I move that the Bill be now read a Second Time. The Bill is one of minor importance only. Its main object is to facilitate the production of wheaten flour of the quality desired by biscuit manufacturers. Under existing legislation, every mill holding a licence to mill wheat is alloted a quota of wheat to be milled during the period of time prescribed in the Act as the cereal year, which begins on 1st September and ends 31st August. Millers milling quantities of wheat in excess of their quotas become indebted to the Minister for Industry and Commerce for sums of money increasing on an ascending scale according to the degree of over-milling, and all millers are required to mill the national percentage of home-grown wheat fixed from time to time by the Minister for Agriculture, in consultation with the Minister for Industry and Commerce.
It has been claimed by biscuit manufacturers that suitable flour for their purpose can only be produced from special classes of wheat and that the wheat at present being produced in the Saorstát is not suitable. The effect of the present Bill, when enacted, will be that any wheat used by millers for the production of flour intended for use in the manufacture of biscuits will not count against the quota of the relevant mill, either for the purpose of calculating over-milling, or for calculating the quantity of home-grown wheat which that miller must grind under existing legislation.
This is an attempt by us to encourage the manufacture of biscuit flour here. Up to the present it has always been recognised that biscuit flour was in a different position to the ordinary flour, and consequently licences for its importation were issued. In fact, the only flour imported into this country in recent years has been flour for biscuit manufacture. It is hoped, in consequence of the granting of these facilities, that millers will be encouraged to undertake the milling of the special type of flour which biscuit manufacturers use. There is another section in the Bill which is of very minor importance. Sub-section (1) of 30 of the Act of 1933 provided that in the case of over-milling a debt was incurred to the Minister, which was recoverable as a simple contract debt in a court of competent jurisdiction. Section 9 of the Agricultural Produce Act of 1934 amended that section. The main intention of the amendment was to increase penalties for over-milling. The provision as regards the recovery of sums due was omitted by an oversight, and it is deemed advisable to reinsert it. Advantage was taken of the introduction of this Bill to remedy the oversight.