Presented by the President of the Board of Trade
to Parliament by Command of His Majesty
August, 1927

LONDON:

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1927

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Cmd. 2929

NOTE. The estimated cost of this Report, exclusive of the salaries of the Committee, is £2 15s. 6d., representing the cost of printing and publishing. The Committee are paid salaries amounting in the aggregate to £3,250 per annum.

ON the 9th May, 1927, the Board of Trade made a reference to us in respect of mill bobbins for enquiry under Section 2, Sub-section 1, of the Merchandise Marks Act, 1926.

2. We held our Enquiry on Wednesday, the 22nd June, the whole of the evidence being given in public. The applicants were the Bobbin Manufacturers' Association and the Scottish Bobbin and Shuttle Manufacturers' Association. The applicants stated that the Joint Industrial Council of the Bobbin and Shuttle Making Industries had passed a resolution in favour of the marking of imported mill bobbins. No party appeared in opposition at the Enquiry.

3. The applicants explained that mill bobbins are generally made of wood, sometimes with metal mountings, but some are made of papier-maché. They are used in the production and manufacture of all kinds of textile fibres, and their function is to provide a vehicle for the convenient handling of the thread and yarn as it passes through the various processes of preparing or spinning, each bobbin being used over and over again until it is worn out or otherwise becomes inefficient.

Reels for sewing cotton or similar purposes are not included in the application.

4. The applicants asked that an Order-in-Council should be made requiring all imported mill bobbins to be marked, stamped or branded in a conspicuous place with an indication of origin at the time of sale or exposure for sale. They stated that a large part of the trade is done direct from the manufacturer to the user, but that there is a certain amount of trade done through factors, and that in such cases in the absence of marking the purchaser may not know the origin of the bobbins which he is buying. In proof that it is practically possible to apply an indication of origin effectively, and without injury to the goods, the applicants produced specimens to show that a large proportion of the British-made mill bobbins are already marked with the makers' names.

5. We consider that the applicants have made out a prima-facie case for an Order-in-Council requiring an indication of origin to be borne by imported mill bobbins at the time of sale or exposure for sale. As stated above, no party appeared at the Enquiry in opposition, and, having regard to the elastic nature of the method of marking proposed, we see no reason to suppose that such an Order-in-Council would be harmful to trade. We, therefore, recommend that all imported mill bobbins should be required to be marked, stamped or branded in a conspicuous place with an indication of origin at the time of sale or exposure for sale.

It would be well to mention in the Order-in-Council that reels for sewing cotton and similar purposes are not included.

6. We do not consider that it is necessary for the Order-inCouncil to prescribe that the indication of origin must be borne by the goods at the time of importation or that in accordance with Section 10 (4) (b) of the Act it should expressly provide that exposure for sale should include exposure for sale wholesale by a person being a wholesale dealer.

7. We think that in the present case the minimum period of three months provided in Section 2, Sub-section 8 (b) of the Act between the date of the making of an Order-in-Council and the date of its coming into force is sufficient notice to give to the interests concerned.

(Signed)

H. LLEWELLYN SMITH.
GEORGE N. BARNES.

E. W. REARDON (Secretary).

11th July, 1927.

F. R. DAVENPORT.

LIST OF REPORTS.

The following is a list of the Reports of the Standing Committee appointed by the Board of Trade which have been published to date (August, 1927).