The Film Renter and Moving Picture News (May-Jun 1923)

June 23, 1923. THE FILM RENTER & ‘MOVING PICTURE NEWS. y | “Tax Revision. rand ‘Reduction Defeated. AGAINST THE DE FRECE SCALE occupying cheaper seats. This meant a loss to the industry and to the Government. It was not fair to compare entertainment with beer, sugar, or tea. They were commodities that would keep. The entertainment industry had to procure, purvey, and pay for something which had to be sold on a given ' date, at a certain place, at a given hour, or it lapsed, and the industry suffered. Lieut.-Com. Astbury protested against the statement that the 4 notices from kinema people at the time of the election were intimidatory: no such communication reached him. He did not think the country would appreciate the levity with which the question had been treated by the Financial Secretary. The Entertainments Duty, in many cases, amounted to 25 per cent. | of the capital of the company. He did not support the proposals \ for abolition, but pleaded that the Government should agree to HY the reduction of the tax. \ Panic of Government Supporters. : Mr. Neil Maclean began very pungently by observing that i he was not going to keep for very long those who were either ie going to keep or break -their pledges. The state of the benches ‘ opposite exhibited the panic into which the Government had “i been driven. Pledges had been given not to the kinema trade, i but to constituents, and-members were bound in honour to keep their promises. He was going to vote for abolition, believing 7 that the remission of the tax would be passed on to the public. ; The Prime Minister wound up the debate, admitting that the is Eintertainments Duty weighed heavily upon many people, and ti stating that it was a matter for consideration as soon as money i was available, but that this year it was impracticable to deal with it. The question was then put, and the amendment was q negatived by 153 votes to. 274. No Concession. Sir Walter de Frece’s amendment, set out at length in Tur Fit Renrer a fortnight ago, was reached on Tuesday evening. The mover claimed that the scale of duties as proposed helped poorer and humbler people to obtain cheaper and better entertainment and passed on to the public all the benefits that would © accrue from the adoption of the scale. The figures produced by the Financial Secretary the previous evening were those of the ‘' gilt-edged investments "’ of the business, and were not representative. For one kinema that was a paying concern there were forty on the verge of bankruptcy. The slightest encouragement from the Chancellor of the Exchequer would encourage him to withdraw his amendment (Hon Members : ** Nol No! "’) He had had an offer of a Select Committee and had refused it. If uothing in the shape of the scale was offered him he must divide the committee. , i Sir W. Joynson Hicks said that Sir Walter de Frece’s amend ment would cost two millions a year. The Government had ‘not the money to make that concession. It was true that a Select Committee was asked for and refused. He would be prepared during the current year to consider fresh facts that might arise, and these facts would be carefully considered next year. Mr. Entwistle, who had sponsored another amendment, supported the amendment of Sir Walter de Frece, and, after a complaint by Mr. Thomas of the flippant manner in which the matter had been treated on the previous night by the Financial Secretary, the House divided. Ayes, 183; Noes, 258. Full Lists of ‘‘Ayes’’ and ‘‘Noes.”’ The following list shows how members voted : Ayes (for Sir W. de Frece’s amendment): Adams, D.; Adamson, Rt. Hon. William; Adamson, W. M. (Staff., Cannock); Alexander, A. V. (Sheffield, Hillsbro’); Ammon, Charles George ; Attlee, C. R.; Barker, G. (Monmouth, Abertillery); Bellairs, Commander Carlyon W.; Benn, Captain Wedgwood (Leith); Bonwick, A.; Briant, Frank; Broad, F. A.; Bromfield, William; Brotherton, J.; Brown, James (Ayr and Bute); Buchanan, G.; Burgess, S.; Burnie, Major J. (Bootle); Butler, J, R. M. (Cambridge University); Buxton, Charles (Accrington); Buxton, Noel (Norfolk, North); Cape, Thomas; Chapple, W. A.; Charlton, H. C.; Clarke, Sir E. C.; Collie, Sir John; Collins, Sir Godfrey (Greenock); Collison, Levi; Cotts, Sir William Dingwall Mitchell; Cowan, D. M. (Scottish Universities) ; Darbishire, C. W.; Davies, Alfred Thomas (Lincoln); Davies, David (Montgomery); Davies, J. C. (Denbigh, Denbighshire) ; Davies, Rhys John (Westhoughton); Davison, J. KE. (Smethwick); Dudgeon, Major C. R.; Duffy, T. Gavan; Dunean, C.; Ede, Janes Chuter; Edmonds, G.; Edwards, C. (Monmouth, Bedwellty); Emlyn-Jones, J. E. (Dorset, N.); Entwistle, Major C. F.; Fairbairn, R. R.; Falconer, J.; Gilbert, James Daniel; Gosling, Harry; Graham, D. M. (Lanark, Hamilton); Graham, W. (Edinburgh, Central): Gray, Frank (Oxford); Greenall, T.; Greenwood, A. (Nelson and Colne); Grenfell, D. R. (Glamorgan); Griffiths, T. (Monmouth, Pontypool); Groves, T.; Grundy, T. W.; Hall, F. (York, W.R., Normanton); Hall, G. H. (Merthyr Tydvil): Hamilton, Sir R. (Orkney and Shetland); Harbord, Arthur; Hardie, George D.; Harris, Percy A.; Hartshorn, Vernon; Hastings, Patrick; Hay, Captain J. P. (Cathcart); Hayday, Arthur; Hayes, John Menry (Edge Hill); Herbert, S, (Scarborough); Herriotts, J.; Hill, A.; Hillary, A. E.; Hinds, John: Hirst, G. H.; Hodge, Rt. Hon. John; Hughes, Collingwood; Jarrett, G. W. S.; Jenkins, W. (Glamorgan, Neath); Jenkins, W. A. (Brecon and Radnor); John, William (Rhondda, West); Johnston, Thomas (Stirling); Jones, Henry Haydn (Merioneth); Jones, J. J. (West Ham, Silvertown); Jones, Morgan (Caerphilly); Jones, R. T. (Carnarvon): Jones, 'T. I. Mardy (Pontypridd); Jowett, F. W. (Bradford, East); Jowitt, W. A. (The Hartlepools); Kenworthy, Lieut.-Commander J. M.; Kenyon, Barnet; Kirkwood, D.; Lambert, Rt. Hon. George; Lawson, John James; Leach, W.; Lee, F.;. Lees-Smith, H. B. (Keighley); Lowth, T.; Lunn, William; MacDonald, J. R. (Aberavon) ; Macdonald, Sir Murdoch (Inverness); M’Entee, V. L.; McLaren, Andrew; Maclean, Neil (Glasgow, Govan); March, §.; Marshall, Sir Arthur H.; Maxton, James; Middleton, G.; Millar, J. D.; Mond, Rt. Hon. Sir Alfred Moritz; Morel, E. D.; Morrison, R. C. (Tottenham N.); Mosley, Oswald; Muir, John W.; Murnim, H.; Murray, R. (Renfrew, Western): Oliver, George Harold; Paling, W.; Parkinson, John Allen (Wigan): Parry, Lieut.-Colonel Thomas Henry; Perkins, Colonel E. K.: Phillips, Vivian; Ponsonby, Arthur; Potts, John S.; Pringle. W. M. R.; Rees, Sir Beddoe Richards, R.; Richardson, R. (Houghton-le-Spring): Riley, Ben; Ritson, J.; Roberts, C. H. (Derby): Roberts. Frederick 0. (W. Bromwich): Roberts, Rt. Hon. G. H. (Norwich); Robinson, Sir T. (Lancs., Stretfortl); Robinson, W. C. (York, Elland); Rose, Frank H.; Royce, William Stapleton; Saklatvala, S.; Salter, ‘Dr. A.; Serymgeout, E.; Sexton, James; Shakespeare, G. H.;