MR. FARQUHARSON (Dorset, W.)I beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade whether imported pictorial advertisements are subject to the Merchandise Marks Act; whether he is aware that, at a cost of £7,000, the posters advertising Constantinople at Olympia were brought from the United States, and each bear in large letters their marks of origin as having been lithographed at Cleveland, U.S.A.; and whether, for the information of printers and lithographers in this country, he will cause a separate record to be kept of such imports in future?
§ MR. BRYCEAll goods are subject to the Merchandise Marks Act, which, however, applies only where misleading marks are in question. I am not aware of the circumstances under which placards and advertisements relating to the exhibition at Olympia are imported; but if the facts be as stated in the question they go to show that there has been in the present case no infringement of that Act. The article referred to does not seem, at present, to be of sufficient importance to require a separate record; but if the hon. Member can supply me with any information tending to show that it is of such importance, the matter will be considered in the autumn by the Committee which annually revises the list of articles so recorded.