TARIFF TRUCE PROPOSAL

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XX, Issue 70, 6 March 1930, Page 6

TARIFF TRUCE PROPOSAL

DEBATE IN THE COMMONS.

MR. GRAHAM REPLIES TO ATTACK.'

(British Official Wireless.] Rugby, March 4

In the House of Commons, Sir Phillip Cunliffo-Lister, former dent of the Board of Trade, initiated a debate on the subject of the tariff truce conference. He said that, if the convention went through, every single one of our competitors could for the whole period of the convention maintain their duties exactly where they had them to-day and use exceptions to raise them in certain circumstances, while this country would be absolutely bound not to put on a duty in any circumstances, Mr. Graham, President of the Board of Trade in reply, said that a large part of the attack against the truce had been due to the mistaken notion that it was proposed to stabilise tariffs for a period of two or three years at their present level. The idea was that there should bo an effort to arrest the upward movement of tariffs and then have a systematic investigation of proposals that could be made for their reduction. He dealt at some length with the proposed draft convention and admitted that it was not easy to define fiscal duties and that exceptions were also presenting difficulties He would sav. but little more while the conference was still sitting Mr. Graham did not dispute that the dominions had indicated that they could not be parties to the discussion ; but he did not believe that the idea of the British Empire as a self-contained economic unit was a practical proposition. The discussions at Geneva did not preclude co-operh-tion within the Empire, provided it was based on mutual efforts to get rid of restrictions and not increase them.