CONSCIENCE CALLS.

Shannon News, 13 November 1925, Page 4

CONSCIENCE CALLS.

TENTS PAY UP. Now and again the Chancellor of the Exchequer acknowledges in the newspapers the receipt of a certain amount as conscience money. What is "conscience money?" On the face of things, of course, it is pecuniary restitution made on account of the workings of conscience. In a London newspaper a glimpse was given of a remarkab'e case in point. Some contrite person mentioned two women by name, ;.:id then added:, "Advertiser deeply rc.;-rets doing some acts for which they were accused, and may have been expeilcd."

A few days later the two women stated through the *ame paper that they were gratified to see the advertisement, and that they "freely for. gave" the person, who inserted it "for the wrong done over fifty years ago." The parties were ail at school together. Many bodies receive such money from time to time. An unknown correspondent once sent £SO to the Lon. don and North-wester! Railway Company's office at New Street station, Birmingham, for something he had done, thereby creating great amaze, ment among the cm. loyees, who had never known of a s. uilar case. But before the proverbial seven days had expired they had an ther .shock. To the same office came- £3, the amount of a fare hitherto in; paid, plus interest for seven years.

Another curious communication of the same class reached the solicitors to the MacDougall '."rust, Perth. It contained 2/-, accom: anicd by the fol. lowing note: —"Two millings taken by mistake from the la'o Miss MacDougall, of Perth." As :hat person had then been dead-for i venty years, the sender must have i.ad the mistake on his (or her) cons/ience for a long time. Many of the amounts received by tlie Chancellor of tli3 Exchequer are temitted in similar crcumstances. An instance was £14,000 in a lump sum, representing three years' profits on smuggling transact: ins, which was sent anonymously. True conscience r.oney also was a payment of £32,000 because it was forwarded voluntarily to the Chancellor by some unknown person, who ex. plained that it was f. >r evasion of the duties on alcoholic liruors. This little windfall took place shortly after the discovery of several huge frauds on the Excise by breweis.ana others. But a good deal of the conscience money received by ilie Chancellor of the Exchequer is not such, in the ordinary sense of the term, because it is paid involuntarily. ~, The most remarkable instance on record, perhaps, was one which happened many years ago. An artless office-seeker applies to a member of the Cabinet for an appointment, in the Customs or the Post Office, en. closing with his letter a £5 note. The request was ignored, whereupon the candidate brought an action to recover his money. He was then charged with attempting to bribe a Cabinet Minister; but when the case came, on the Civil Service Commissioners intimated that the prosecution would'be withdrawn if the magistrate would 'order the £5 to be paid into the Exchequer as conscience money. This was done, and consequently the place hunter was credited, under his initials only, with mucti more delicacy of feeling than he actu. ally possessed. Generally, however, the so-called conscience money received by the Chancellor of the Exchequer is for income tax, and is paid to avoid prosecution. This method of compounding' fraud was introduced more than a cen. lury ago, and by means of it large sums havte bjeen recovered for the State. Conscience money has amounted to more than £400,000 a year, and pro ■ babiy even this total lias been exceeded. Once, at least, there has been a single payment of £?5.000, though this may have been for something other than arrears of income tax.