I desire to thank the Seanad for agreeing to take this Bill now. This is a Bill of the ordinary kind, introduced periodically to confirm Orders made under the Emergency Imposition of Duties Act. As Senators are aware, Orders made under that Act have to be confirmed by legislation within a period of time, and the first of these Orders must be confirmed before the 1st May. None of these is of very great importance, but certain legal complications will arise if the Orders were not confirmed, either by the refusal of the Oireachtas to confirm them, or because of failure to enact the necessary confirming measure within a specified period. The Orders scheduled to this Bill are three in number. The first makes an amendment to the definition of medicated cotton wool in the duty applicable to cotton wool. That duty was imposed by the Finance Act of 1940 and exemption from the duty was given in respect of medicated cotton wool.
It became necessary to define more clearly what was medicated cotton wool, and the purpose of this Order was clarification of the definition. The new definition is rather technical. Cotton wool is exempt from duty if it contains at least 15 per cent. of boric acid, or has been treated with oleoresin of capsicum in accordance with the British Pharmaceutical Codex, or either of these classes of goods when not exceeding 14 lbs. in weight and consigned to one person only. The amendment of the Order does not affect the supply position in the least. Supply of cotton wool to this country is controlled by the Board of Trade, and a definite quota per period has been allocated to this country up to the present.
The second Order reduces the duty upon assembled chassis for electrically-driven vehicles. In fact, they cannot be obtained, and in order to encourage people who might be able to get them, the duty was reduced to the nominal one of 15 per cent. ad valorem. The third Order, made some time ago, gives power to grant licences for the free importation of a very large number of goods which were subject to duty, where the original Act or Order imposing the duty did not give that power. The Order is only of academic interest, because most of the duties specified in the Schedule have since been suspended by Orders under the Emergency Powers Act, but difficulties would arise if those Orders were not confirmed, because under the terms of the Emergency Powers Act, if an Order is made but not confirmed, a similar Order cannot be provided and fresh financial legislation would be required to effect the same results. Circumstances may arise in which the Emergency Powers Order will not be applicable, and it may still be desired to have power to grant free importation of the articles in question.
There is a long list of the articles, none of which is of great importance. Where they are of importance, the duty is not in operation.
