TARIFF TROUBLE.

Press, Volume LXVII, Issue 20415, 9 December 1931, Page 11

TARIFF TROUBLE.

t * | FRANCE AND BRITAIN. | VISIT TO LONDON | POSTPONED. i ! (British ofhcul wiMLisa.) j RUGBY, December 7. As anticipated {ho postponement of i the visit of the French trade delegation j to London was announced yesterday in ! Paris. The announcement stated that J the British Government, while accepting j the principle of friendly conversations J on tariff questions, declared that 3mj mediate conversations would be premature, as no modifications could, iu the present; conditions, be made in the new British tariffs. The French Minister I'or Commerce (M. Louis Itollin) iii a statement, says the French public has been painfully surprised by the outspoken criticism by Mr Walter Itunciman (president of the Board of Trade) of the surtax imposed by France on British goods. He denies that tho surtaxes discriminate against Great Britain, as they apply to other : countries as well, and the decree sanctioning them was promulgated before tho fall in the value of the pound sterling. As was pointed out by Mr Runciman on Friday the decree was actually put into force on November 14th, just before the first announcement of tho new British duties. It applies in varying degrees to a series of countries with depreciated currencies, including Great Britain, Australia, India, Mexico, Denmark, Sweden the Argentine Uruguay, and Norway. The maximum of 15 per cent, surtax is imposed on imports from Great Britain, Australia, Denmark, Sweden, and Norway." Newspaper Comment. The "Daily Telegraph" notes in this respect that the coal surtax- applies to Great Britain alone, because she is the only country, in the category which exports coal to France. The "Morning Post" says the British Government has been compelled to take emergency measures, which, being only for six months, will no doubt be succeeded by a permanent tariff on a lower scale. In the meantime, if France and England realise tho suffering on one side and the necessity on the other it will help them to mutual forbearance. The "Daily Herald" urges a policy of international agreement on tariff questions. Referring to the approaching Disarmament Conference it says similarly that the time is ripe for all-round consideration of political and commercial problems—reparations, war debts, and tariffs, which, equally with armaments, -endanger the stability and security of all countries. Wheat Quota System. In the House of Commons Sir John Gilmour (Minister for Agriculture) informed questioners that ho could not make a further statement on tho wheat quota question pending negotiations between all the interests concerned. He would not be able to make a statement before tho recess. Mr 11. F. C. Crookshanlc (Conservative): "Will you consider introducing a resolution approving of tho_ principle of the quota, in order to facilitate these negotiations? ' There was no answer. Mr Ramsay Mac Donald (Prime Minister), in answer to a question, said he would make a statement on the application of tho quota to Canadian and Australian wheat before the recess: Emergency Tariff. LONDON, December 7. "There is a difference between a tariff as necessary for dealing with an emergency and its imposition as a deliberate, settled change of policy/' said Lord Grey at an Eighty Club dinner. "If any section of the Conservatives succeeds in pressing that change, it will destroy the Government's national character." . The Hull Chamber of Commerce has decided to urge the Government to recognise tho need for some reciprocal arrangement in view of the difficulties of manufacturers in obtaining payment for exports, owing to 15 foreign Governments restricting tho export o? their currencies. was pointed out that a Bradford firm which exported cloth to Hungary was unable to obtain payment, although the money had been deposited in their name in a Hungarian bank, the Government refusing to permit it to be taken over, and even rejecting an offer to take Hungarian products in lieu of currency.