continued to the report stage of the Totalisator Bill as a Government measure. , Mr. W. Churchill, Chancellor of tho Exchequer, caused surprise by tho announcement that in the event of the Bill becoming law he proposed to modify the Budget scheme of duty to the 1 extent of .doubling the present charge of certificates and reducing the betting tax on October 1 from 2 per cent, to 1 per cent, on the racecourse, and from 3J per cent, to 2 per cent, on credit bets. The Chancellor admitted the reduction would involve the surrender of £1,250,000 revenue this year, but ho declared the estimate could , not bo realised if the present rates were maintained. ■' A Difficult Question. Lieutenant-Commander J.' M. Ken worthy (Lab.) asked how much Mr. Churchill having lost this revenue expected to secure through the totalisat or; .' ' , ; •; Mr. Churchill: "That is a difficult question. I trust there will be an improvement in revenue in future.’’ Lieutenant-Commander Kenworthy; "Do you anticipate'an increase in betting as a result of the totalisator f ” : Mr. - Churchill: "No’ I anticipate, a decrease in rascality.” This was presumably ah allusion to complaints of tax dodging. , The House settled down- to a debate on.tho clauses, amid prolonged obstruc-_ tion and then adjourned. The increase in the charge of bookmakers’ certificates probably, will not takevcffcct until next year. ! "/

political correspondents say that Mr. Churchill has decided that the Treasury will take one per cent, of tho earnings of the totalisator. The same rate is fixed for course betting. Dominions and Radio Conference.

Mr. S. Baldwin, tho Prime ■ Minister, told Mr. C. G. Amjnqh (Labi) that he had not’received- the Dominions’ replies respecting the Imperial Wireless Conference report. Ho was anxious for the House to' debate the subject before the recess. Sir Samuel Hoare, the. Air Secretary, in answer to a question, said none of the' Imperial Airways.’ present machines were fitted with slotted 'wings. The Company was fully alive to'the position and had ordered the device for new machines. Nevertheless they had flown three million miles without serious - mishap to a single passenger. . Outlawry or war Treaty. The Foreign Secretary in the afternoon. informed ■ the House as regards the signatures to the proposed multilateral outlawry of war treaty that the British Government would bo happy to sign at such time and. place as might bo agreeable to the Government of the United States. . ■ The text. of tho British reply will be Issued for publication in Friday morning’s papers. It is quite a short document. .- j . , ' , . Tho Irish Free State’s reply was communicated to Washington through the American representative at Dublin on Saturday. Sir .Austen Chamberlain stated that the only treaty negotiations at present taking place with tho United States other than those relating to peaco pact concerned the American'proposals for a new arbitration treaty to replace that of 1908. Those proposals were receiving the careful consideration of the British Government in consultation with the Dominion Governments. ' Sir Austen Chamberlain expressed tho hope that the results of the signature of the renunciation of . wax treaty would be large and effective. In this connection a message states that the reply of the New Zealand Government to the Note from the United States- Government' containing the revised proposals for a treaty for renunciation of war was handed to the United States Charge D’Affaires in London on Wednesday. The text of this reply will ho available for publication In New Zealand to-day simultaneously With publication in London and Washington.