DEATH DUTIES ON WOODS. 39 



remaining perfect to produce new shoots," does not now pay 

 either estate duty or succession duty. It will be observed that 

 the word " underwood " is omitted from the clause imposing the 

 obligation to pay duty. 



As the new clause applies to the estates of persons dying on 

 or after 30th April 1909, it supersedes the nineteenth section of 

 the Finance Act, 1911, which is accordingly repealed. A re- 

 adjustment of the duties will be necessary where estates with 

 woods have become liable to duty in the interval, and in respect 

 of which any payment to account has been made. 



The official interpretations of the words, "all necessary out- 

 goings since the death of the deceased," have given much 

 trouble and are still unsatisfactory. At first these outgoings 

 were limited to the expenses of sale, felling and drawing out of 

 the timber, and the restoring of fences, ditches, roads and gates 

 injured by these operations. Later the expenses of replanting 

 were included, provided these expenses were reasonable and 

 were required to maintain the woods in the state in which they 

 were at the time of the death. Both of these interpretations are 

 inadequate, because their author has failed to give effect to the 

 words, " since the death of the deceased." Felling and re- 

 planting may be separated from the date of death by a long 

 interval of years, but there must have been necessary outgoings 

 during that interval. The words should be held to cover the 

 expenses of management and up-keep of the woods from the 

 time of the death until they are converted into cash. The heir 

 or trustee gets possession of the woods as " a going concern," 

 and he pays duty on the net moneys (profit), if any, received 

 by him after deducting all outgoings necessary to maintain 

 this going concern, so that he in turn may pass it on to his 

 successor, theoretically unimpaired in value. These outgoings 

 would include all expenses of up-keep and management which 

 a proprietor would naturally incur who managed his woods 

 according to the best advice available to him. On most estates 

 a separate account is kept in the estate books for woods, in 

 _ which are entered on the one side, foresters' and workmen's 

 wages, and all expenses of management and up-keep, and on 

 the other, all sums received for the produce of the woods. 

 This account, duly certified by some competent authority if 

 required, could be used with advantage in connection with 

 the settlement of the duties, but of course the expenses of 



