§ SIR HOWARD VINCENTI beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, (1) if he is aware that an inquiry in the United States by a Government Commissioner from Canada has resulted in an official declaration that the Tennessee Coal, Iron, and Railroad Company and the Sloss Steel and Iron Company are contractors 235 for prison labour, and that the appraiser of Canadian customs is to enforce against them the provisions of the Law prohibiting the importation of prison-made goods; and (2) if he will cause the Commissioners of Her Majesty's Customs to be on the alert against consignments from those firms to this Country?
§ THE FINANCIAL SECRETARY TO THE TREASURY (Mr. R. W. HANBURY,) PrestonI have seen a newspaper report to the effect stated in the first paragraph. There is no official information on the subject, but inquiry is being made. The Foreign Prison-made Goods Act, 1897, does not empower the Commissioners of Customs to take action for the enforcement of its provisions until satisfactory evidence of the prison-made origin, wholly or in part, of any importations is tendered to them. Consequently the Commissioners are not in a position to take the initiative in preventing the importation of consignments of iron from the firms in question.