PROTECTION POLICY

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 29, 3 August 1925, Page 5

PROTECTION POLICY

THIRTY-THREE AND ONE-THIRD DUTY ON BRITISH LACE

THE HOP DTJTY.

(FKOJI OBR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

LONDON, 16th June.

A fiery debate centred round the proposed silk and lace duties which were carried in the House by a majority of 110. In the Committee of Ways and Means Sir P. Cunliffe-Lister (President of the Board of Trade) moved the following resolution :—"That, during a period of five years beginning on Ist July, 1925, there shall, on .the importation into Great Britain or Northern Ireland of any of the following goods, that is to say, lace of cotton, silk, or other fibre, whether made by hand or by machine; products of the machine known as the Leaver's lace machine, the lace curtain machine, the lacs net machine, or the circular lace machine j embroidery manufactured on net or on any fabric which, or the main part of which, is eliminated before the article reaches its final stage; the goods form part of or are attached to garments or other articleß or not, be charged, in addition to any Customs duty payable in respect of the goods as being or containing or being made wholly or in part of silk or artificial silk) a duty of Customs equal to 33 1-3 per cent, of the value of the goods.

■" I want the money," was a remark the Chancellor of the Exchequer spatchcocked into tho debate at an early period, and that was one fixed point in a whirl of statements and counter-state-ments as to what the effect of the duties would be.

Mr. Mackinder, armed with a Socialist amendment for their postponement, talked in a fatherly way to the Chancellor as " one who had taken the wrong' turning." Criticism was not confined to ono party. • While the woes of the operatives, the manufacturers, and the consumers were freely exploited from the Liberal and Socialist benches, several Conservatives had a particular word [ for the Chancellor's ear. GOOD EFFECT ON TRADE Mr. Churchill demanded that the silk duties should be judged in relation to the whole of his proposals. So far from their having a prejudicial effect on trade, he contended, some firms, such as Courtaulds, -would find it difficult to meet the future demand for orders. If 600 different kinds of sugar could be dealt with by our Customs officials, what difficulty in regard to silk would arise? The natural silk industry in this country, Mr. Churchill said, would be stimulated by the duties; artificial silk would be more largely produced; and even the stockings at Is 6£d a pair, which he himself had seen, would not disappear from the shop .windows. The unqualified optimism of the Chan- j cellor shocked Mr. Snowden, who likened Mr. Churchill to a chameleon feeding on air, and invited Ministerialists to confess that the duties were simply the preliminary to a general tariff. The views of Ministerialists were seen b.y the vote, whicih. rejected Mr. Mackinder'B amendment by 258 to 135. IMPORTED HOPS Clause 6 of the Finance Bill was then discussed. This imposes a duty on imported hops, giving a preference of onethird on Dominion produce. Mr. Dalton (Peckham, Lab.) moved an amendment to limit the operation of the duty to one year instead of four years. He described the Government's proposal as a leap in the dark, and asked what would be its effect in the price and quality of beer. He thought tho brewers were a sufficiently tight combination—(laughter) to raise the price of beer considerably by concerted action. Mr. E. Wood, Minister of Agriculture (Ripon) said he thought he could give an explicit assurance that neither the price nor the quality of beer' would be adversely affected by the small duties it was intended to impose on foreign hops. It had been common ground that when control came to an end some action would be necessary. The proposal of the Government would allow a free market subject to a moderate dutj. , He could not accept the amendment.

The clause was afterwards agreed to by 201 votes to 60. Majority 141.