EGGS NOT IN SHELL. (Hansard, 9 February 1939)

§ Mr. Cross

I beg to move, That the Import Duties (Substitution) (No. 1) Order, 1939, dated the sixteenth day of January, nineteen hundred and thirty-nine, made by the Treasury under the Import Duties Act, 1932, a copy of which was presented to this House on the thirty-first day of January, nineteen hundred and thirty-nine, be approved. This Order relates to eggs not in shell. Goods which are neither on the free list nor are chargeable to additional duty are liable, as the House is aware, to a 10 per cent. ad valorem duty unless they are 1233 liable to Key Industry duty or budgetary duty. In some cases, however, it is more convenient that the duty should be charged upon weight or some other measure of quantity instead of on value. There is power to make an order, called a Substitution Order on the recommendation of the Import Duties Advisory Committee substituting specific for ad valorem duties. The specific duty must be calculated so as to work out at approximately 10 per cent. ad valorem. If there is a change in the general level of values the Import Duties Advisory Committee can recommend a change in the specific rates of duty but they can only do that at intervals of at least six months. These powers are under the Finance Act, 1933. A Substitution Order was made in May, 1934, imposing a scale of specific duties on eggs not in shell. This covers the various forms of preserved eggs whether liquid or dried, namely, eggs liquid or frozen, including glycerinated eggs, dried whole eggs, dried yolk and dried albumen. These commodities are used in the bakery and confectionery trade.

The present Order revokes these specific Egg Duties and puts in their place the general 10 per cent. ad valorem Duty. The reason is that the specific duty had ceased to be appropriate to the values of the imports, and the market conditions of the present time are too unstable to permit of fixing new specific duties in place of the old one. This instability is due very largely to the war in China, from which country most of these imports come. Speaking generally, the prices of imported preserved eggs have risen, and consequently the duties have become too low. The Order is purely a matter of machinery, to substitute one form of duty for another, in order that the appropriate amount of duty may be collected.