I move:—
1. That a customs duty of an amount equal to twenty per cent. of the value of the article shall be charged, levied, and paid on all harness leather, whether dressed or undressed, of any of the following classes imported into Saorstát Eireann on or after the 17th day of July, 1931, and before the 17th day of July, 1936, that is to say:— harness hides or parts thereof, harness sides or parts thereof, harness backs or parts thereof, harness bellies or parts thereof, harness shoulders or parts thereof.
2. That, notwithstanding anything contained in the foregoing paragraph of this Resolution, the duty mentioned in that paragraph shall not be charged or levied on patent leather, chrome tanned leather, dressed collar hides or parts thereof, or dressed bridle butts or parts thereof.
3. That a customs duty of an amount equal to twenty per cent. of the value of the article shall be charged, levied, and paid on the following articles imported into Saorstát Eireann on or after the 17th day of July, 1931, and before the 17th day of July, 1936, that is to say, all harness, whether completely or partially manufactured, and all parts of such harness other than parts which do not consist of or contain leather and at the time of importation are not attached to any harness, whether completely or partially manufactured, or to any part of such harness or consisting of leather.
4. That the provisions of Section 8 of the Finance Act, 1919, shall apply to the duties mentioned in this Resolution with the substitution of the expression "Saorstát Eireann" for the expression "Great Britain and Ireland" and as though articles chargeable with either of those duties were mentioned in the Second Schedule to that Act and were so mentioned as goods to which three-fourths of the full rate was thereby made applicable as a preferential rate.
5. That the value of any article for the purposes of this Resolution shall be taken to be the price which an importer would give for the article if the article were delivered, freight and insurance paid, in bond at the place of importation, and duty shall be paid on that value as fixed by the Revenue Commissioners.
6. It is hereby declared that it is expedient in the public interest that this Resolution shall have statutory effect under the Provisional Collection of Taxes Act, 1927 (No. 7 of 1927).
This resolution follows the application which was made by the Irish Free State Tanners' Federation for the imposition of a Customs duty of 25 per cent. ad valorem on sole, insole and harness leather and manufactured harness imported into Saorstát Eireann. The opposition to the application came chiefly from the Irish Free State Boot Manufacturers' Association. There were five tanneries existing at the time of the application. Of these, the principal one is in Limerick and has a present capacity of 1,200 hides per week. There is another in Thomastown with a capacity of 50 hides per week, one in Clonmel with a capacity of 75 hides, and one in Ballytore with a capacity of 100 hides per week. The three smaller ones manufacture only harness leather, and in the case of the principal one, 60 per cent. of the output consists of harness leather. The maximum capacity of the four factories would be about four-fifths of the requirement of the Saorstát. The number of people employed was 65 in May, 1928, and 44 in March, 1931. If the tanneries were developed not only to their maximum capacity but so as to meet the full requirement of the Saorstát, the possible employment would be from 300 to 400 men.
The boot industry, from which the opposition came is, of course, much more important. For instance, in the boot factories in the Saorstát, in September, 1926, there were 973 workers; September, 1927, 1,019 workers; September, 1928, 1,074 workers; September, 1929, 1,128 workers; and September, 1930, 1,227 workers. There has been an increase in the output. In 1926, there were 501,840 pairs. In 1929, there were 521,340 pairs. In the year 1930, the number of pairs reached 700,000. The development, so far, in the boot industry has been chiefly in heavy nailed boots. Even of these, the Saorstát factories have only captured about 40 per cent. of the market. Taking into account all classes of footwear, only about 10 per cent. of the home requirements are being supplied by output. In the case of heavy nailed boots, the better class has been captured, so that the market that remains to be captured is chiefly the cheaper line. In the case of welted and machine-sewn boots, on the other hand, the progress has been in the cheaper lines and the prospects of the development of the industry depend on getting cheaper leather. To put the relative importance of the tanning and boot-making industry in another way: the capital invested in the tanning industry is about £75,000; in boot factories it is over £200,000. The employees are over 1,200 in one and under 100 in the other. At the conclusion of the public sittings, the applicants intimated that they were prepared to amend the application in respect of the rate of duty by substituting 15 per cent. ad valorem for the original 25 per cent. This Resolution proposes to give a duty of 20 per cent., with imperial preference at the rate of 15 per cent. For effective purposes, therefore, the rate of duty proposed in this Resolution will be the rate asked for by the applicants when they amended their application. The following is the summary of the conclusions of the Commission:—
