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Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 18 May 1932

Vol. 41 No. 14

In Committee on Finance. - Customs Duties (Brushes and Brooms).

I move the following motions:—

That the Customs Duties (Brushes and Brooms) (Provisional Variation) Order, 1932, which was made on the 26th day of April, 1932, by the Executive Council under Section 1 of the Customs Duties (Provisional Imposition) Act, 1931 (No. 38 of 1931), and a copy of which was laid on the Table of Dáil Eireann on the 28th day of April, 1932, be approved.

That the Customs Duties (Brushes and Brooms) (Provisional Imposition) Order, 1932, which was made on the 26th day of April, 1932, by the Executive Council under Section 1 of the Customs Duties (Provisional Imposition) Act, 1931 (No. 38 of 1931), and a copy of which was laid on the Table of Dáil Eireann on the 28th day of April, 1932, be approved, with and subject to the modification that the following word and paragraph be added at the end of the Schedule to the said Order, that is to say—

"and

(d) toothbrushes."

It is necessary to divide the duty into two parts, one being a variation of the existing duty and the other the imposition of a new duty. I am not sure to what extent the original duty upon brushes was not imposed by accident. The late administration imposed a duty upon furniture, and the Revenue Commissioners interpreted the Resolution as applying to certain classes of household brushes. By the Provisional Order that duty was increased and made to extend to all brushes. Brush making is an old established industry in the Saorstát. There are a number of firms engaged in it, there being one very large firm in Dublin and four other firms in Dublin and in Cork. The employees in the industry number at the moment about 351. The industry is quite capable of supplying all the requirements of the country, and in consequence substantially increased employment will be given. The factories here are competent to supply brushes at the same prices as prevail at present. Consequently no increase in price should take place, and no increase is anticipated. The one modification in the duty as imposed by the original Order is to exempt toothbrushes. I have been pressed to do that, and I do so with considerable reluctance. I think there is no reason why these things should not be made here, but I have agreed to that modification.

In the case of toothbrushes, will the duty that has been levied be repaid?

Any such duty will be repaid.

That means another bonus to the retailer of these articles. The customer cannot get it back. I find it difficult to make my way between the various papers we have got on this matter. There was a Customs Duties (Provisional Imposition) Order and there was then a Customs Duties (Provisional Variation) Order. Now we have got two Resolutions, one of which contains an additional modification, the exemption of the toothbrush. May I take it that the Provisional Variation Order simply and entirely deals with the change in the amount of the duty—both of these duties I notice run from the same date, the 26th April—and that if we pass these Resolutions, whatever number there may be, with the additions on the White Paper, in the end we shall have a change in the amount of duty, and that we shall then have three more or less categories of exceptions given in the Provisional Imposition Order plus toothbrushes?

That being so I would like to get some information as to what some of these exceptions mean, notably the third on the Schedule, printed originally in the Provisional Order. The statement is "All brushes and brooms and component parts of brushes and brooms except"—and then there follows in the third paragraph the statement—"handles and stocks for brushes or brooms, not forming part of complete brushes or brooms at the time of importation and not made wholly or partly of wood." Are there handles of brushes and brooms that are not made of wood?

Toothbrushes.

But the toothbrushes are not in this sense.

The duties were originally placed on, amongst others, the handles of shaving brushes and toothbrushes.

If we take brooms as the word is commonly used is there such a thing as a broom with a handle that cannot be described as partially made of wood?

So that no brooms are excepted. Brooms are definitely brought within the Order. This statement, "is not made partially or wholly of wood," has reference merely to toothbrushes, shaving brushes and other items of that type. The other additional information I should like to get is in supplement to the information which was given in answer to a question put down on 12th May. I asked a series of questions, one of which had reference to the brushes and brooms tariff, and I was told that "there are some 24 firms engaged in this industry in the Saorstát which employed a total of approximately 350 workers on 1st September, 1931. The home production of brushes of all classes in the year 1929 is valued at about £90,000. No information is available as to the amount of capital invested in the industry." I should like if the Minister could even at this moment give me roughly an estimate as to these 24 firms. May I ask him the question more precisely, how many firms really make brooms or brushes in any ordinary decent sense of the words? I know there are a number of people who get in a T shaped part and get in the cross part. They get in these two parts and stick one into the other or put a nail in them. Are people of that kind included in the 24 firms? I should say that practically 22 out of the 24 are people of that type.

