§ Motion made, and Question proposed, That this Schedule be the Second Schedule to the Bill.
§ 11.45 p.m.
Mr. H. WilsonThis is a very important and lengthy Schedule. I think that we should be justified in asking for a very full account of all it means. The Committee will remember that when we debated Clause 5, which was the occasion of a noteworthy speech by my hon. Friend the Member for Oldham, West (Mr. Hale), in which at one stage he got his hair oil mixed up with his ruin, my hon. Friend pointed out that this was a very important Schedule not merely for what it does, but for the procedure. It is a most unusual Schedule. It gives the Board of Customs and Excise unprecedented powers in fixing the rates for some of these composite goods.
I do not propose to press the Financial Secretary to give a full explanation of the Schedule, although I am sure that he has a very full brief on it. He has shown that he is not only good at mastering his brief, but even, sometimes, at putting it into his own words. I merely want to point out and to put on record that new powers are given to the Board of Customs and Excise in the Schedule and that we shall have to watch carefully see how they are to be used.
§ Question put and agreed to.
§ Third Schedule agreed to.
§ Ninth Schedule agreed to.
§ Bill reported, with Amendments; as amended, to be considered Tomorrow and to be printed. [Bill 112]