"In our report on the schedule to the Tariff Commission Act, 1926, we give this conclusion in a more detailed form. If the application could be granted in full without involving any serious prejudice to other important trades and industries, the development of the tanning industry would not, in our opinion, assume the proportions suggested by the applicants. The present output of the Saorstát tanneries is approximately 270 hides per week equivalent to 13,500 hides per annum. We doubt whether with their present premises, and assuming that a market could be found for the leather produced, a greater output could be achieved than 1,200 hides per week equivalent to 60,000 hides per annum. We estimate that this output would give employment to no more than 120 persons. The Saorstát boot manufacturers, having regard in particular to the strong competition which they have to meet must use many varieties of sole and insole leather not produced in Saorstát Eireann. Most of the sole and insole leather which they and their competitors use is made from dry hides. The applicants do not find it expedient to manufacture leather from dry hides and made it clear that they have no intention of so doing. Even some boot manufacturers who use wet hide leather cannot obtain leather suitable for their purpose from the Saorstát tanneries. If the application were granted, the Saorstát boot manufacturers would still use imported leather. The increased cost of imported leather resulting from the imposition of a tariff would be reflected in the cost of the manufacture of boots and would adversely affect an important and developing industry. When the evidence at the public sittings had been taken, the applicants, recognising the validity of the case made by the nine boot manufacturers who appeared in opposition to the application intimated that they were willing to amend their application so as to exclude from its scope the sole and insole leather required by these manufacturers. If the nine boot manufacturers were allowed to import their sole and insole leather free of duty, a similar concession would, in equity, have to be given to small factories and hand bootmakers."
That is elaborated.
"We are satisfied that the case for granting the application as far as sole leather and insole leather are concerned has not been established by the applicants.
"As regards harness leather, different considerations arise. The Saorstát tanneries produce harness hides, harness sides, harness backs, harness shoulders and harness bellies quite suitable for the purpose for which such leather is required. This leather is of good quality and is sold at a price which compares favourably with the price of imported harness leather of similar type. Furthermore, native hides, whilst not suitable for heavy sole leather are eminently suitable for the manufacture of harness leather. We are satisfied that harness leather of the types mentioned above is being manufactured efficiently by the Saorstát tanneries, and that the tanneries are capable of producing such leather in quantities sufficient to meet the whole of the home demand. A tariff on harness leather would give them a reasonable opportunity of capturing the home market without imposing an undue burden on the consumer or adversely affecting any other trade or industry if accompanied by a tariff on manufactured harness. In the event of a tariff being imposed on harness leather, it would be necessary to impose a counterbalancing duty on manufactured harness so as to ensure that Saorstát manufacturers of harness would not be placed in a disadvantageous position as compared with their competitors. The placing of a restriction on the importation of manufactured harness would also help to create an increased demand for home-produced harness leather. We recommend the imposition of a customs duty of 20 per cent. ad valorem on dressed and undressed harness leather of the following classes, viz., harness hides, harness sides, harness backs, harness bellies and harness shoulders, or parts thereof, excluding patent leathers, dressed collar hides, bridle butts and chrome backs. We recommend the imposition of a customs duty of 20 per cent. ad valorem on manufactured harness or parts thereof, excluding all unattached non-leather parts. We recommend that there should be an imperial preferential rate equal to three-fourths of the full rate. We recommend that these duties should be imposed for a period of five years. We do not recommend the imposition of a customs duty on sole and insole leather or leather intended for the manufacture of machinery belting."
The tariff imposed on harness does not include saddlery. It is difficult to know what is the annual importation of harness as distinct from saddlery. The two combined are in the neighbourhood of about £20,000 per annum. What this tariff will do is, it will give the Irish tanneries security in the harness leather market, and harness leather is at present their principal output. It should, by giving them security there, give them increased output and make it possible for at least the one tannery which deals with sole leather to do better in the manufacture of sole leather. As the Commission points out, it would not be possible for any one tannery to supply the various classes of sole leather required, but if it is helped in other directions it may be able to do considerably better than it has been doing in respect to sole leather.
