HC Deb 10 February 1949 vol 461 c533
52. Mr. Gammans

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he is aware that when the Malayan badminton team arrived at Tilbury on 27th December they were charged £56 Customs Duty on their shuttlecocks; and why this team was not given the same facilities as during the Olympic Games.

The Financial Secretary to the Treasury (Mr. Glenvil Hall)

The Malayan team imported 1,200 shuttlecocks of Danish manufacture on which duty and Purchase Tax were quite properly charged. The concessions granted on the occasion of the Olympic Games were justified by special circumstances which no longer obtain. I am prepared to authorise refund of duty and tax on any of these shuttlecocks which remain unused and are re-exported by the Malayan team, if due notice is given to the Commissioners of Customs and Excise.

Mr. Gammans

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that this team has always practised with a particular type of shuttlecock which they had to import into this country; and does he realise what an enormous amount of damage is done in the Colonial Empire by this sort of unimaginative cheeseparing? Will he not return the whole lot?

Mr. Glenvil Hall

We have to be fair to our own traders, and had we allowed this enormous quantity to come in duty free, it would have been unfair to those who make them in this country.

Mr. Gammans

Does the right hon. Gentleman realise that this particular type of shuttlecock is not manufactured in this country?

Mr. Glenvil Hall

The short answer is that the hon. Member is grossly misinformed on that matter.