I move:—

(1) That there shall be charged, levied, and paid on every of the articles mentioned in the second column of the Schedule to this Resolution imported on or after the 9th day of May, 1940, a duty of customs at the rate stated in the third column of the said Schedule opposite the mention of the article in the said second column.

(2) That where a percentage is stated in the third column of the Schedule to this Resolution opposite the mention of any article in the second column of the said Schedule, such statement shall be construed as meaning a rate of duty equal to that percentage of the value of such article.

(3) That wherever it is stated without qualification in the fourth column of the Schedule to this Resolution that the provisions of Section 8 of the Finance Act, 1919, apply to a duty mentioned in that Schedule, the provisions of the said Section 8 shall apply to that duty with the substitution of the expression "the area of application of the Acts of the Oireachtas" for the expression "Great Britain and Ireland" and as though the articles chargeable with the said duty were mentioned in the Second Schedule to the said Act in the list of goods to which two-thirds of the full rate is made applicable as a preferential rate.

(4) That wherever it is stated in the fourth column of the Schedule to this Resolution that the licensing provision applies to a particular duty mentioned in that Schedule, the following provision shall apply and have effect in relation to that duty, that is to say:—whenever the Minister for Finance, after consultation with the Minister for Industry and Commerce, so thinks proper, the Revenue Commissioners may by licence authorise any particular person, subject to compliance with such conditions as they may think fit to impose, to import without payment of the said duty any articles chargeable with the said duty either, as the Revenue Commissioners shall think proper, without limit as to time or quantity or either of them or within a specified time or in a specified quantity, but so that no such licence shall be exempt from the provisions of Section 15 of the Finance (Agreement with United Kingdom) Act, 1938 (No. 12 of 1938).

(5) That, subject to the provisions of the two next preceding paragraphs of this Resolution, the provisions (if any) set forth in the fourth column of the Schedule to this Resolution at any reference number in that Schedule shall have effect in respect of the duty mentioned at that reference number.

(6) It is hereby declared that it is expedient in the public interest that this Resolution shall have statutory effect under the provisions of the Provisional Collection of Taxes Act, 1927 (No. 7 of 1927).

SCHEDULE

CERTAIN CUSTOMS DUTIES.

This Resolution imposes, at the rates specified in the reference numbers in the schedule, the duties mentioned. Under Reference Number 9, which refers to wadding, a new duty is imposed. The duties mentioned in the other reference numbers are existing duties which are being re-imposed in amended form for the purposes of more affective application. There is only one new duty. All the others are amendments.

What was the previous duty in each case?

I should have to go through a long document to find that out. Will the Deputy leave that matter over until Report Stage?

Will the Minister circulate a memorandum showing the changes in duty?

Yes.

What is the purpose of the new duty on wadding?

To keep the Minister from hearing complaints.

The duties are 50 per cent. and 33? per cent.

But what is the purpose?

A new wadding factory has been set up here.

Where?

I do not know— somewhere in Dublin.

Is it not a fact that that particular factory was established for the production of cotton wool for medical purposes? That was one of the arguments used to show that the establishment of the factory was a matter of urgency.

I do not know.

This type of duty does not apply to medicated cotton wool. Yet, I understand that the factory in question was established as a matter of urgency to provide medical supplies.

Did somebody say there was a factory?

Yes.

But they did not say where?

In Dublin. I shall find out the address of the factory if the Deputy is interested.

Would the Minister circulate some remarks on this duty when circulating the other particulars?

I shall circulate what the Deputy asked for—the difference in the duties.