, 1876-05-20

IN Luo uISb pldCG, Vie l1CULu0 u6IlN6u from the
inheritance duty is very insignificant, and l. in the
next place, the rates Of the duty are now quite
high enough. Therefore he had made up his
mind to vote against this Ordinance and let
the matter be as it is.
The President did not think that the Council
would share that opinion. The motives ap-
pended to the Draft explain the reasons that
recommend the motion. 1t should always be
our aim to keep in pace with the laws of
Denmark. Those laws are the law Of the
land here unless where the peculiar circum.
stances Of the country make it inadvisable to
do so, we ought to try to keep the laws in force
here as much as possible in unison with the
laws valid in Denmark; and lawyers coming out
here will have imbibed and adopted the spirit of
those laws, and the less difference in regard to
civil matters between them and the colonial le-
Q~islature, the better and easier will it be for those
lawyers to adapt themselves to our peculiar
affairs. BY way of information he would here
observe, that prior to the Colonial Law, all legis-
Iati7e enactments for the Mothercountry were
sent out here to be reported on by the WeStindia
Government, to recommend or disrecOmmend
them and in doing that, it was observed as a
general principle that the a rules should
be made applicable to the Islands too, of course
with exception of those instances where local
circumstance made it impossible to apply those
laws Of the MOthercOuntry, or where they
were incompatible With our wants and require
ments. He could not consider this case as
being of the latter kind. The same considera.
tions which made these duties a fair taxation
on inheritance in Denmark, are valid also here.
He then gave a detailed statement of the
enaotments contained in the Ordinance of 1906,
and showed the difference to be established by
this Draft, and in connection Herewith he
mentioned O proposal that had been made in
the Colonial Council of ST. Thomas to raise
the duty on inheritances to grand parents, their
children and grand children, from 4 to 6 p.
ct. and to impose a duty Of s p. CT. on inherit
tanoes to more distant relatives or n~on-reIa-
tiVes q proposal which the Government had
not adopted, as it was inconsistent with the
principles of the laws for Denmark and it was
impossible for any one to decide with absolute
certainty, whether 4 or s p. CT. was the most
just number.
lst Member for Christiansted's Country Dis
triot Coulter must still adhere to his first
stated opinion. His reason is not for the sake
of going against the laws Of Denmark, but be-
cause the whole matter is of minor impOr-
lance 10 legislate on, and he could not think
that the Government would take it amiss
If the Draft were not to be passed, the less so,
as the matter has originated in the Colonial
Council of St. Thomas. In looking over the
Budget, it will be seen that inheritance dues
have for 3 years averaged only $l05 it is not
worth the while to spend time and words on
such a petty item. Then again, the Draft it.
self and now with the amendments proposed
to it, is so unintelligible, that he for one and
some others besides himself had not been able
to make head or tail of it. lie therefore in.
tended to vote against it of course, he did
not expect the Council to follow him and vote
as be will do.
The Chairman The Draft has been intro
duced by the Government, it is the amend.
ment sub No. 2 which has originated from
the Committee of the Colonial Council in
st. Thomas.
The President had not meant to say that
the HOme Government would take it amiss if
this ordinance were not to be passed, he had
merely intended to urge, that in point of prin.
ciple we should always try to have the same
laws here as in the Mothercountry. 1t might,
perhaps, have been better to wait with This
until we get a whole new system of
taxation but when once introduced. he
could see no reason why we should not adopt
the measure.
Ord Member for Christiansted IH0maonl.
As from the different expressions TODAY there
appears to be no likelihood of arriving at a
conclusion Of the matter, he would propose
that the Draft be referred to a Committee of
3 Members.
The Chairman thought it would be a bad
practice. for the Council to drop into, to refer
matters at the End discnsSion To q Comn,ittoo