§ Sir H. CROFTasked the. President of the Board of Trade (1) if he will provide an estimate of the value of lace and embroidery, of kinds previously subjected to duty, which has been imported from abroad by parcel post since 30th June, 1930;
(2) whether any record is kept of the imports by parcel post of goods on which the Safeguarding Duty has lapsed; whether he will supply an estimate of the value of the imports by parcel post of lace and embroidery since 30th June, 1930, and of cutlery, leather gloves, fabric gloves and gas mantles since 21st December, 1930; and whether, if no record is kept, he will take steps to have such record kept in future?
§ Mr. W. R. SMITHI regret that I am unable to furnish an estimate of the value of the imports by parcel post of those goods which were formerly subject to Safeguarding Duties. Under existing arrangements, imports by parcel post of goods not liable to duty are not classified for the purpose of statistics and only particulars of the total number of such parcels (and their approximate value) are available. It would not be practicable to set up special machinery to obtain separate records of imported parcels containing goods which are not liable to duty, but were formerly chargeable with a Safeguarding Duty which has lapsed.