I move:—
"That the Bill be now read a Second Time."
This Bill carries out one of the provisions of the Articles of the Treaty which has just been approved by the Dáil, and it is necessary for the complete ratification of them. There are only three clauses in the Bill, and there are really only two operative clauses. They are in the same terms with a different reference—one to the word "port" and the other with regard to the word "Madeira." The clauses need no explanation.
The effect of the Bill will be simply to bring about this position: that unless wines of the port or Madeira description are certified by the proper Portuguese authority, and accepted by us as coming from a certain region. they will not be deemed as properly described under the Merchandise Marks Act. There is a certain principle in this which will come up in another commercial treaty, about which we ourselves are anxious, the principle being that descriptions derived from the names of countries or from areas in countries should be applied only to goods which proceed from these areas, and should not be extended to have merely a trade description. We ourselves have been interested in this for many years, for example, in our attempt to get "Irish" as applied to Irish lace, and "Limerick" as applied to hams, recognised not merely as a trade description, but as something specially peculiar to the areas from which the articles come. We accept this as part of the Portuguese Treaty.
Bill read a Second Time; Committee Stage to be taken on Friday.