FINANCE ACT 1917.

SECOND SCHEDULE (s. 7 (1)).

EXCISE LIQUOR LICENCES ENTITLED TO RELIEF.

The following licences specified in the First Schedule to the Finance (1909-10) Act 1910:

Wholesale dealers' licences for spirits, beer, or wine.

Retailers' on-licences for spirits, beer, or wine.
Retailers' off-licences for spirits, beer, or wine.
Passenger vessel licences taken out annually.

CHAPTER XXXII.

An Act to grant Money for the purpose of certain Local Loans out of the Local Loans Fund, and for other purposes relating to Local Loans. [2nd August 1917.]

BE it enacted by the King's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

1. GRANTS FOR PUBLIC WORKS.-(1) For the purpose of local loans, there may be issued by the National Debt Commissioners the following sums, namely:(a) For the purpose of loans by the Public Works Loan Commissioners, any sum or sums not exceeding in the whole the sum of one million pounds:

(b) For the purpose of loans by the Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland, any sum or sums not exceeding in the whole the sum of three hundred thousand pounds.

(2) The sums so issued shall be issued during a period ending on the day on which a further Act granting money for the purposes of those loans comes into operation, and in accordance with the provisions of the National Debt and Local Loans Act 1887 (50 & 51 Vict. c. 16).

2. CERTAIN DEBTS NOT TO BE RECKONED AS ASSETS OF LOCAL LOANS FUND.Whereas it is expedient that the principal of the several local loans specified in the Schedule to this Act should, to the extent specified in the last column of that Schedule, not be reckoned as assets of the local loans fund established under the National Debt and Local Loans Act 1887; therefore, the principal of the said loans shall to that extent be written off from the assets of the local loans fund, and the provisions of section fifteen of the said Act shall, so far as applicable, apply thereto.

3. REMISSION OF ARREARS OF PRINCIPAL AND INTEREST IN RESPECT OF EYEMOUTH HARBOUR LOAN.-Whereas in pursuance of an agreement made in the year eighteen hundred and ninety-two the sum of ten thousand pounds was advanced by the Public Works Loan Commissioners to the Eyemouth Harbour Trustees on the security of the harbour revenues with the collateral security of the Fishery Board for Scotland:

And whereas by an arrangement confirmed by section three of the Public Works Loans Act 1901 (1 ̊ Edw. 7, c. 35) the liability of the Eyemouth Harbour Trustees in respect of the said loan was extinguished without prejudice to the liability of the Fishery Board for Scotland to repay that loan, and, in consequence thereof, the said collateral security is the sole security for the repayment of the said loan:

And whereas the terms of the said collateral security are embodied in a memorandum of agreement between the Secretary for Scotland and the Public Works Loan Commissioners, dated the eleventh day of March eighteen hundred and ninety-two, whereby a portion of the "surplus herring brand fees," as defined in clause three of the said memorandum, was pledged in security for the repayment of the said loan with interest by the instalments and at the times mentioned in the security given by the Eyemouth Harbour Trustees for the said loan, and it was provided that the said portion of the "surplus herring brand fees" of any one year should only be applicable to the repayment of the one-fiftieth part of principal and interest on outstanding principal falling due under the security for the said loan in the same year, and should not be applicable to the repayment of arrears of principal:

7 & 8 GEORGE 5, CHAPTER 32.

And whereas the said portion of the "surplus herring brand fees" so pledged as aforesaid was in the year ending the thirty-first day of March nineteen hundred and seventeen insufficient to discharge in full the instalment of principal with interest which fell due under the security for the said loan in that year, and the principal sum of two hundred pounds, with interest amounting to one hundred and sixty-nine pounds four shillings and sixpence, now remains unpaid, and under the terms of the said memorandum of agreement is irrecoverable:

Therefore the said principal sum of two hundred pounds shall be extinguished, and the said arrears of interest amounting to one hundred and sixty-nine pounds four shillings and sixpence shall be remitted.

4. RATE OF INTEREST ON FUTURE LOCAL LOANS NOT ON THE SECURITY OF LOCAL RATES.-Notwithstanding anything in any other Act the provisions of section one of the Public Works Loans Act 1897 (60 & 61 Vict. c. 51) (which relates to the rates of interest on future local loans on the security of local rates) shall apply to a loan made out of the local loans fund otherwise than on the security of local rates as they apply to a loan made out of that fund on such security, and where under any special Act any loan made out of the said fund is repayable by means of an annuity or rentcharge payable for any period the amount of the periodical payment on account of the annuity or rentcharge, and the redemption value of the loan, shall in the case of a loan made after the commencement of this Act be calculated by reference to the rate of interest payable in respect of the loan as fixed by the Treasury under the said section as mended by this section.

5. SHORT TITLE-This Act may be cited as the Public Works Loans Act 1917.

SCHEDULE (s. 2).

PART I.

