The Press Monday, December 5, 1921. Tariff Legislation.

Press, Volume LVII, Issue 17320, 5 December 1921, Page 6

The Press Monday, December 5, 1921. Tariff Legislation.

Extracts from the report of the Tariff Commission hare appeared in "The Presa'Aand in the newspapers generally, but,as -the report is of great interest, and the number of copies printed is limited,', we are printing the whole' of it inthis issue.' Although the Commission a certain measure of freshvproteotion, it will be seen that it does consequences, and it accordingly recommends' various safeguards. We may assume that the Commission would have Imitated to approve of higher dutieß if it, had' felt that no kind of supervjdoji'^of; prioea and ' profits would be provided. If all its recommendations were ;to bo adopted, and if the control would be quite' effective, the country irould be embarking ou a comparatively harmless bill unnecessary experiment. Whether the suggested by the: Commission will be applied, however; and whether they can effectively secure the ends desired, one may seriously' doubt. The principal stipulations of the Commission are: (1) That any protection given must be not more than gu&oient for the welfare of the industries concerned; (2) that the profits of those engaged in protected industries should be subject to periodical investigation ; (3) that protection should be regarded' as a temporary measure only, and arrangements ; made for giving " due notice of several years of the "rempvol of protection to industries"; and,(4) that as the higher duties must raise prices (the Commission dismisses the insertions of some Protectionists that prices will not be raised), there should be Some control of the prices charged; Without some such safeguards, high protection would be intolerable, but with th&e safeguards the will, not be a pleasant one for fcjie general public.' The machinery of supervision will be troublesome and coStly. and veryharassing to business; ■lid it w2l not he effective. There is faif too much interference by the State it" is, 'and; nothing will persuade us that the country will benefit from the establishment of the vast machinery of regulation that be. needed, for the litigation' of profits, and the control to the great numfousinAses. This would

be as large a stride towards Socialism as any that the Socialists themselves have suggested. Nor would the safeguarding machinery be effective. How could "due notice of several years of "tho removal of protection to indus- " tries" be given by anybody? No Parliament can bind a Parliament of some future time. It is a complete illusion to suppose that the "notice" recommended by the Commission can possibly be effective. Equally vain is the expectation that any industry living under the shelter of a tariff will ever be thrust out into the cold while other industries continue protected. Where has such a thing ever happened? The Commission has, in fact, recommended a policy which it indicates is attended with dangers, and, feeling obliged to send it into action with checks and brakes, tho only checks and brakes it can devise arc themselves irksome and harassing, and, more than that, certain to be ineffective. It is already clear, however, that the tariff policy will become law, and we shall be curious to see whether the Government will heed the Commission's recommendations on the points we have noticed.