HC Deb 22 March 1937 vol 321 cc2715-7

11.53 p.m.

Captain Euan Wallace (Secretary, Overseas Trade Department)

I beg to move, That the Irish Free State (Special Duties) (No. 1) Order, 1937, dated the twenty-fifth day of February, nineteen hundred and thirty-seven, made by the Treasury under the Irish Free State (Special Duties) Act, 1932, a copy of which was presented to this House on the said twenty-fifth day of February, nineteen hundred and thirty-seven, be approved. This Order has to be confirmed by this House within 28 days—that is, before we rise for Easter. It is an Order made with the object of carrying out our part of the bargain in the Irish Free State commercial arrangement of February, 1937. It is a renewal for another year of a similar arrangement in 1936, with a certain number of minor modifications in details. The Irish Free State is allowed to switch over from fat cattle to store. We give the Free State a 5 per cent. increase in their bacon quota; we get in exchange a complete removal of their emergency duties on sugar and sugar products. I do not think that there is anything in the Order to which anybody in any quarter of the House will object. I shall be delighted to answer questions, but I think that at this time of the night this is an Order which will be accepted in every part of the House without a long discussion.

Question put, and agreed to.

Resolved, That the Irish Free State (Special Duties) (No. 1) Order, 1937, dated the twenty-fifth day of February, nineteen hundred and thirty-seven, made by the Treasury under the Irish Free State (Special Duties) Act, 1932, a copy of which was presented to this House on the said twenty-fifth day of February, nineteen hundred and thirty-seven, be approved.