The Gazette 1949-1952

provisions o f the Bill, particularly in regard to the investigation o f titles, and, in general, to point out the complications introduced by Sections 24 to 27 which would lead to further delay in the assessment o f stamp duties. A copy o f the rep­ resentations made to the Minister was sent to each solicitor who is a member o f Dail Rireann. During the debate on the Committee Stage of the Bill in the Dail, it was stated by a deputy that the Incorporated Law Society o f Ireland was not opposed to the rates of duty, and was confining its objection to the technical aspects o f the Bill. The deputy was mistaken in stating that this Society is not opposed to the new rates o f duty. On the contrary, the Council took every opportunity o f impressing upon the Minister the inequitable nature o f the heavy tax on transfers o f land and house property. This is clear from the speech made by the President at the half-yearly meeting on 19th May. When the attention o f the deputy con­ cerned was drawn to the matter, he corrected his speech by a letter in the morning newspaper which had published it. Section 24 o f the Finance Bill alters the rate of stamp duty on leases, and changes the law as declared in the recent case o f O’Sullivan v. the Revenue Commissioners, in which it was decided that the Finance (No. 2) Act, 1947, did not apply to leases. In future, a lease reserving a fine will attract the same rate o f duty in respect o f the fine as a con­ veyance. Sub-section (6) enables the Revenue Commissioners, if they are o f opinion that the rent reserved by a lease is inadequate, to assess it to stamp duty as a voluntary conveyance. The section is presumably intended to prevent the device o f evading stamp duty on a voluntary conveyance by drawing it in the form o f a lease at a nominal rent. Section 25 deals with the same subject matter as Section 24. The object o f the section is to provide for cases in which an instrument falling within Section 24 may have been stamped between the date o f the Budget Resolutions and the date o f the passing o f the Finance Act. The Budget Resolutions have not the force o f law, but the Finance Act when passed w ill be retrospective to the 4th May, the date o f the passing o f the Budget Resolutions. Section 25 provides that instruments falling within Section 24, stamped at the lower rate between 4th May and the date o f the coming into operation o f the Finance Act, must be restamped with the difference in stamp duty within 30 days from the last mentioned date, on pain o f a penalty o f twice the stamp duty. Sections 24 and 25 do not apply to any lease first executed before 4th May, 1949.

P. Mayne, William S. Huggard, Reginald J. Nolan, James R. Quirke, Roger Greene, John D. O’Connell, J. Travers Wolfe, Arthur Cox, Patrick F. O’Reilly, Sean O hUadhaigh, Thomas A. O’Reilly, George A. Overend, Gerald J. O’Donnell, Daniel O’Connell. The following was among the business transacted: Application under Section 18 O n a report from the Court o f Examiners, it was ordered that an application by an intending appren­ tice to the Chief Justice for exemption from the Preliminary Examination o f this Society should not be opposed. Members’ subscriptions O n a report from the Finance Committee it was decided to issue bankers’ orders to members for payment o f their annual subscriptions direct from the members’ bank accounts to the Society’ s account FINANCE BILL, 1949 I n March last, a deputation from the Council was received by the Minister for Finance. The object o f the deputation was to urge upon the Minister that the increased rates o f stamp duty on transfers o f land and house property should be repealed in the Finance Bill, 1 949, and the rates o f duty in force prior to December, 1947, should be restored. A reasoned case for the reduction o f the duties was made by the deputation, and carefully considered by the Minister. As was stated in the President’s speech at the half-yearly general meeting o f the Society on 19th May, the Minister, while appreciating the facts in the case put forth by the Society, was unable, for financial reasons, to accede to the request. It was stated at the interview that the increased stamp duties had yielded over half-a- million pounds in additional revenue during the financial year, 1948-1949. When the Budget Resolutions were introduced, it was seen that the Government did not intend to make any change in the rates o f duty. The Council carefully considered the Budget Resolutions and the Finance Bill, and decided to make representa- tations to the Minister concerning a number of technical difficulties which would arise from the in the Bank o f Ireland. Land Registry delays I t was decided to make further representations to the Minister for Justice concerning the delays in the transaction o f business in the Land Registry, due to shortage o f staff.