§ No customs duties shall be charged on the importation of articles which are shown to the satisfaction of the Commissioners to have been awarded abroad to any person for distinction in art, literature, science, or sport, or for public service, or otherwise as a record of meritorious achievement or conduct, and to be imported by or on behalf of that person.—[Mrs. Tate.]
§ Brought up, and read the First time.
§ 6.50 p.m.
§ Mrs. TATEI beg to move, "That the Clause be read a Second time."
On the Committee stage of the Finance Bill I moved a Clause designed to exempt from Import Duty, trophies, cups and medals given in recognition of distinguished service by British subjects abroad, and imported by them or on their behalf into this country. The Financial Secretary was kind enough to tell me that it was the wish and intention of the Chancellor of the Exchequer to accede to my request and to grant such exemption, but that he could not accept the wording of my Clause as it was not sufficiently wide. The Clause has now been redrafted and fully covers the intention of my original Clause and covers also, I think, every Act under which such trophies might be taxed. I hope, therefore, that it will now meet the approval of the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Financial Secretary.
§ 6.52 p.m.
§ Mr. H. WILLIAMSI beg to second the Motion.
I supported the Clause in the Committee stage, and I did so because of an experience I had when I was at the Board of Trade. The captain and mate of an English ship had by great gallantry saved the lives of a number of American sailors. The headquarters were at Hong Kong. The American Government, in accordance with its custom, presented a gold chronometer to the captain and a pair of binoculars to the mate. These were sent to the Governor of the Colony, who presented the chronometer to the captain, but by that time the mate had left for England. Accordingly, the American binoculars were consigned by the Governor of the Colony to this mercantile marine officer, care of the Board of Trade. The binoculars were dutiable articles and 551 we witnessed the anomaly of a man who was receiving a gift from a foreign Government for an act of great gallantry being called upon to pay duty. Obviously, we could not ask him to pay the duty, but hon. Members will appreciate that the Board of Trade legally had no funds whereby to pay the duty. I am not going to explain in what way the difficulty was overcome. There was no particular generosity, but we conspired over the matter, and the man received the binoculars. I was so much impressed with that incident that I have the greatest possible pleasure in supporting this Clause, so that that kind of thing cannot happen in the future.
§ 6.55 p.m.
§ Mr. HORE-BELISHAThe words of the Clause which the hon. Lady has now moved are wider than the original words. They cover articles liable to any Customs Duty and not merely to duty under the Import Duties Act. That is the first extension of my hon. Friend's Clause. Its terms are sufficiently wide to cover awards for acts of bravery, for physical or intellectual achievements or for public service. That is to say, the Clause will fully carry out all that the hon. Lady ever had in mind, and will make a case such as the hon. Member for South Croydon (Mr. H. Williams) has just narrated impossible in the future. Anyone in this country who- wins an award for some meritorious act abroad will be able to bring that award into this country without payment of Customs Duty. I congratulate the hon. Lady on having had the Clause accepted, and having rectified what she considers to be a great injustice.
§ Clause added to the Bill.