§ SIR HOWARD VINCENT (Sheffield, Central)I beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade if he is aware that rolls of green paper constantly arrive at the London Docks with an outside label, "Paper for the Westminster Gazette "; and whether, in view of the 16th section of the Merchandise Marks Act, 1887, he 494 proposes to take steps to secure that the paper contained in this outer covering shall not be put into circulation bearing printed matter in the English language without a definite indication of the country in which such paper was made or produced.
§ MR. J. WARDBefore the hon. Gentleman replies, may I ask whether he is also aware that rolls of white paper constantly arrive at the London Docks labelled "Five miles of paper for the Daily Mail," and whether he will apply similar regulations to this paper?
§ THE FINANCIAL SECRETARY TO THE TREASURY (Mr. RUNCIMAN, Dews-bury)I am informed by the Board of Customs that the facts are not correctly stated in the first sentence of the Question. The rolls of green paper referred to are not labelled as described, but boar merely an initial letter and a number when cleared by the Customs Department.
§ SIR HOWARD VINCENTasked whether the hon. Gentleman had himself seen this paper arrive at the docks marked as described, as ho himself had, and on whose authority he contradicted the statement in the Question. What was the name of the inspector on whose authority he spoke?
§ MR. RUNCIMANreplied that, as the hon. Member must be aware, at the time the paper was cleared by the Customs it bore only an initial and a number, and not the mark referred to in the Question.
§ SIR HOWARD VINCENTThen I understand that the label is put on afterwards in order to deceive the public.