§ 3. Captain WEDGWOOD BENNasked the President of the Board of Trade if he will be in a position to announce the decision of the Government on the glove inquiry before the House rises for the summer recess?
§ Sir P. CUNLIFFE-LISTERThe Government have decided that the Reports of any Committees set up in accordance with the Safeguarding of Industries Procedure, whether such Reports recommend the imposition of duties or not, shall not be published until such time as the Government are prepared to introduce legislation to impose duties in any case where the Government decide to recommend their imposition. The object of this course is to prevent so far as possible the undue accumulation of stocks in anticipation of the imposition of a duty.
An exception to this general procedure will be made in the case of the Report on superphosphates, which has already been considered. This will be published forthwith. In view of the findings of the Committee, the Government do not propose to take any further action in this case.
§ Captain BENNWill the right hon. Gentleman kindly answer the question on the Paper, namely, have the Government decided to impose a duty on gloves?
§ Sir P. CUNLIFFE-LISTERIf the hon. and gallant Gentleman will study the answer which I have given, he will see that that is exactly the question with which it deals.
§ Captain BENNWill the right hon. Gentleman tell me what I have asked—whether the Government will, before the House rises, announce a decision?
§ Mr. BASIL PETOMay I ask whether, when the announcement is made, the Government propose to introduce imme- 220 diate legislation to give effect to the finding of the Committee, if any legislation be required?
§ Sir P. CUNLIFFE-LISTERMy hon. Friend will see from my answer that the decision of the Government is that, except in cases where there are special reasons for publishing the Report, no Report of any kind will be published until such time as it is possible to legislate.