TEA DUTY

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 11 June 1925, Page 5

TEA DUTY

AND IMPERIAL PREFERENCE. MR BALDWIN’S PLEDGE. MR. CHURCHILL EXPLAINS. BY CABLE—PRESS ASSOCIATION—COPYRIGHT. (Received June 11, 11.15 a.m.) j LONDON, June 10. In the House of Commons, Mr "Winston Churchill, when opposing a Labourite proposal for a penny reduction in the tea duty, pointed out that it had been thrice reduced since the war, and was now lower than before the war. Tea was being increasingly drunk. The proposal, which would cost £4,800.000, was rejected by 274 to 149 votes. , , Liberals invited Mr Churchill to defend Imperial preference in regard to the tea duty. He retorted that when the Dominions came to the aid of the Mother Country in .war time it created an universal feeling in favour of Imperial preference. The original Joseph Chamberlain scheme was based fundamentally on the taxation of bread and meat. Long years of political warfare had proved that to be unacceptable, but a considerable proportion of all parties endorsed the principle of drawing the Empire together by preferences which would not affect the cost of living. Eighty-four per cent of Britain’s tea was produced in the Empire, therefore preference contributed to the cheapening of the article to the masses who consumed it. Mr Churchill, replying to Sir John Simon as to whether, .apart from Mr Baldwin’s pledge, he was prepared to introduce a general tariff, said: “I am opposed thereto, and fought a general tariff at the 1923 election, but it is because the principle of a general tariff is no longer part of the party’s programme I consider I am perfectly free to examine these subsidiary propositions without raising the issues of protection and free trade. Mr Snowden: “Nobody understanding language could say that the present protectionist proposals did not contravene. Mr Baldwin’s pledge. Labour regarded tbe duties as onlv contemporary with the Government’s lifetime.” He said he wondered how long the Government would suffer the indignity of refusing a challenge elec; tion on this clear issue.—Reuter.