§ LORD TEMPLEMOREMy Lords, I beg to move, That the Order made by the Board of Trade under the Agricultural Marketing Act, 1933, which was presented to this House on the 11th inst., be approved. This Order is in the main identical with the Order of 1933 which was approved by your Lordships on November 16 last, the day before the close of the Session. The object of revoking the old Order and substituting a new one is to close a certain loophole in the old Order which we found had been taken advantage of by foreign countries. The old Order prohibited the importation of bacon only from those countries which were substantial suppliers of that commodity, but it left untouched imports from countries whose supplies of bacon to this country were really infinitesimal. There was, however, a proviso that if imports from any such country exceeded the amount of 400 cwts. per week, the Board of Trade might make an Order bringing that country within the scope of the old Import Regulation Order.
Of course it was not intended that these unregulated countries (as I shall call them) should in every case supply up to the allowed amount of 400 cwts. per week, otherwise a serious situation would naturally arise. In most cases this has not been done, hut a few cases have arisen in which the practice has grown up of importing surplus pigs from other countries, curing them in a country not scheduled to the Order, and sending the resulting bacon to this country. This practice is clearly capable of almost indefinite extension, and we have therefore thought it necessary that some action should be taken to prevent this particular form of evasion. Therefore paragraph 1 of the new Order prohibits the importation of any bacon produced in any foreign country which is the product of pigs bred in another foreign country. Paragraph 2 incorporates the provisions of the first two paragraphs of the 1933 Order. In paragraph 8 the opening words of the corresponding paragraph of the old Order have been omitted, so as to give the Customs wider powers to require certificates of origin, and in paragraph 10 it has been necessary to define the term "foreign country," which appears in paragraph 1 of the new Order but did not appear in the 702 old Order. The provisions of this new Order, like the provisions of the old Order, do not apply to imports from Empire countries. I beg to move.
§ Moved, That the Order made by the Board of Trade under the Act, which was presented to this House on the 11th instant, be approved.—(Lord Templemore.)
§ On Question, Motion agreed to.