HC Deb 15 December 1936 vol 318 cc2415-7

10.55 p.m.

The PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY to the BOARD of TRADE (Dr. Burgin)

I beg to move, That the Additional Import Duties (No. 31) Order 1936, dated the twentieth day of November, nineteen hundred and thirty-six, made by the Treasury under the Import Duties Act, 1932, a copy of which was presented to this House on the said twentieth day of November, nineteen hundred and thirty-six, be approved. This Order proposes as from the 24th November a minimum specific duty of 2s. per dozen rubber aprons as an alterna-

tive to the present duty of 20 per cent. The goods concerned are aprons and overalls manufactured of rubber, balata, or gutta-percha, but it does not concern goods of proofed cloth or other rubberised textile fabric. The competing goods come from Japan and Germany and the home trade is able to supply goods of a heavier type which sell at about 1s. The German goods come in at from 3s. to 3s. 6d. per dozen and the Japanese at from 2s. to 2s. 9d. There is no doubt that the home production can he stimulated to do the entire trade, which is worth about £60,000 a year. The Japanese, who entered the market only in 1933, have already too large a share.

10.57 p.m.

Mr. ALEXANDER.

At this late hour we are not going to have a long Debate, but I think that it is almost tragic to listen to the kind of speech we have just heard—a perfectly callous speech from the one time Free Trader, the one time lecturer in Free Trade economics, who is now so double-dyed in his new-gotten heresies that he is perfectly callous. Here is a comparatively small item in the list of fiscal crimes of the Government, but although it is small, it is important to the working-class woman. The working-class woman of later years has put off the old coarse sackcloth apron. She is now better dressed and wears a rubber apron as she does her work about the house. Because she can get these things pretty cheaply, the Government say, "Let us tax them." I am really amazed at the way this Government goes down hill day by day. I am thoroughly ashamed of them.

10.59 p.m.

Mr. CHARLES WILLIAMS

I am amazed at the speech of the right hon. Gentleman. He gets up day after day saying that he is protecting the British worker, and yet to-day he is putting in an appeal for Germany and Japan, both of which countries are not democracies. I can approve the action of the Government in protecting the home worker instead of the workers of Germany and Japan.

Resolved, That the Additional Import Duties (No. 31) Order, 1936, dated the twentieth day of November, nineteen hundred and thirty-six, made by the Treasury under the Import Duties Act, 1932, a copy of which was presented to this House on the said twentieth day of November, nineteen hundred and thirty-six, be approved.