§ 44. Colonel GOODMANasked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury whether he is aware that timber imported duty free into the United Kingdom for use in building or fitting ships cannot be moved from the registered shipyard for dressing and manufacture without the payment of duty, whereas the foreign dressed and manufactured product enters duty free; and whether, in order to give the British manufactured product equality of treatment, he will instruct the Commissioners of Customs and Excise to give effect to the provisions of Section 11 (2) of the Import Duties Act, 1932, relating to drawback?
§ The FINANCIAL SECRETARY to the TREASURY (Mr. Hore-Belisha)Under Section 11 (1) of the Import Duties Act, goods may be imported duty free only if consigned direct to a registered s1hipbuilding yard for the purpose of the building, repairing or refitting of ships in that yard and the exemption from duty does not extend to goods removed from the yard for use in the manufacture or preparation of shipbuilding material elsewhere. As regards the second part of the question, I would remind my hon. and gallant Friend that the Commissioners of Customs and Excise have no power to pay drawback on goods removed into such yards in the absence of a drawback order made on the recommendation of the Import Duties Advisory Committee in respect of goods of that class or description. There is no such order in force in respect of the goods he has in mind.
§ Colonel GOODMANDoes not the hon. Gentleman see that in enforcing this Act he is placing a premium on foreign labour, and does he not think that the unemployed in this particular industry should be encouraged and not discouraged?
§ Mr. HORE-BELISHAThis is a matter for the Import Duties Advisory Committee, and I would inform my hon. and gallant Friend that the parties interested in the question have, up to the present, laid no specific proposal before that committee. It would naturally be considered if they did so.