This Bill provides for the continuance for a period of five years of the Act of 1945 called the Customs (Temporary Provisions) Act. The circumstances that led up to that Act were that there had been for some time a code of customs law governing the illegal importation of goods. The matter of goods imported directly was definitely under control as far as the old customs Order was concerned. There was no code corresponding to that which dealt with illegal export. When the old code was drawn up the matter of the export of goods was not as much in the forefront as it is nowadays. Countries were then concerned mainly with preventing the importation of goods except under certain conditions. There was not the same attitude with regard to export. Export restrictions then came into being and they increased as the years went on. The absence of a code of the same type as that which was there to deal with importation was found to be a difficulty. It was met by year-to-year improvisations. In the year 1938 an Act was passed called the Scrap Iron (Control of Exports) Act. A considerable number of provisions under that Act were on a much more extensive scale than previous ad hoc legislation. The provisions of the Scrap Iron Act were based on the Exports Consolidation Act, 1876.
When the emergency arose in 1939 there came, at the same time, a very wide range of export prohibitions. The question of making the exports prohibition effective became more and more important.
The control exercised as from 1939 was based upon the Emergency Powers Order of that year and, in particular, upon the powers given to a Minister under Article 31. But you had the system that for years people were charged with the export of such things as butter, eggs, or any sort of dairy produce and, when the matter came before the court, it was based eventually upon a Scrap Iron (Control of Export) Act. It was always a source of amusement to the people in the court when they first discovered that some offence in relation, say, to dairy produce was being prosecuted in relation to an Order which dealt with scrap iron. However, it was the particular Act in which the more extended provisions were and that had been applied to the various Orders made under the Emergency Powers Act.
The machinery was very awkward. The powers were inadequate for the purposes required. Accordingly, the Customs (Temporary Provisions) Act of 1945 was passed. That was intended to be a permanent measure for customs (control of export) prohibitions. At the same time it took advantage of the situation by attending to certain defects in the existing law. The Bill was not liked when it was brought in here. It is not a very attractive Act. It gives very definite powers to the revenue authorities. Considerable objection was taken to the Bill when it came in here in 1945 with the result that later the Minister in charge of the Bill took an amendment restricting the life of the Act to five years. That period of five years expires on 31st March this year. Therefore, it is necessary to arrange for its continuance in the way I have done or in some other way.
If the Act expires the Revenue Commissioners advise me that their powers over the wide range of exports which still remain on the prohibited list would definitely be inadequate in respect of what was demanded of them. Certain of these articles are on the list of exports prohibitions because of temporary shortages, but there are certain other articles where the permanent control is based upon certain economic or social necessities. There is quite an amount of export prohibition with regard to the agricultural produce type of goods, and dangerous drugs, and so forth, which come under the heading of social necessity.
The case for the Act is what has happened since the year it was passed. Since the enactment of this piece of legislation in 1945 there have been 649 prosecutions. Practically all of these have been successful. The power to bring these would have been very definitely weakened if the provisions of this Act, which weighed the matter in favour of the Revenue Commissioners, were not there. The 649 prosecutions take no account of the tens of thousands of seizures, which never came near the court at all. Those who have any touch with the affairs of this country and the northern half of it will know that modern smuggling is quite a lucrative affair. The fact that large profits are able to be made from smuggling have induced the formation of certain gangs who provide themselves with the best possible equipment for the purpose of achieving their object, that is, illegal export and all the money that it brings. Motor transport was organised in quite a distinct way, as the stuff was brought to a certain point and made ready for transport across the Border. There are associated with this machinery quite a number of scouts who have to see whether the roads are guarded in a particular way or whether it is possible to slip through, and who are generally on the qui vive the whole time against the revenue officers. It has required a good deal of motor patrol work and a very high degree of skill to deal with the rackets that started in the counties adjoining the Border. It is possible that these rackets have even branches which extend widely throughout the country.
There are two matters in particular that called for many precautions. There was, firstly, the question of the export of motor cars. The export of gold from this State had also become a serious matter. After many months of detective work of the type of which I have spoken, certain people were brought to book and convictions were obtained in court. Smuggling has been held in check and certainly the two big rackets that were threatening to form in regard to the export of motor cars and gold, appear to have been defeated decisively. The question of the illegal export of certain agricultural produce, particularly the export of poultry, has given us a good deal of trouble. There have been many court prosecutions brought to a successful conclusion and court penalties, including imprisonment, seem to have got the matter fairly well in hand.
These results, I am informed, could not have been achieved without the special powers given by the Act. If the Temporary Provisions Act were allowed to lapse there would be a good deal of administrative confusion. It is quite possible that these rackets would be organised again and there would be no possibility of stopping them in the effective way in which they have been stopped with the aid of these powers. This Act, as it was presented to the House, did represent a summary of the minimum legal powers that were considered necessary for dealing with these illegal activities. It was decided to bring the Bill forward to renew these powers and it is suggested that the Act should be allowed to continue for a further period of five years.
