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14 1940

FINANCE ACT, 1940

PART IV.

Miscellaneous and General.

Transfer of money from the Road Fund to the Exchequer.

27. —With a view to providing moneys to meet general charges which will fall upon the Central Fund, the sum of one hundred and fifty thousand pounds shall be transferred and paid from the Road Fund to the Exchequer at such time or times in the financial year ending on the 31st day of March, 1941, and in such manner as the Minister for Finance shall direct.

Judgments for the recovery of a tax or duty.

28. —(1) Where, in any proceedings (whether instituted before or after the passing of this Act) for the recovery of a tax or duty under the care and management of the Revenue Commissioners, judgment is given (whether before or after the passing of this Act) against the person against whom such proceedings are brought and such judgment provides for the arrest and imprisonment of that person and a sum is accepted (whether before or after the passing of this Act) on account or in part payment of the amount for which such judgment was given,—

(a) such acceptance shall not prevent or prejudice the recovery under such judgment of the balance remaining unpaid of the said amount, and

(b) such judgment shall be capable of being executed and enforced in respect of such balance as fully in all respects and by the like means as if such balance were the amount for which such judgment was given, and

(c) the law relating to the execution and enforcement of such judgment shall apply and have effect in respect of such balance accordingly, and

(d) a certificate by a secretary or an assistant-secretary of the Revenue Commissioners stating the amount of such balance shall, for the purposes of the enforcement and execution of such judgment, be conclusive evidence of the amount of such balance.

(2) In this section the word “judgment” includes any order or decree.

The Post Office Savings Bank.

29. —(1) Until the Oireachtas otherwise provides, the statutes and statutory orders and regulations relating to the Post Office Savings Bank of the late United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (in this section referred to as the British Post Office Savings Bank) which were in force immediately before the establishment of Saorstát Eireann shall (save as is otherwise provided by this section) apply and be deemed always to have applied, with the necessary modifications (including in particular the substitution, where appropriate, of the Minister for Finance for the National Debt Commissioners), to the Post Office Savings Bank (in this section referred to as the Irish Post Office Savings Bank) formerly carried on by or under the authority of the Government of Saorstát Eireann and, since the enactment of the Constitution, carried on by or under the authority of the Government.

(2) Notwithstanding anything contained in the foregoing sub-section of this section, modifications which have been made since the establishment of Saorstát Eireann in the administration of the Irish Post Office Savings Bank, and in particular modifications in relation to limitations on the amounts of deposits, or in relation to withdrawals, or in relation to deposits by means of postage stamps and savings stamps, shall be deemed to be and always to have been lawful and valid, notwithstanding that such modifications may not have been authorised by the statutes, orders, and regulations applied by the said foregoing sub-section or may not have been made in the manner prescribed by those statutes, orders, and regulations.

(3) Nothing in this section shall operate to render obligatory on the Irish Post Office Savings Bank the provision of services or the undertaking of business of any class provided or undertaken by the British Post Office Savings Bank before the establishment of Saorstát Eireann but not heretofore provided or undertaken by the Irish Post Office Savings Bank.

Savings certificates.

30. —(1) In order to remove doubts it is hereby declared and enacted as follows, that is to say:—

(a) the Savings Certificates Rules, 1926, made by the Minister for Finance on the 3rd day of December, 1926, shall be and be deemed always to have been valid and effective;

(b) all Certificates of the first issue issued under the said Savings Certificates Rules, 1926, or deemed by those Rules to have been issued thereunder, shall be deemed to have been lawfully issued and the extensions made by the Minister for Finance in the years 1928 and 1933 respectively of the period of such Certificates shall be deemed to have been lawful and effective;

(c) the introduction by the Minister for Finance in the year 1931 of the second issue of Certificates and the issue in that year and subsequent years of such Certificates shall be deemed to have been lawful, and the said Savings Certificates Rules, 1926, shall be deemed to apply and always to have applied, with the necessary modifications, to such Certificates;

(d) the introduction by the Minister for Finance in the year 1933 of the third issue of Certificates and the issue in that year and subsequent years up to the passing of this Act of such Certificates shall be deemed to have been lawful, and the said Savings Certificates Rules, 1926, shall be deemed to apply and always to have applied, with the necessary modifications, to such Certificates;

(e) it shall be lawful for the Minister for Finance to continue, after the passing of this Act, to issue Certificates of the third issue, and the said Savings Certificates Rules, 1926, shall apply, with the necessary modifications, to all such Certificates so issued;

(f) the reduction made by the Minister for Finance in the year 1933 of the maximum holding of Savings Certificates from five hundred unit Certificates to three hundred and fifty unit Certificates shall be and be deemed always to have been valid and effective and shall be deemed to have been made by way of amendment of the said Savings Certificates Rules, 1926.

(2) The Minister for Finance may, whenever he so thinks proper, make rules (in addition to the Savings Certificates Rules, 1926) in relation to the issue of Savings Certificates and may by such rules make provision for any matter or thing relating to Savings Certificates for which it appears to him to be expedient to make provision by rules and, in particular, may by such rules amend, vary, or revoke (wholly or partially) the said Savings Certificates Rules, 1926.

