Cotton (Centralised Buying) Act 1947
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1947 c. 26 |
Cotton (Centralised Buying) Act , 1947.
(10 & 11 Geo. 6.) CHAPTER 26.
An Act to make provision for centralised buying, selling and distribution of raw cotton, for the establishment of a Commission for that purpose and for the purpose of research in connection with raw cotton and its manufacture, and for matters connected therewith.
[21st May 1947]
Be it enacted by the King's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
Provisions for establishing centralised buying.
1 Establishment and primary functions of the Raw Cotton Commission.
(1) There shall be a Raw Cotton Commission who shall, on and after the appointed day, be charged with the duty of buying, importing into the United Kingdom, and holding and distributing therein, all raw cotton required for the purposes of the cotton industry of the United Kingdom and of other persons using raw cotton therein, and raw cotton required therein for the purposes of the re-export trade in raw cotton.
(2) The quantities, growths, types and qualities, of the raw cotton to be bought and imported by the Commission shall be such as to be suitable to meet the requirements in the United Kingdom—
(a ) primarily, of persons whose business it is to subject raw cotton to any process of manufacture, and
(b ) so far as may be consistent with meeting the requirements of those persons, of the re-export trade.
(3) The prices at which the Raw Cotton Commission (in this Act referred to as ‘the Commission’) sell raw cotton shall be such as may seem to them best calculated to further the public interest in all respects.
(4) The Commission shall, so far as may be consistent with the proper discharge of their duty under the last preceding subsection, render raw cotton available to persons in the United Kingdom whose business it is to subject it to any process of manufacture at prices as low as may be possible consistently with securing that the revenues of the Commission shall be not less than sufficient, with any appropriations from their reserve fund to be established under this Act, for meeting all their outgoings properly chargeable to revenue account (including, without prejudice to the generality of that expression, provisions in respect of their obligations under section seventeen, subsection (2) of section eighteen, and section nineteen of this Act) on an average of good and bad years.
2 Raw cotton to be imported only by the Commission.
(1) On and after the appointed day no person other than the Commission or their agent shall import or cause to be imported into the United Kingdom any raw cotton:
Provided that this subsection shall not apply—
(a ) subject to compliance with such conditions as the Commissioners of Customs and Excise may impose for securing the re-exportation thereof, to cotton imported solely with a view to the re-exportation thereof after transit through the United Kingdom or by way of trans-shipment;
(b ) to a person acting in relation to the importation in question under the authority of a licence granted by the Board of Trade (in this Act referred to as ‘the Board’) and in accordance with the terms of the licence; or
(c ) to cotton imported in a quantity small enough to indicate to the satisfaction of the Commissioners of Customs and Excise that it is imported as a sample only.
(2) Any officer of Customs and Excise may seize any raw cotton with respect to which he may have reason to believe that the preceding subsection has been contravened, and may detain it pending the determination of any proceedings instituted in respect of the importation or until the Board certify that no such proceedings are likely to be instituted.
Any cotton so detained shall be detained at the owner's risk in such place and manner as the Board may direct, and, if any such proceedings as aforesaid result in a conviction, the cotton shall be disposed of as the Board may direct, and the Board shall have power by such a direction to vest the property in the cotton in the Commission or in any other person.
(3) Before granting a licence for the purposes of this section the Board shall consult the Commission.
3 Prohibition of dealings in raw cotton except with the consent of the Commission.
(1) On and after the appointed day no person other than the Commission shall, without the previous consent in writing of the Commission, sell, agree to sell or offer to sell, any raw cotton otherwise than under a contract providing for delivery outside the United Kingdom.
(2) Where the Commission have made with any person a contract of sale which provides that raw cotton sold to him thereunder is sold with a view to his subjecting it to some process of manufacture in the United Kingdom, he shall not, without the previous consent in writing of the Commission, re-export any of it, or cause or permit any of it to be re-exported, therefrom.
(3) Where—
(a ) the Commission have made with any person a contract of sale which provides that raw cotton sold to him thereunder is sold with a view to his re-exporting it from the United Kingdom, or
(b ) a person has acquired the property in or possession of any raw cotton by virtue of any mortgage, charge or pledge thereof to him,
he shall not, without the previous consent in writing of the Commission, subject any of it, or cause or permit any of it to be subjected, to any process of manufacture in the United Kingdom.
(4) In this section references to selling shall be construed as references to entering into a contract which is a contract of sale within the meaning of the Sale of Goods Act, 1893 , or which is a contract similar to such a contract in other respects but made for a consideration wholly or partly in money's worth and not, or not only, in money, and to entering into any transaction, in whatsoever form expressed, in so far as its effect is in substance the same as the effect of such a contract as aforesaid; and references to agreeing to sell or offering to sell shall be construed accordingly.
4 Punishment for prohibited importation or dealing.
4. If any person contravenes any of the provisions of the two last preceding sections, or any of the terms of a licence granted for the purposes of section two of this Act, he shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable—
Constitution of the Commission, etc.
5 Constitution of the Commission.
(1) The Commission shall be a body corporate by the name of ‘the Raw Cotton Commission,’ with perpetual succession and a common seal and power to hold land without licence in mortmain.
(2) The principal office of the Commission shall be in Liverpool and a branch office shall be established in Manchester.
(3) The Commission shall consist of the following members, appointed by the Board, that is to say—
(a ) a chairman and either one or two other members as the Board may from time to time think expedient (in this Act referred to as the ‘independent members’) who shall be appointed as being independent persons and shall be required to devote their time primarily to their duties as members of the Commission; and
(b ) other members (in this Act referred to as the ‘part-time members’) to such number, not exceeding ten, as the Board may from time to time think expedient.
(4) The persons to be appointed as members of the Commission shall be appointed from amongst persons appearing to the Board to have the following qualifications, that is to say—
(a ) as regards the independent members, having had experience of, and having shown capacity in, industrial, commercial or financial matters, or in administration, or having special knowledge of the cotton industry or of some branch thereof, of the business of merchanting raw cotton or of the business of a raw cotton broker;
(b ) as regards the part-time members, as to not less than two of them, having special knowledge of the interests of operatives employed in the cotton industry, and as to the others, having special knowledge of the cotton industry or of some branch thereof, of the business of merchanting raw cotton or some products of the cotton industry or of the business of a raw cotton broker, so however that, in the case of not more than two of those others, the persons to be appointed may be selected as having had experience of, and having shown capacity in, industrial, commercial or financial matters or in administration, whether or not they have such special knowledge as aforesaid.
(5) A person shall be disqualified for being appointed or being a member of the Commission so long as he is a member of the Commons House of Parliament.
(6) The independent member other than the Chairman, or, whilst there are two such members, whichever of them is for the time being directed by the Board so to act, shall be deputy chairman of the Commission.
(7) There shall be paid to the members of the Commission such salaries and allowances as may be determined by the Board with the approval of the Treasury, and, on the retirement or death of any of the independent members as to whom it may be so determined to make such provision, such pensions and gratuities to them or to...
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