§ 10.26 p.m.
§ Dr. BurginI beg to move,
That the Additional Import Duties (No. 5) Order, 1937, dated the twenty-third day of April, nineteen hundred and thirty-seven, made by the Treasury under the Import Duties Act, 1932, a copy of which was presented to this House on the said twenty-third day of April, nineteen hundred and thirty-seven, be approved.This Order relates to iron or steel screws for wood, and it suggests that after 27th April, the duty shall be 20 per cent. instead of a range of duty that was a specific duty per lb. It is a reduction of duty, and I imagine that the House of Commons will welcome it accordingly. The reason why this Order has to be brought to the House is that, if you alter a duty of 3d. or 2d. per lb. on screws to a duty of 20 per cent., you might, by the alteration of the price level, find that your 20 per cent. duty became higher. For that purely technical reason it is necessary to ask the House to approve the Order. There are, in fact, no screws imported on which a duty of 20 per cent. will be as high as the specific duty. The House receives my assurance that this is a reduction of duty.
§
Resolved,
That the Additional Import Duties (No. 5) Order, 1937, dated the twenty-third day of April, nineteen hundred and thirty-seven, made by the Treasury under the Import Duties Act, 1932, a copy of which was presented to this House on the said twenty-third day of April, nineteen hundred and thirty-seven, be approved.