§ 83. Captain GARRO-JONESasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether instructions have been issued to Customs officials to take record of all silk goods arriving in this country, with a view to making the import duty retrospective; whether he is aware that importers, in the belief that this course is being taken, are unable to quote prices to their customers and, in some cases, are being temporarily compelled to stop their imports; and whether, in order to remove this restraint on trade, he can give an assurance that any retrospective duties which may be imposed will apply only to imports shown to be over and above those received in the ordinary course of business, and not to those which are clearly not calculated to evade the impending duty?
§ Mr. CHURCHILLCustoms officials in the course of their ordinary duties take a record for the purposes of the trade returns of all goods arriving in this country, and these records would be available if any special action in the sense suggested by the hon. and gallant Member were contemplated with regard to silk and artificial silk goods. As stated in my reply of the 6th May to a question of a similar nature put by my hon. and gallant Friend the Member for Torquay on the subject of the McKenna Ditties, action with regard to seeking the authority of the House to ante-date the operation of any of the duties proposed by me in the Budget would depend upon whether the estimate of revenue shows signs of being 2030 prejudiced by excessive importations. I am unable to give the assurance desired in the last part of the question, as I am satisfied that it would be impracticable to give effect to it.