LOANS BY THE PUBLIC WORKS LOAN COMMISSIONERS.

Loan under the Harbours and Passing Tolls Act 1861 (24 & 25 Vict. c. 47).

Loans under the Land Law (Ireland) Act 1881 (44 & 45 Vict. c. 49, s. 31).

CONSOLIDATED FUND (NO. 4) ACT 1917.

CHAPTER XXXIII.

An Act to apply a sum out of the Consolidated Fund to the service of the year ending on the thirty-first day of March one thousand nine hundred and eighteen.

[2nd August 1917.]

Most Gracious Sovereign, WE, Your Majesty's most dutiful and loyal subjects, the Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in Parliament assembled, towards making good the supply which we have cheerfully granted to Your Majesty in this session of Parliament, have resolved to grant unto Your Majesty the sum hereinafter mentioned; and do therefore most humbly beseech Your Majesty that it may be enacted, and be it enacted by the King's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

1. ISSUE OF £664,265,560 OUT OF THE CONSOLIDATED FUND FOR THE SERVICE OF THE YEAR ENDING 31ST MARCH 1918.-The Treasury may issue out of the Consolidated Fund of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and apply towards making good the supply granted to His Majesty for the service of the year ending on the thirty-first day of March one thousand nine hundred and eighteen, the sum of six hundred and sixty-four million two hundred and sixty-five thousand five hundred and sixty pounds.

2. POWER FOR THE TREASURY TO BORROW.-(1) The Treasury may borrow from any person, by the issue of Treasury Bills or otherwise, and the Bank of England and the Bank of Ireland may advance to the Treasury on the credit of the said sums, any sum or sums not exceeding in the whole six hundred and sixty-four million two hundred and sixty-five thousand five hundred and sixty pounds.

(2) The date of payment of any Treasury Bills issued under this section shall be a date not later than the thirty-first day of March one thousand nine hundred and eighteen, and section six of the Treasury Bills Act 1877 (40 & 41 Vict. c. 2) (which relates to the renewal of bills), shall not apply with respect to those bills.

(3) Any money borrowed otherwise than on Treasury Bills shall be repaid, with interest not exceeding five pounds per cent. per annum, out of the growing produce of the Consolidated Fund, at any period not later than the next succeeding quarter to that in which the money was borrowed.

(4) Any money borrowed under this section shall be placed to the credit of the account of the Exchequer, and shall form part of the said Consolidated Fund, and be available in any manner in which such Fund is available.

3. SHORT TITLE.-This Act may be cited as the Consolidated Fund (No. 4) Act 1917.

CHAPTER XXXIV.

An Act to amend Section 74A of the Naval Discipline Act.

[2nd August 1917.]

BE it enacted by the King's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

1. AMENDMENT OF S. 74A OF NAVAL DISCIPLINE ACT.-Section 74A of the Naval Discipline Act, which relates to the suspension of sentence, shall be amended as follows:

(1) By the insertion in paragraph (b) thereof, after the words "committing authority," where they first occur, of the words "or an officer holding such command as the Admiralty may by regulation prescribe," and the insertion in the same paragraph after the words "committing authority" where they secondly and thirdly occur, of the words "or officer."

(2) By the insertion at the beginning of paragraph (c) of the words "Subject to regulations made by the Admiralty," and by the insertion in the same paragraph, after the words "committing authority," of the words "or an officer holding such command as the Admiralty may by regulation prescribe."

7 & 8 GEORGE 5, CHAPTER 34.

(3) By the substitution in paragraph (b) of the word "more" for the word “less." (4) By the insertion at the end of the section of the following provisions :"Where a person has been sentenced to penal servitude or imprisonment or detention and an order of committal has been issued, the Admiralty or the committing authority or an officer holding such command as the Admiralty may by regulation prescribe may order the sentence to be suspended, and in such case the person whose sentence is suspended shall be discharged and the currency of the sentence shall be suspended until he is again committed under the same sentence, and the foregoing paragraphs (b), (c) and (d) of this section shall apply in like manner as in the case where a sentence has been suspended before an order of committal has been issued.

"Where a sentence is suspended under this section, whether before or after committal, the Admiralty or, subject to any regulation or direction which may be issued by the Admiralty, the committing authority or officer by whom the sentence is suspended may, notwithstanding anything in section fifty-three of this Act, direct that any penalty which is involved by the punishment of penal servitude or imprisonment or detention either shall be or shall not be remitted or suspended."

2. PRINTING AND CONSTRUCTION OF NAVAL DISCIPLINE ACT.-(1) Every enactment and word which is directed by this Act to be substituted for or added to any portion of the Naval Discipline Act shall form part of that Act in the place assigned to it by this Act, and the Naval Discipline Act, and all Acts which refer thereto, shall after the commencement of this Act be construed as if that enactment or word had been originally enacted in the Naval Discipline Act in the place so assigned, and, where it is substituted for another enactment or word, had been so enacted in lieu of that enactment or word, and the expression "this Act" in the Naval Discipline Act shall be construed accordingly.

