BRITISH POLITICS

Otago Witness, Issue 3613, 12 June 1923, Page 27

BRITISH POLITICS

A PRECAUTION. LONDON, June 5. Dr A. Salter has introduced a Bill in the House of Commons to appoint public certifiers of death in order to prevent premature burial, and to guard against foul play. The doctor issuing a death certificate must have inspected the body and attended the patient at least eight days before death, otherwise the doctor must inform the public certifier, who will inspect the body. TRAFFIC IN HONOURS. LONDON, June 6. The House of Lords read a second time the Bill to Prevent Honours Abuses. Viscount Peel said the Bill might not entirely stop such transactions, which needed a vigorous, healthy public opinion, but the severity of the penalties would prob ably have a most salutary effect in putting a stop to a disreputable, discreditable trade. TAX ON BETTING. LONDON, June 7. The Betting Tax Committee took evidence. Sir Horace Hamilton (chairman of the Board of Customs) elaborating the scheme he outlined to the committee last week, said the Board of Customs suggested tlia-t a certain percentage—say, 10 per cent.—should be levied on all money staked with bookmakers, in addition to issuing bookmakers’ betting office licenses. The lx sard did not propose Government totalisators. Private totalisators would be treated as betting offices, while street betting would remain illegal. Means would be provided whereby, within limitations, cash betting off the course would be re cognised, controlled, and taxed. He believed the present volume of betting totalled over £100,000,000 annually, or 45s per capita of the population. He estimated the total investments on the course during the 1920 Derby at £1,000,000, while the totals at the Grand National, the Manchester Cup, and at Kempton Park ha/1 several times approached £750,000. Ten per cent, of the total betting investments would yield £10,000,000 yearly. Replying to the chairman, Sir H. Hamilton said a large staff would not be necessary to collect license fees and stamp duties. He thought the bookmakers would pass the tax on by shortening their odds, which would affect everybody alike. Bookmakers would not object to 10 per cent, on all the money staked. Mr Rentoul, M.P. : Have you ever considered the possibility of taxing betting news in the newspapers? Sir II Hamilton: No. Mr Rentoul: Would the tax be remitted on scratched horses? Sir H. Hamilton: The Customs Board feels that the intention is the same whether the horse is scratched or not.

EYE-OPENER FOR COMMITTEE. LONDON, June 7. Complete astonishment at the extraordinary amount of betting was the predominant impression among members of the Select Committee of the House of Commons on betting after a vjsit to the Derby, -where they were the guests of the

Jockey Club. They confessed that they had previously no idea of the scale of operations, and expressed regret that it was impossible to devise a schema by which the amount of money which changed hands on the course could be calculated. More than one member was convinced that on a big day like Derby Day it would be impossible to collect a tax on the course, and that means would have to be devised to collect it through other channels. The members conscientiously investigated all the aspects of betting. They cross-questioned bookmakers and interviewed winning jockeys. Apparently a majority did not attempt to gain a first-hand knowledge, though one member confessed that he left a ‘‘tenner’’ behind THE BARTHROOM. LONDON, June 6. The hath as a necessity or as a luxury was the subject of a debate in committee in the House of Commons in considering the Housing Bill. It originated in Mr Wedgwood Benn opposing an amendment that every flat and tenement, must contain a fixed bath. This was defeated. The Labour members, in supporting the amendment, insisted that a bathroom was necessary for a decent, healthy life. The Conservative members pointed out that the conversion of big houses into flats was the only provision in the Bill which was likely to help middle-class folk. If a bath in each fiat were required, conversion would be impossible. Colonel Newman (C.) questioned the necessitv of a bath, pointing out that our great grandfathers were washed twice —once when they were born and once when they died. Major Molloy (C.) said that personally he would rather live in a converted flat without a bath than in the open air. Bathing was not a necessity, but a luxury. Some of the healthiest people in the world never washed. The provision for a fixed bath was an obsession. Some people liked a piano because it gave an air of respectability to their household. DIVORCE LAW REFORM. LONDON, June 8. The House of Commons debated a report from the Grand Committee on Major Entwistle’s (L.) Matrimonial Causes Bill, which makes the sexes equal in relation to divorce, and enables a wife to obtain a decree Tor a husband’s adultery alone, instead of having, as now, to prove desertion or cruelty in addition to misconduct. Major Barnett (C.) proposed a new clause, the effect of which would be not to deprive the husband of the custody of the children solely because he had been guilty of a single act of misconduct. Dr W. A. Chappie (L.), in opposing the Bill, said that not one woman in a hundred would seek for a petition if she was going to lose her children, notwithstanding that it was the husband’s infidelity which had caused the proceedings. Mr J. F. P. Rawlinson (C.) said ho thought easy divorce would be a curse to the country. He suggested that the Bill would produce thousands of collusive divorces, the husbands willingly supplying the evidence. The proposal to add a new clause was defeated by 172 votes to 25. Major Entwistle accepted an amendment providing that a husband could not be divorced for misconduct committed prior to the passage of the Bill. The closure was then applied, and the Bill was read a third time. GENERAL. LONDON, June 7. Mrs Philipson, the new member for Berwick-on-Tweed, took her seat in the House of Commons amidst Ministerial cheers. In the House of Commons the Rent Control Bill was read a second time by 287 votes to 123.