No. The information that I have is that there is one fairly large firm in Dublin, as the Deputy knows. There are four other firms employing between 20 and 30 workers, two in Dublin and two in Cork. There are then about twenty smaller firms employing from 2 to 20 workers engaged in the manufacture of brushes or brooms of one kind or another. Whether they are employed in the sense the Deputy has mentioned I am not in a position to say.

This is a matter upon which I want precise information. I think there is only one brush or broom manufacturer in the country. There is really only one case where the firm is genuinely engaged in the manufacture of brushes. All the rest are mainly people who bring in the handle in one piece and everything else in another, put them together, either glue them up or nail them. That is really the extent of the manufacturing process carried on by all the firms except one in the country. I am not sure whether there are any facilities in the country up to date. I do not know whether there is any organised installation of machinery for doing anything more than that. I know that one firm, which may be correctly described as being engaged in the manufacture of brushes and brooms, said that with the machinery they had installed they could turn out about twice as much as they were doing. I know that the production of brushes apart from brooms is a very small business even with that one firm. I think it is a thing that has got to be recognised in this industry, that it is to a very big extent a machinery industry and which used to be in the old days a hand-making business. The statistics I used to get amounted to this, that the workers, say, in a ten-year period had been reduced by about two-thirds in that manufacturing concern. It was a question of the broom-making side. I wonder has the Minister any guarantees in regard to the firms, anything more than he gave us some days ago, and are the guarantees evidenced by statements or assurances that the firms are ready to have capital at hand and to embark on the purchase of machinery which will be certainly required for manufacture proper in this business? That is probably not an item of information that we can get at the moment, but I think that later we shall have to get information as to the likelihood of getting the manufacture of any brushes other than brooms or sweeping brushes carried on in the country. Toothbrushes have been excepted, but I do not know if there is any great prospect of getting clothes brushes manufactured in the country, or of getting fibre or hair brushes manufactured here, or whether it is intended to have these articles brought in here at an enhanced price. I think the Minister will agree that up to date the one form in which brushes were manufactured to any extent was very definitely brushes used for sweeping floors. These might be described as brushes or brooms. The others were more or less an aside in the business. We would like information as to whether there is any reasonable possibility of getting other kinds of brushes manufactured here.

The industry has definitely stated that it is equipped, or will be immediately equipped, to supply all our requirements of all kinds of brushes, including clothes-brushes, hairbrushes, and other brushes of that kind.

At what price? Is it at the market price?

At the market price. One of the advantages attached to the industry is the fact that a very large part of the final cost of each article represents wages paid to workers. It is one of the industries we set out to develop because of the considerable employment which it gives in relation to the capital invested and the cost of the article produced.

I want to relate that point to the answer which the Minister gave me. The Minister told me that the wage position in the Saorstát was much the same as in Great Britain, both being regulated by Trade Board prices and that in the case of some small items wages are slightly lower here. In connection with the point that Deputy Dockrell raised, if it is the fact that the wage position is the main item in the final cost in the manufacture of brushes, and if the wages here are, in the main, the same as in Great Britain, and in the case of some items slightly lower than in Great Britain, why have we not been able to do better business in these goods up to date?

We have not done it yet. The wages as fixed by the Trade Board in regard to some items are lower here, but against that there is this fact, that in respect of certain classes of work the factories here employ men where girls are employed on the other side.

Why should that happen?

I think it is eminently desirable.

When the Minister answers that the wages are fixed by the Trade Board, does he assume that that means that the wages here are, in the main, the same as in Great Britain? My experience has been that the wages here are higher than in Great Britain.

In some cases they are distinctly lower.

Resolutions 4 and 5 agreed to.
The Dáil went out of Committee.
Resolutions reported.
Report agreed to.
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