(2) A copy of the Naval Discipline Act with every such enactment and word inserted in the place so assigned shall be prepared and certified by the Clerk of the Parliaments and deposited with the rolls of Parliament, and His Majesty's printers shall print in accordance with the copy so certified all copies of the Naval Discipline Act which are printed after the commencement of this Act.

3. SHORT TITLE.-This Act may be cited as the Naval Discipline Act 1917.

CHAPTER XXXV.

An Act to amend the Law with respect to Customs in the Isle of Man.

CHAPTER XXXVI.

[21st August 1917.)

An Act to amend section one of the Police Reservists (Allowances) Act 1914, as extended by subsequent enactments. [21st August 1917.]

BE it enacted by the King's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

1. INCREASE OF WEEKLY ALLOWANCE TO WIVES AND CHILDREN OF MARRIED CONSTABLES IN NAVAL OR MILITARY SERVICE.-(1) In calculating the maximum amount of a weekly allowance that may be granted under section one of the Police Reservists (Allowances) Act 1914 (4 & 5 Geo. 5, c. 34), as extended by any subsequent enactment in respect of any married member of a police force who, being a reservist, has been called out, or who has entered or re-entered, enlisted or re-enlisted, in any of His Majesty's naval or military forces for the purposes of the present war, the total weekly amount which that member was receiving from the police funds at the time when he was called out, entered, re-entered, enlisted, or re-enlisted shall be computed as if any increase in the scales of pay of members of the police force made, and any war bonus granted to the police force, since that time had been payable at

1

POLICE CONSTABLES (NAVAL AND MILITARY SERVICE) ACT 1917.

that time, and the amount of any such weekly allowance may, if the police authority think fit, be increased within the limits allowed by this provision.

(2) Any weekly allowance so granted may, in the case of the police authority receiving notice of the constable being dead or missing, be continued, notwithstanding anything in the said section one, for a period not exceeding twenty-six weeks after such notice has been so received.

(3) In addition to granting the allowances authorised under the said section one as so extended, it shall be lawful for a police authority to make contributions out of the police fund to any institution or fund by or out of which provision is made for the education or advancement of orphans of men to whom the said section as so extended applies.

(4) This section shall have effect as from the fifteenth day of January nineteen hundred and seventeen.

2. SHORT TITLE, CITATION, AND EXTENT.-(1) This Act may be cited as the Police Constables (Naval and Military Service) Act 1917, and the Police Constables (Naval and Military Service) Acts 1914 and 1915 and this Act may be cited together as the Police Constables (Naval and Military Service) Acts 1914 to 1917. (2) This Act shall not extend to Ireland.

CHAPTER XXXVII.

An Act to provide for the dissolution of the Statutory Committee established under the Naval and Military War Pensions, &c., Act 1915, and for the transfer of their powers, duties, and functions to the Minister of Pensions, and for purposes connected therewith. [21st August 1917.]

BE it enacted by the King's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

1. DISSOLUTION OF STATUTORY COMMITTEE.-As from such date as may be fixed by His Majesty by Order in Council (hereinafter referred to as the appointed day), the Statutory Committee constituted by the Naval and Military War Pensions, &c., Act 1915 (5 & 6 Geo. 5, c. 83) (hereinafter referred to as the principal Act) shall be dissolved, and there shall be transferred to the Minister of Pensions all the powers, duties, and functions of the Statutory Committee except such as are by this Act transferred to the committee to be constituted under this Act, or as are conferred on the Statutory Committee by the provisions of the principal Act which are repealed by this Act, and the enactments relating to the powers, duties, and functions so transferred shall apply accordingly, subject to the following modifications:

(i) References to separation allowances payable out of public funds shall be construed as references to separation allowances payable out of money voted by Parliament for navy and army services:

(ii) References to funds at the disposal of the Statutory Committee shall be construed as references to moneys provided by Parliament for the purposes of the Ministry of Pensions.

2. CONSTITUTION AND POWERS OF SPECIAL GRANTS COMMITTEE.-(1) The Minister of Pensions shall as soon as may be after the passing of this Act constitute for the purposes of this Act a committee which shall be known as the special grants committee, and shall consist of such number of persons, not being more than twelve, as the Minister shall determine.

(2) In appointing the members of the committee the Minister of Pensions shall have regard to the desirability of including among their number persons who have acquired special knowledge as members of the Statutory Committee, or of any subcommittee thereof, or of a local committee.

(3) As from the appointed date there shall be transferred to the special grants committee those functions of the Statutory Committee which are specified in paragraphs (a), (b), (ƒ), (g) and (h) of subsection (1) of section three of the principal Act, and all questions which may arise with respect to the amount of any grant or allow