incomes between £400 and £500), and not on £190 (i.e., £350 less the abatement on incomes between £160 and £400).

CLASSES OF UNDERTAKINGS EXEMPT FROM INCOME TAX.—Various public bodies and charitable institutions are exempt from the operations of the Income Tax Acts, and the Auditor must, therefore, see that the tax which has been deducted from any income receivable by these bodies is applied for and returned to them. Friendly societies, trustee savings banks, and industrial and provident societies are also exempt, but building societies are not.

ON THE OTHER HAND, joint stock companies are always assessed upon the amount of their actual profits, and are not entitled to claim either abatement or exemption. The usual practice is for them to deduct income tax from all dividends paid by them, and, of course, income tax should in all cases be deducted from preference dividends, and from debenture and mortgage interest; and the shareholders or debenture-holders whose total income is such as to entitle them to the benefit of exemption or abatement may apply for a return of the tax so deducted.

MODIFICATION OF ORIGINAL ASSESSMENT.When, at the end of the year, it is found that the amount of profits upon which income tax has been paid is in excess of the actual profit for the period just closed, the trader is entitled to apply for a return of the tax so over-paid. In support of this application he must show the average profits earned by him during the past three years, including the year of assessment; and, if this average profit is less than the average profit upon which the assessment has been made, the difference will be refunded. Per contra, the income tax authorities are entitled to make a further assessment where they are satisfied that the original assessment has been insufficient. In practice, of course, this is but rarely done; but in the case of undertakings which are being formed into limited companies, the income tax surveyors sometimes take advantage of the profits disclosed by the prospectus to secure a further payment of income tax on the past year.

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APPENDIX A.

EXTRACTS FROM STATUTES

REFERRED TO IN THE COURSE OF THIS WORK.

GENERAL.

FALSIFICATION OF ACCOUNTS ACT.

38 and 39 Vict. c. 24.

1. That if any clerk, officer, or servant, or any person employed or acting in the capacity of a clerk, officer, or servant, shall wilfully and with intent to defraud, destroy, alter, mutilate, or falsify any book, paper, writing, valuable security, or account which belongs to or is in the possession of his employer, or has been received by him for or on behalf of his employer, or shall wilfully and with intent to defraud, make or concur in making, any false entry in, or omit or alter, or concur in omitting or altering, any material particular form, or in any such book, or any document or account, then in every such case the person so offending shall be guilty of a misdemeanour, and be liable to be kept in penal servitude for a term not exceeding seven years, or to be imprisoned with or without hard labour for any term not exceeding two years.

2. It shall be sufficient in any indictment under this Act to allege a general intent to defraud, without naming any particular person to be defrauded.

It is further declared (section 3) that "this Act shall be read as one with the Act of the twenty-fourth and twenty-fifth of her Majesty, chapter ninety-six," section 82 of which makes it a misdemeanour on the part of any director, public officer, or manager of any body corporate or public company, who shall "as such receive or possess himself of any of the property of such body corporate or public company, otherwise than in payment of a just debt or demand, and shall with intent to defraud, omit to make, or to cause or direct to be made, a full and true entry thereof in the books or accounts of such body

corporate or public company." The following section (83) makes it a misdemeanour on the part of any such person, who shall "with intent to defraud, destroy, alter, mutilate, or falsify any book, paper, writing, or valuable security belonging to the body corporate or public company, or make or concur in the making, of any false entry, or omit, or concur in omitting, any material particular in any book of account or other document." And section 84 makes it a similar offence on the part of any such person who "shall make, circulate, or publish, or concur in making, circulating or publishing, any written statement or account which he shall know to be false in any material particular, with intent to deceive or defraud any member, shareholder, or creditor, of such body corporate or public company, or with intent to induce any person to become a shareholder, or partner therein, or to entrust or advance any property to such body corporate or public company, or to enter into any security for the benefit thereof."

REGISTERED COMPANIES.

THE COMPANIES ACT 1862.

25 and 26 Vict. c. 89.

Application of Table A.

