BRITISH TARIFFS

Gisborne Times, Volume LXXIII, Issue 11548, 27 January 1932, Page 5

BRITISH TARIFFS

"AGREE TO -JIEEER” POLICY “COAIAIERCIAT. EXtT ' (British Official Wireless) RCG BY. Jan. 25. In a statement regarding Cabinet » decision whereby hull id its member., “agree to differ" on the question of import dutie-. Sir Id. Samuel emphasises the general agreement existing tin disarmament. reparations, .war debts, currency. India, and national ecet any. and his own cenviction as to the rightness. of the course the dissentient Ministers had adopted. Air. MacDonald -ays: “The decision to allow dissentient members of Cabinet to express views on the tariff is an innovation, like the Cabinet itself. It will require delicate handling, but l am assured that the co-operation of the members of the .Ministry will ensure success. It is prompted, not by eoiistitutional theorising, but by a desire to find a commonscn.se exit from a difficulty that was foreseen from the beginning.'' WEAVE R BROOK'S FOR EC AST. TARIFF OF 10 PER ( ENT. F.AIPIRF. PROTECTION(U.P.A. by Eloc. Tel. Copyright) LONDON, January 25. Lord Beaverbrook, speaking at the London Hippodrome, said- “ The Government L going to give a 10 per cent, tariff, but we do not want a revenue tariff; we want a tariff which will give protection a-nd provide more production in Britain and the Empire. There will he no duty on wheat, meat, or tea, which are all Empire products. 1 am tired of hearing that Alr. AlacDoiiald |> indispensable. Lot ns gel rid of .such obstacles and get oil with the business of developing the Empire.” BUSINESS AT ROME

“DIFFICULT AND UNCERTAIN” LETTER TO GISBORXEJTE Writing io Air T. K. Tolioyclifie of Gisborne, an English correspondent. makes some interesting comment on tlie business conditions in the Old Country. “Business all round”, he states, “still continues very difficult and uncertain. The imposition of antidumping duties, together with ad. verse exchange, has practically wiped out many foreign lines oil' the market, and homo makers of such goods as leather and fabric gloves are booked up with orders for months ahead, and as a result of such pro teetiou, arc raising their prices. “The framing of a tariff is no easj matter, and the Government will need to exercise great care that in helping one industry they do notharm another; for often what is one trade’s finished article is another trade's raw material. The glove mnk. ers welcome a tariff on gloves, for example, but they protest against the tanners being similarly protected. as leather is their raw material —and so on. The whole question simply bristles with problems not easy to solve.

“The economic position of ihp world is upset, and it will take the politicians and financiers all rheir time to put things straight. Personally, I think that sooner or later a'l war debts will have to bo cancelled, otherwise international trade c.-.nnot lie .restored. France, however, will prove the stumbling-block. J fear. She seems determined, having brought Germany to her knees, to keep her there and lo enforce reparations and war payments to the uttermost farthing; but she will have to ho careful that in doing so slio does not bring disaster upon herself-'’