§ MR. EATONsaid, he wished to ask the Vice President of the Board of Trade, If his attention has been drawn to a statement lately published calling in question the accuracy of the Board of Trade Returns of Foreign Ribbons imported into this country; what is the system pursued by the Customs House authorities in order to ascertain the net weight of silk and satin ribbons imported; and, whether the Returns of those articles, as published by the Statistical Department of the Board of Trade are to be looked upon as substantially correct or not?
§ MR. STEPHEN CAVEin reply, said, his attention had been called to this statement by the hon. Member for Coventry, and he had, in consequence, caused inquiries to be made at the Customs. He found that the Customs authorities obtained their information with regard to silks, as in the case of other articles free of duty, from the person who cleared the goods for the merchant and passed the entry. The net weight was taken from the gross weight, allowance being made for tare. When duty was charged this computation was, of course, accurate, and in the case of velvets, where the same method of packing continued, the Returns were still very correct. They were so, too, when made by some one acquainted 309 with the custom of the trade, but when made by mere carriers they were, no doubt, less accurate. It did not, however, follow that, because two parcels of the same gross weight were returned at different net weights, there was necessarily inaccuracy, because some were packed in wood, others in paper. The Customs did their best to obtain precision, and sometimes opened parcels and insisted on amended entries. When the unit of entry system prevailed Returns were more accurate, on account of the penny stamp, but this had been given up, as an impediment to trade. The invoice was of no assistance, as silks and ribbons were not sold by weight, but by the piece or length. These Returns were so far useful that they enabled a pretty accurate comparison to be made between the imports of different years. The Statistical Department of the Board of Trade could, of course, only be responsible for compiling correctly the Returns in the Customs registry, the accuracy of which they had no means of testing.