15. In the case of a company limited by shares, if the memorandum of association is not accompanied by articles of association, or in so far as the articles do not exclude or modify the regulations contained in the table marked A. in the first schedule hereto, the last-mentioned regulations shall, so far as the same are applicable, be deemed to be the regulations of the company in the same manner and to the same extent as if they had been inserted in articles of association, and the articles had been duly registered.

Register of Members.

25.-Every company under this Act shall cause to be kept in one or more books a register of its members, and there shall be entered therein the following particulars :

(1) The names and addresses, and the occupations, if any, of the members of the company, with the addition, in the case of a company having a capital divided into shares, of a statement of the shares held by each member, distinguishing each share by its number; and of the amount paid or agreed to be considered as paid on the shares of each member:

(2) The date at which the name of any person was entered in the register as a member :

(3) The date at which any person ceased to be a member :

And any company acting in contravention of this section shall incur a penalty not exceeding five pounds for every day during which its default in complying with the provisions of this section continues, and every director or manager of the company who shall knowingly and wilfully authorise or permit such contravention shall incur the like penalty.

Annual List of Members.

26.-Every company under this Act, and having a capital divided into shares, shall make, once at least in every year, a list of all persons who, on the fourteenth day succeeding the day on which the ordinary general meeting, or if there is more than one ordinary meeting in each year, the first of such ordinary general meetings is held, are members of the company; and such list shall state the names, addresses, and occupations of all the members therein mentioned, and the number of shares held by each of them, and shall contain a summary specifying the following particulars :

(1) The amount of the capital of the company, and the number of shares into which it is divided:

(2) The number of shares taken from the commencement of the company up to date of the summary :

(3) The amount of calls made on each share :

(4) The total amount of calls received:

(5) The total amount of calls unpaid:

(6) The total amount of shares forfeited:

(7) The names, addresses, and occupations of the persons who have ceased to be members since the last list was made, and the number of shares held by each of them.

The above list and summary shall be contained in a separate part of the register, and shall be completed within seven days after such fourteenth day as is mentioned in this section, and a copy shall forthwith be forwarded to the Registrar of Joint Stock Companies.

Register of Mortgages.

43. Every limited company under this Act shall keep a register of all mortgages and charges specifically affecting property of the company, and shall enter in such register in respect of each mortgage or charge a short description of the property mortgaged or charged, the

amount of charge created, and the names of the mortgagees or persons entitled to such charge: If any property of the company is mortgaged or charged without such entry as aforesaid being made, every director, manager, or other officer of the company who knowingly and wilfully authorises or permits the omission of such entry shall incur a penalty not exceeding fifty ponds: The register of mortgages required by this section shall be open to inspection by any creditor or member of the company at all reasonable times; and if such inspection is refused, any officer of the company refusing the same, and every director and manager of the company authorising or knowingly and wilfully permitting such refusal, shall incur a penalty not exceeding five pounds, and a further penalty not exceeding two pounds for every day during which such refusal continues; and in addition to the above penalty, as respects companies registered in England and Ireland, any Judge sitting in chambers, or the Vice-Warden of the Stannaries in the case of companies subject to his jurisdiction, may by order compel an immediate inspection of the register.

Certain Companies to publish Statement entered in Schedule.

44. Every limited banking company and every insurance company, and deposit, provident, or benefit society under this Act, shall, before it commences business, and also on the first Monday in February and the first Monday in August in every year during which it carries on business, make a statement in the form marked D in the first schedule hereto, or as near thereto as circumstances will admit, and a copy of such statement shall be put up in a conspicuous place in the registered office of the company, and in every branch office or place where the business of the company is carried on, and if default is made in compliance with the provisions of this section the company shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding five pounds for every day during which such default continues, and every director and manager of the company who shall knowingly and wilfully authorise or permit such default shall incur the like penalty.

Every member and every creditor of any company mentioned in this section shall be entitled to a copy of the above-mentioned statement on payment of a sum not exceeding sixpence.

List of Directors to be sent to Registrar.

45.-Every company under this Act, and not having a capital divided into shares, shall keep at its registered office a register containing the names and addresses and occupations of its directors or managers, and shall send to the Registrar of Joint Stock Companies a copy of such register, and shall, from time to time, notify to the registrar any change that takes place in such directors or managers.