The Gazette 1909-10

The Gazette

of the Incorporated Law Society of Ireland.

[DECEMBER, 1909

Galloway, 147; T. W. FitzGerald, 142;

R. B. White, 140 ;

J. G. Fottrell, 137 ;

C. Franks, 135 ;

A. Lloyd-Blood, 135 ;

W. Meredith, 132;

I. J. Rice, 126 ;

Gamble, 125. And the following to form a

supplemental list to fill vacancies :—A. V.

Montgomery,

110;

R. A. Walker, 99,

E. R. Bate, 98.

Upon the motion of Mr. C. St. G. Orpen,

seconded by Sir George Roche, it was resolved

that the May, 1910, Half-yearly General

Meeting of the Society be held on Friday,

13th day of May.

THE" PRESIDENT,

in moving

the

adoption of the Annual Report of the Council,

said :—Now, Gentlemen, I beg to move the

adoption of the Annual Report.

I assume

that the report, which has been printed and

circulated, has been read by you all, and,

therefore, I will not trouble you and occupy

your time by dealing with the very many

matters that are set out and referred to in

that report. But there are one or two matters

upon which I should like to say a few words :

And the first I would like to speak about—

although it is not the first in the report— is

the Finance Bill (hear, hear). As you are

aware this Finance Bill contains very many

clauses, and by the provisions of this Bill

taxes are increased and fresh taxes are im

posed.

I do not think it would be fair or

reasonable to take up your time by discussing

these taxes—these increases and fresh taxes—

which are clearly set out in the Bill, and

which anyone can understand by reference

to the Bill, and to the Bill alone.

But besides these taxes and increases there

are other provisions in the Bill which, if passed

into law, would alter the incidence of taxa

tion and would cause extra taxation on our

country ;

and these provisions it would be

impossible for anyone to understand merely

by referring to the Finance Bill as introduced.

It would be necessary in some cases, in order

to understand these provisions,

to have

technical knowledge of the subject, and in

all instances to refer to the former Finance

Acts and other Acts. Take, for example, the

Death Duties. These duties are increased,

and the scale of increase is clearly set out in

the Bill and the schedule thereto. But there

is another provision in the Bill which alters

the incidence of taxation, and which you,

gentlemen, members of my profession, will

at once see the importance of if you have not

already considered it. Under this provision

the existing basis of valuation of all tenant

right holdings, of all agricultural holdings in

this country will be altered. As the Bill was

introduced there was no exception to this

rule, and in order to make the meaning clear

I will ask you to bear with me for a moment

while I state what, of course, is known to you

all, what that present basis is.

You know that when anyone dies possessed

of a holding, that when preparing the schedule

of assets, that holding is taken, as valued on

the basis of the Poor Law Valuation.

If that

Poor Law Valuation is less than the rent and

the other outgoings, or does not exceed them,

no duty is paid. Now, that is the present law,

and although the Crown tried, I think, to get

out of that after the passing of the Act of 1894,

you will remember that our Irish Courts held

in the case of the

Attorney-General

Robinson

that that was the correct way to value these

holdings. But a provision is inserted in this

Bill which alters that basis completely, and

substitutes therefor the market value of all

these holdings. Now, speaking again

members of my profession with a knowledge

of the practice, you know at once when you

have fixed the market value the difficulties

which your clients—the next-of-kin and those

interested in the assets—will have to meet.

They will have to get a valuation and try to

show what is the market value. But, passing

that—leaving aside

these difficulties, you

then find that all these holdings in respect of

which no duty has heretofore been paid—all

these would, as the Bill was originally intro

duced, become liable to pay on the market

value, and - that would mean an enormous

increase in the amount of Ireland's annual

contribution each year. This matter came

before the Council,

and

they

thought,

and

I think

rightly thought,

that

this

provision

inserted

was not

clearly

understood, or

that

the

effect of

was

not clearly understood;

and,

con

sequently,

in July last

they passed

resolution which, amongst other matters,

dealt

with

that

very

point

which

I am now directing your attention to ; and

this resolution containing an explanation

with regard to that provision was forwarded

to every member representing Ireland in the

British Parliament, as well as, of course, the