§ MR. BOLAND (Kerry, S.)I beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade whether he is aware that the Customs Department of the Commonwealth of Australia, in according preference under the new tariff, has prescribed that the importer may be called upon to produce to the proper officer of Customs such evidence as he may require of the origin of goods from the United Kingdom; whether, seeing that the stringent conditions under which the right to use the Irish trade mark is granted render its application to Irish goods an absolute guarantee of origin, he will represent to the Commonwealth Government the desirability of accepting the Irish trade mark as a proof of origin; and whether he will at the same time represent that such recognition will facilitate the separation, for statistical purposes, of Irish imports into Australia from those of other portions of the United Kingdom.
§ MR. LLOYD-GEORGEFull particulars of the present requirements of the Australian Customs Department with regard to the proof of origin of goods in order to enable them to benefit by the preferential tariff are given in the Board of Trade Journal for 30th January, a copy of which I have caused to be furnished to my hon. friend. My right hon. friend the Secretary of State for the Colonies has expressed his willingness to invite the Commonwealth Government to consider the suggestion that the Irish trade mark should be accepted as evidence of the origin of the goods which bear it. He will at the same time call their 862 attention to the point raised in the last part of the Question.