§ Mr. NEWBOULDasked the President of the Board of Trade if he is aware that the Industries and Manufactures Department of the Board of Trade received, on the 12th October, a letter from the Fancy Goods Section Vigilance Committee of the London Chamber of Commerce, drawing attention to the fact that under Key Industry List C, issued by the Department, eyes (artificial-human) are expressly specified; that the term artificial-human is naturally understood by traders to imply that artificial dolls' eyes are not involved, and requesting that His Majesty's Customs authorities should be advised accordingly without delay; that no answer has been received to this letter; that the packages involved through the ruling that dolls' eyes are dutiable are, in the main, very bulky and are consequently responsible for a large amount of congestion at the ports of entry; that in cases where, under protest, importers have paid a deposit of 5 per cent. required in order to obtain the goods pending an official ruling as to their liability to duty, they are very much hampered in conducting any transaction with goods owing to uncertainty as to price, and that this is specially hampering to business at the present time owing to the demand for stocks of these goods for Christmas trade; and whether he will take steps to obviate these delays?
§ Mr. BALDWINA letter in the sense indicated by the hon. Member was received, and was answered, on the 1st November, the reply indicating the reason for the interval which had elapsed, and the reasons for maintaining the ruling in question. As regards the latter parts of the question as to the alleged congestion au the ports resulting from the operation of Part I of the Safeguarding of Industries Act, I would refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my hon. Friend the Financial Secretary to the Treasury on the, 1st, November.