I move that this Bill be now read a Second Time. The House is aware of the fact that under the Emergency Imposition of Duties Act, 1932, Orders made imposing or amending customs duties have to be confirmed by legislation. The purpose of this Bill is to confirm 22 Orders made by the Government in recent months. The Orders are those scheduled to the Bill. Of these, the duties, imposed on crystal glassware, venetian blinds, adhesive gums, and iron and steel wheelbarrows, handcarts, etc. are new protective duties. The Orders relating to razor blades, drinking glasses, knitted woollen fabric, glue, gelatine and size, tanks and cisterns, leather and malt extract and fish liver oil increased the existing customs duties on these commodities. The Orders relating to lampshades, artificial silk piece-goods, brace elastic, woven labels, dolls' clothing and component parts of dolls, hack-saw blades, statues and cotton-wool either extended the scope of the original duties or amended the definitions in regard to them for the purpose of making them effective.
I presume the House will wish me to give a brief indication of the considerations which led to the making of each Order. The first relates to the duty on razor blades. It was previously at the rate of 75 per cent. with a minimum rate of 12/- per gross. The minimum was increased from 12/- to 24/- per gross. The original duty was, of course, imposed before the war and changes in values since reduced the measure of protection which it had given. There are two firms engaged in the production of safety razor blades in this country. They are selling blades at a variety of prices from a penny each upwards, and their prices have not been increased in consequence of the imposition of the higher duty. Incidental to the development of the manufacture of razor blades in the country increased business is also made available for the manufacture of waxed paper wrappers and similar commodities used in connection with their sale.
The duty upon drinking glasses and crystal glassware is a more complicated business. As the House is aware, the development of the manufacture of glassware in this country was resumed recently. The company engaged in that industry in Waterford is aiming at the development of an export trade in hand-cut crystal glassware, and to enable it to train staffs in that highly skilled work it was necessary for it to engage first in the production of ordinary soda glass domestic ware. Approximately, 300 people are employed there at the moment. The ordinary glassware produced during the training period was accumulating and it was desired to increase the sales of it. It is in competition with machine-made glassware imported from abroad which is very much inferior in quality and cheaper in price.
It is, I understand, the intention of this firm in Waterford to undertake the manufacture of this machine-made glassware at a later stage of its development, but it cannot do that until it has fulfilled its plans for the development of an export trade in crystal glassware when it hopes to be able to shift its workers producing ordinary glassware into that end of its business, leaving scope for the development of the machine-made glass end. The expectation is that when full machine manufacture of ordinary glassware is possible, the costs of production here will not be higher than elsewhere, but in order to get the industry established we have for a period to create a situation in which the ordinary glassware available here will be hand-made glass from Waterford, superior in quality, but also somewhat dearer in price than the imported machine-made glassware.
The Government took the decision to encourage the development of this industry, recognising that we would have to regard it as a long-term project, and that full-scale development, including the export of crystal glassware, could not be expected for two or three years.
The industry, as the House is aware, in so far as the crystal glassware end is concerned, depends entirely on the skill of the operatives. The technique, so far as the manufacture of hand-cut glassware is concerned, has not changed over the centuries. It still rests entirely on the individual skill achieved by the operatives. During the period in which the training process is going on, it is not possible to have the complete development ultimately contemplated. In order to assist the industry, and to speed up the stage at which the full development contemplated will be reached, a minimum specific duty of 6d. per article under a preferential rate, increased subsequently to 8d. per article, was imposed on drinking glasses.