(3) The following provisions shall have effect in relation to disputes arising between the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs and the holder of, or a person claiming to be entitled to, a Savings Certificate as to the ownership of such Certificate or the amount repayable in respect thereof, that is to say:—

(a) every such dispute shall be referred to and determined by the Registrar of Friendly Societies;

(b) on any such dispute being so referred, the said Registrar may proceed in the matter ex parte subject to his giving to the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs notice in writing of his intention so to do;

(c) on the hearing of any such dispute the said Registrar shall be entitled to receive evidence (whether oral or written), to administer oaths to witnesses, to summon witnesses, to require the production of documents, and to read and examine all documents produced to him;

(d) the award of the said Registrar on any such dispute shall be final and binding on all parties;

(e) no award of the said Registrar on any such dispute shall be chargeable with any stamp duty;

(f) the Minister for Finance may by order, if he so thinks fit, direct that there shall be charged by the said Registrar a fee or fees in respect of every such dispute heard and determined by him, and the said Minister may by any such order prescribe the amount of such fees, the persons by whom such fees shall be paid, and the manner in which such fees shall be collected and paid;

(g) the Minister for Finance may, at any time, by order amend or revoke any order made by him under the next preceding paragraph of this sub-section or under this paragraph;

(h) every fee paid in pursuance of an order made by the Minister for Finance under this sub-section shall be paid into or disposed of for the benefit of the Exchequer in such manner as the said Minister shall direct, and the Public Offices Fees Act, 1879, shall not apply to any such fee.

Trustee savings banks.

31. —(1) The Minister for Finance may by order appoint a day to be the appointed day for the purposes of this section and references in this section to the appointed day shall be construed as referring to the day so appointed.

(2) In this section—

the express ion “the National Debt Commissioners” means the body functioning in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and known as the Commissioners for the Reduction of the National Debt;

the expression “the Minister” means the Minister for Finance.

(3) As on and from the appointed day the following provisions shall have effect notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in the Trustee Savings Banks Acts, 1863 to 1920, that is to say:—

(a) the trustees of every trustee savings bank shall pay into the Bank of Ireland to a special account in the name of the Minister all moneys which, but for this section, they would be required by the Trustee Savings Banks Acts, 1863 to 1920, to pay into the Bank of Ireland in the names of the National Debt Commissioners;

(b) the Minister may make provision for the opening of the said special account in his name in the Bank of Ireland and may make regulations for the payment of moneys into that special account in pursuance of this section and the withdrawal of moneys therefrom and for the investment of moneys to the credit of the said special account and generally for the management of the said special account;

(c) section 3 of the Savings Bank Act, 1880, shall cease to apply or have effect in relation to trustee savings banks;

(d) there shall be paid to the trustees of every trustee savings bank interest at such rate (not exceeding two and seven-eighths per cent, per annum) as the Minister shall think proper on the moneys paid by such trustees into the said special account;

(e) the Minister may take such steps and make such arrangements as he thinks proper for the inspection, by persons nominated by him, of the books and accounts of every trustee savings bank and for the examination by such persons of the conduct of the business of every such bank, and it shall be the duty of the trustees and officers of every trustee savings bank to afford all requisite facilities for such inspection and examination;

(f) the Minister may, by regulations made by him under this section, require such returns and accounts as shall be specified in such regulations to be made in respect of every trustee savings bank to the Minister at such times as shall be similarly specified, and it shall be the duty of the trustees and officers of every trustee savings bank to comply with such regulations;

(g) it shall be the duty of the trustees and officers of every trustee savings bank to comply with such directions' and instructions in relation to the internal management of such bank and the general conduct of the business thereof as the Minister shall think proper to give for the purpose of ensuring that such bank shall be managed and conducted in accordance with the law applicable thereto.

(4) Regulations made by the Minister under the next preceding sub-section of this section in relation to the special account mentioned in that sub-section may provide that investments of moneys to the credit of the said special account may be made by way of deposit in the Post Office Savings Bank and if such regulations so provide they may further make such provisions as shall be requisite for the payment by the Post Office Savings Bank of interest on moneys so deposited at such rate and over such periods as may, in the opinion of the Minister, be necessary or expedient for the effective administration of the relevant provisions of this section and the regulations made thereunder.

(5) Provisions inserted under the next preceding sub-section of this section in the regulations mentioned in that sub-section shall have effect notwithstanding anything to the contrary or inconsistent therewith contained in any enactment applied by this Act to the Post Office Savings Bank.

Care and management of taxes and duties.

32. —All taxes and duties imposed by this Act are hereby placed under the care and management of the Revenue Commissioners.

Short title, construction, and commencement.

33. —(1) This Act may be cited as the Finance Act, 1940.

(2) Part I of this Act shall be construed together with the Income Tax Acts, and Part II of this Act, so far as it relates to duties of customs, shall be construed together with the Customs Acts and, so far as it relates to duties of excise, shall be construed together with the statutes which relate to the duties of excise and the management of those duties.

(3) Part I of this Act shall, save as is otherwise expressly provided therein, be deemed to come into force on and shall take effect as on and from the 6th day of April, 1940.