§ Mr. KEATINGasked the President of the Board of Trade if he will consider the advisability of granting licences for the importation of labour-saving machines for use in Government controlled establishments in cases where such machines are not being manufactured in this country and where it can clearly be demonstrated that their use results in the substitution of large numbers of unskilled females instead of male labour requiring special technical knowledge?
Mr. ROBERTSI cannot say without having descriptions of the machines whether they are prohibited or not, but in the case of all prohibited goods it has always been the practice to grant licences for such as may be certified by the competent Government Department to be urgently required for national purposes and unobtainable otherwise than by importation.