§ 89. Colonel Sir ARTHUR HOLBROOKasked the President of the Board of Trade whether his attention has been called to the fact that foreign manufacturers of corrugated paper boxes, by using a certain amount of heavier material than the three-ounce quality on which import duty is payable under the Safeguarding Act and reducing the weight of the rest of the material accordingly, are able to import into this country precisely similar boxes free of duty, owing to the regulation that an article made partly from dutiable material is exempt from duty if one-sixth or more of the total value of the article is represented by non-dutiable material; that this exemption seriously handicaps home manufacturers; and whether he proposes to take any action in the matter?
§ The PRESIDENT of the BOARD of TRADE (Sir Philip Cunliffe-Lister)The answer to the first part of the question is in the affirmative. The imports appear, however, to be trivial in relation to the home production, and I have no evidence that they are sufficient seriously to handicap British manufacturers.