PART III.

Miscellaneous and General.

15. —(1) An instrument made under the State Lands (Workhouses) Act, 1930 (No. 9 of 1930) and sealed with the official seal of the Minister for Local Government and Public Health or of a local authority within the meaning of the said Act shall not, by reason only of such seal being affixed thereto, be rendered liable to any higher stamp duty than if it were an instrument under hand only.

(2) This section shall be deemed to have come into force on and shall have effect as on and from the 15th day of April, 1930.

16. —(1) A charging order made by the Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland under section 9 of the Housing (Gaeltacht) Act, 1929 (No. 41 of 1929), shall be exempt from any stamp duty chargeable under the Stamp Act, 1891, or any Act amending the same.

(2) This section shall be deemed to have come into force on and shall have effect as on and from the 20th day of December, 1929.

17. —(1) The Minister for Finance may from time to time as and when he thinks fit invest any moneys for the time being standing to the credit of the Exchequer Account in any bonds, bills, notes, or other securities issued by or on behalf of the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and maturing within twelve months from the acquisition thereof and carrying the direct obligation of the said Government in respect of both principal and interest.

(2) The Minister for Finance may hold any security purchased or taken by him under this section until it matures or may, if and when he thinks fit, realise such security by sale or otherwise before the maturity thereof.

(3) The net proceeds of the realisation (whether by maturity, sale or otherwise) of any security taken or purchased by the Minister for Finance under this section and also all interest or payments in the nature of interest received by the said Minister in respect of any such security shall be paid into the Exchequer.

18. —(1) The Minister for Finance may from time to time, as and when he thinks proper, redeem any security issued under section 13 of the Damage to Property (Compensation) Act, 1923 (No. 15 of 1923), by paying to the registered holder of such security a sum equal to the nominal face value thereof together with the accrued interest thereon, but no such security shall be so redeemed without the consent of the registered holder thereof.

(2) For the purpose of this section interest on securities issued under the said section 13 of the Damage to Property (Compensation) Act, 1923 , shall be deemed to accrue from day to day.

(3) The power of redeeming securities conferred on the Minister for Finance by this section shall be in addition to and not in substitution for any other method of redeeming such securities for the time being authorised or prescribed by law.

19. —(1) Where it appears to the Minister for Finance that the interest accrued during any year of account (whether ending before or after the passing of this Act) from the securities standing to the credit of the Post Office Savings Bank Fund exceeded the total of the interest paid or credited to depositors during such year of account in pursuance of the Acts relating to the Post Office Savings Bank and the expenses incurred in such year of account in the execution of those Acts, the said Minister may in the next financial year after such year of account or (in the case of a year of account which ended before the passing of this Act) in the next financial year after the last of such years of account, appropriate for the Exchequer the whole or any part of the amount of such excess remaining after deducting therefrom such sum (not being less than ten per cent. thereof) as he may think proper to preserve in the said Fund as a provision against depreciation in the value of the securities standing to the credit thereof.

(2) The Minister for Finance may, in the financial year beginning on the 1st day of April, 1931, or in any subsequent financial year, appropriate for the Exchequer (in addition to any appropriation under the foregoing sub-section) the whole or any part of any sum which could have been but was not appropriated by him under this section in any previous financial year.

(3) In this section the expression “year of account” means a period of twelve months ending on any 31st day of December.

20. —(1) The Minister for Finance may by regulations provide that any security which is issued by him (whether before or after the passing of this Act) during the financial year ending on the 31st day of March, 1931, for the purpose of raising any money on loan shall, subject to such limitations and conditions as may be prescribed by such regulations, be accepted in payment of any death duty, and whenever any such regulations are made in relation to any such security any person from whom any sum is due on account of any death duty may, in accordance with and subject to the provisions of such regulations, pay that sum or any part thereof by means of the transfer to such account (in this section referred to as the said account) of the Minister for Finance as shall be prescribed by such regulations of so much of such security as is equal in value at the date of such transfer to the said sum or the said part thereof (as the case may be) to be so paid.

(2) Securities transferred to the said account under this section may be held in the said account or sold, cancelled, or otherwise dealt with as the Minister for Finance shall direct, and the said Minister may by regulations provide for the manner in which such securities are to be so held, sold, cancelled or otherwise dealt with.

(3) The transfer of a security to the said account under and in accordance with this section shall be accepted by the Revenue Commissioners as a cash payment to them of a sum equal to the value of such security at the date of such transfer.

(4) The Minister for Finance shall pay out of the said account to the Revenue Commissioners the value at the date of transfer of all securities transferred to the said account under this section.

(5) All sums paid by way of interest on or redemption of securities transferred under this section to, and for the time being held in, the said account and also all sums derived from the sale or other dealing by the Minister for Finance of or with securities transferred to the said account under this section shall be paid into the said account and shall be applied (so far as may be requisite) in or towards meeting payments which the said Minister is required by this section to make to the Revenue Commissioners out of the said account, and any balance of such sums from time to time standing in the said account and, in the opinion of the said Minister, not then required for meeting the said payments to the Revenue Commissioners shall, as and when the said Minister directs, be paid into the Exchequer in repayment of moneys advanced to the said account from the Central Fund or the growing produce thereof.

(6) There shall be issued out of the Central Fund or the growing produce thereof to the said account such sums as may be required to meet any payments under this section by the Minister for Finance to the Revenue Commissioners out of the said account which are not met under the foregoing sub-section of this section, and so much of the sums so issued as is not authorised by this section to be met by borrowing by the said Minister shall be charged on the Central Fund and the growing produce thereof.

(7) For the purpose of providing, wholly or partly, for so much of the sums authorised by this section to be issued out of the Central Fund or the growing produce thereof as is equal to ninety-three and one-half per cent. of the nominal value of the securities transferred to the said account under this section, the Minister may borrow money by means of the issue of such securities as he thinks proper.

(8) All sums borrowed by the Minister for Finance under the foregoing sub-section of this section shall be paid into the Exchequer and the principal and interest on all securities issued under that sub-section shall be charged on and payable out of the Central Fund or the growing produce thereof.

(9) For the purposes of this section—

(a) the value at the date of transfer of any security transferred to the said account under this section shall be the nominal face value thereof with the addition of any interest thereon accrued due at the date of such transfer but then remaining unpaid, after deducting the amount of any interest thereon which may be receivable by the transferor after that date, and

(b) interest on any such security shall be deemed to accrue from day to day.

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

22. —(1) This Act may be cited as the Finance Act, 1930.

(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 British Statutes and Acts of the Oireachtas 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, be deemed to come into force on and shall take effect as on and from the 6th day of April, 1930.