SILK DUTIES

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 118, 22 May 1925, Page 7

SILK DUTIES

REDUCTION PROPOSED

CHANCELLOR MAKES CONCESSIONS, :

JUKITZD PRESS. ASSOCIATION—COPIRIOHT.)

JREDTER'S TELEGRAM.)

LONDON, 20th May.. Mr. Churchill announced' that,,as the result of a series of conferences" "with, various silk arjjl commercial interests, he was proposing modifications in the scale of duties on'natural and■artfficial'silk for : incorporation in the Finance Bill. The Customs duty on natural'.'silkWaste, the Chancellor said, would be reduced from. Is 6d to Is per lb; on raw silk,from 4s to 3s; on made-up articles, from 33 1-3 to 10 per cent., where the value of the silk component does not .exceed 20 per cent, of the value of the article, and to 2 per cent, where it does not exceed 5 per cent. The duty on imported' artificial silk tissue remains "at 3s ed pet lb. • •■ ■■ -' „ " :;:, r-

In the Budget recently Issued, .one of the principal features was a proposal to levy heavy duties on natural and artificial silk. The proposed/tax -was vigorously assailed in many quarters. • -'The critics declared that silk was no. longer to be regarded as a luxury or as a material which was not essential to British industry. Its use had increased enormously owing to the recent high .prices of wool, and artificial silk ;(inade of cotton or of wood pulp) had become of the utmost importance as a textile material both to manufacturers-and'to-consumers of small means. : ■ ■■