§ MR. DILLWYNsaid, he wished to ask the Secretary to the Treasury under what Section of any Statute the Board of Inland Revenue has forbidden Mr. Routledge, of Eynsham Paper Mills, to send out without Excise Survey, half stuff made into slabs similar to those imported free from Russia.
§ SIR STAFFORD NORTHCOTEsaid, that the provision under which this had been done was contained in the Section of the Paper Duty Act, which determined what was to be considered paper. What the hon. Gentleman called half stuff, similar to that imported free from Russia, was not precisely similar, because it might be used for some of the purposes for which paper was employed, which the half stuff imported from Russia, could not. An offer had been made to the manufacturers that they might send out this half stuff if it were cut into strips or other pieces; but they had declined to accept that proposal, and therefore the Board of Inland Revenue treated it as paper, and as such, subject to the provisions of the Paper Duty Act.