Excess Profits Duty and Excess Mineral Rights Duty. By R.
M. Montgomery, K.C., and W. Allen. (Butterworth. 12s. Bd. net.)— The practical value of a Legal text-book is demonstrated by the appearance of a second edition. In this case the authors have had to rewrite their book on the Excess Profits Duty of 1915 because the law has been thrice altered by Parliament and has been modified by numerous decisions in the Courts. We are not surprised at this, inasmuch as the new duty was a greater puzzle to the ordinary man than even the National Insurance Act. The duty has brought vast sums into the Exchequer, but it has been the means of extracting still vaster sums from the public in the shape of inflated prices. The authors touch on some of the vaguely worded provisions which leave the Inland Revenue with far too much arbitrary power of interfer- ence with the methods of a firm, and which have occasioned much litigation. The general theory of the new duty was favourably received, but the obscure and complex Acts under which the duty has been collected do little credit to the Administration.
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