TALK OF TARIFFS.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 9 October 1928, Page 9

TALK OF TARIFFS.

REVIVED IN BRITAIN. PROTECTION OF STEEL INDUSTRY A peculiar situation has developed in connection with political affairs in Britain, says the “Christian Science Monitor.” Parliament has adjourned and the spokesmen of .the three political parties have started their task of addressing the electorate through the country on the record of the past session and the promise of the next, which, will be the last session of the present Parliament before the general election.

It has been the intention of the Rt. Hon. Stanley Baldwin that Conservative members should spend the holiday expounding the reform in the country’s rating, or municipal taxation system. Other influences have intervened and it now appears that the persistent campaign waged by more than 200 Conservative members for an extension of the tariff to. iron and steel will dominate all discussion. That this will be a misfortune for the country is the opinion of many business leaders who are not particularly interested in the success qf any party, but believe that there is danger in adopting a measure which must inevitably be an interference with normal channels of trade. Their point is that while British iron and steel enterprises are unquestionably in difficulties, those difficulties must first be ameliorated by action on the part of the industry itself before they can expect governmental aid in the shape of a protective duty. LARGE IMPORTATIONS OF STEEL; Last year Britain produced 7,500,00 b tons of steel and imported more than 3,000,000 tons, although the capacity of the British plants is approximately 12.000,000 tons. It is contended that these imports, if manufactured in Britain, 'would give employment t Q many thousands of men now idle. The critics of the industry assert, however, that much of the British steel plant is obsolete and that before asking for a tariff there should be an energetic reorganisation throughout the. industry. If uneconomic plants were eliminated, and control of the industry organised in some such way as it is in Germany, the contention is that the cost of production between British mills and the Continent would be quickly equalised. If reorganisation and increased efficiency still left the British steel industry unable to compete with the Continent, then the Government might reasonably be asked to impose a tariff on imported steel, say these critics. Tlieir reason for opposing any attempt to impose a steel duty at this time is that it would tend to' maintain an unsound condition in the industry itself. Capital now refuses to enter the steel industry because of its disorganised condition, but experience in other lines indicates that with centralised control there would be slight difficulty in attracting needed funds for rehabilitating those'

plants which are worth bringing up-to-date. INCREASING TALK OF TARIFF

Experts who are conversant with British steel trade conditions say that there are four main interests concerned —capital, labour, the banks, and the Government. Each one waits for the other to make the first move. The Government is tlie logical interest to take the initiative, accordiug to these experts, but its experience in the coal industry makes it loath to do so, while the tariff enthusiasts are busy trying to push it in the wrong direction. Meanwhile the election issues- are developing something as they did in 1923. when the Conservatives were defeated by Labour on a. tariff reform, platform. Labour wqs turned out shortly afterward mainly on Russian troubles and the tariff has been more or less dormant since. That the free trade interests in Britain are genuinely concerned over the progress of sentiment in favour of tariffs is obvious from such well-known free trade journals as the “Manchester Guardian” and the “Economist.” In any event, the coming British election promises to be one of the most absorbing interest.