§ Mr. KILEYasked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury whether France, Begium or Italy collect reparation duties on German goods when entering their respective countries; if not, can he explain by what process these countries collect these duties; and will he consider whether a saving could be effected if we collected our reparation duties by a similar method?
Mr. YOUNGThe Governments of France, Belgium and Italy have not put into force any legislation similar to the German Reparation (Recovery) Act, and do not collect a reparation levy in any form.
§ Mr. KILEYasked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury if he can give the approximate value of articles imported from Germany into Great Britain upon which no Reparation Duty is paid?
Mr. YOUNGI regret that the information required is not available. The statistics of goods consigned from Germany make no distinction between those on which the levy is paid and those on which it is not paid, and any calculation based on a comparison between the284W total value of the imports and the amount of levy paid would be unreliable, owing to the alteration in the rate of levy from 50 to 26 per cent., and the fact that the declared value for statistical purposes is the c.i.f. value, while the value on which the levy is assessed excludes freight and insurance.