IMPORT DUTIES (IMPORT DUTIES ACT, 1932). (Hansard, 28 July 1936)

§ The FINANCIAL SECRETARY to the TREASURY (Mr. W. S. Morrison)
I beg to move, That the Additional Import Duties (No. 15) Order, 1936, dated the ninth day of July, 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 ninth day of July, nineteen hundred and thirty-six, be approved. This batch of Import Duties Orders is of a very varied description. They range from pile fabrics to track laying tractors. They are in common form. Perhaps the House would think it convenient to follow its usual course of discussing the whole batch, leaving it open to divide against any particular Order at a later stage. The only Order on which it might be convenient to say a word would be that dealing with track laying tractors. The others offer no point of particular interest. The ordinary wheeled tractor is already subject to an Import Duty of 33⅓ per cent. as a motor car. Those that are used for agricultural purposes are subject to an ad valorem duty of 15 per cent., and those used in public works are subject to a duty of 20 per cent. It has been deemed wise by the Advisory Committee to recommend, and the Treasury has approved the recommendation, that these track laying tractors should be subject to the duty of 33⅓ per cent. The only other point I would mention is that spare parts of tractors are to have a duty imposed on them of 15 per cent. The reason for that is that there are still in existence a certain number 1486 of foreign made tractors, which we hope will be replaced in due course by British made tractors, the prospects of the trade being sufficiently good to warrant that assumption. Meantime it is thought wise to leave the duty on spare parts unchanged.

§ Mr. T. WILLIAMS
While one does not feel at this time like dealing with the substance of this Order, I think it only fair for the Opposition to enter a protest. Periodically we get four, five or six Import Duty Orders after 11 p.m. I am sure the Parliamentary Secretary one of these days will find himself losing a night's sleep dealing with Orders of real substance which might very well have been dealt with long before 11 p.m. In this case the Financial Secretary informs the House that these Orders range from pile fabrics to track laying tractors. They are very comprehensive in their significance and effect. I had expected the president of the National Farmers' Union and all those hon. Members who are so vociferous in demanding larger and still larger subsidies for agriculture would have been in their places to-night to argue against a duty being imposed upon agricultural implements. The Import Duties Advisory Committee, after reviewing the case, declare, as they usually do, that: Any increase in farming costs which may result from such a duty would be negligible in amount and will we hope prove only temporary. I see no objection to imposing a duty upon agricultural implements so long as that is cancelled out by plenty of direct and indirect subsidies granted to agriculture. It seems to me absurd that on everything that agriculturists are called upon to use for the performance of their function of growing food the Government should see fit to impose a duty. Then, the next day, we find ourselves granting a subsidy upon wheat, milk, beef or some other commodity to cancel out the effect of the multiplicity of duties imposed upon agricultural products and machinery. I do not feel disposed at this late hour to prolong the Debate by going into the details or possible effect of a duty upon track-laying tractors, which are mostly used by agriculturists in this country. I want to say to the Patronage Secretary that he has been somewhat of a villain during the last several months in the way 1487 in which he has imposed a multiplicity of Import Duties Orders upon the House when the House is not in a fit state to debate intelligently. [An HON. MEMBER: "Is that a charge?"] I mean, of course, that the Refreshment Department has catered fairly well for the solids, and I make no reference to the possible provision of liquids, but I am sure that physically most hon. Members do not feel in a position at this late hour to deal with the complexities of Import Duties which may or may not have an effect upon any isolated or any collective industry.
The hon. and learned Gentleman in submitting the Orders to the House is imposing a duty upon cycles or cyclists, and if the hon. Gentleman the Member for the Moseley Division of Birmingham (Sir P. Hannon), which is particularly interested in the manufacture of cycles, had not been absorbed in his Birmingham aeroplanes Bill, the chances are that he would have been here as a violent opponent of the Financial Secretary in regard to this proposal. These Orders are of widespread significance, and if they were given the attention they really deserved, I am afraid that hon. Members would not be able to return to their homes at 11.30. I want, therefore, to warn the Patronage Secretary that, whether it is a duty upon track-laying tractors, or a duty imposed upon 3,000,000 cyclists in this country, or upon dried chamomile flowers, or whatever it may be, he ought to have more sympathy for the general public than he appears to have. I suggest that, when five Orders of this description are to be dealt with by the House, they ought to be brought before the House before 11.20 p.m. and, unless there is a change in the next Parliamentary Session, I hope that hon. Gentlemen sitting in all parts of the House, and particularly agricultural Members, will keep a sharp eye on the Patronage Secretary, and teach him a real lesson by an all-night sitting.

§ Sir FRANCIS ACLAND
The night is yet young, and it is very tempting to some of us who represent agricultural constituencies to get such little credit as we occasionally can by opposing an Order of this kind, which will to some extent, according to the report of the Committee, though only for a time, affect agricultural prices. On the other hand, 1488 we have had a heavy week, and there are signs of sleepiness in the House. Therefore, I content myself, in a sentence, with defining our attitude. We are inclined to be against subsidies, even if they help agriculture, and we are against duties when they hinder agriculture, but we do not think there is much to be gained by discussing the Order now and on the whole, bad as it is, we will let it go.

§ Mr. MESSER
I desire on this occasion, as on the last occasion, to say that the House is not being treated fairly. There are those who have some interest in the specific bodies, but they do not desire to inconvenience the House. I should like to draw attention to Order No. 18, and I should have liked an opportunity to deal with it in detail. No case has been made out for it either in the speech of the Financial Secretary or in the report of the Committee. I had hoped we would have had an opportunity of dealing with important business of this kind, but I trust we shall have such an opportunity on a future occasion.