IRISH CUSTOMS BARRIER.

Waipa Post, Volume XXIV, Issue 1399, 4 September 1923, Page 3

IRISH CUSTOMS BARRIER.

ECONOMIC DIVISION. The establishment of a Customs barrier, between Great Britain and the Irish Free State, consequent on the adoption of a separate fiscal system by the latter, has occasioned some confusion regarding the exact position of Northern Ireland. It is, therefore, necessary to point out that Northern Ireland, together with Great Britain, constitute one distinctive fiscal unit, and that no Customs barrier exists between Great Britain and the six counties of which Northern Ireland is composed. Trade between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, as between foreign countries and Northern Ireland, continues to be conducted and regulated exactly as it was conducted and regulated before the Irish Free State came into existence. The only Customs barrier now operating is between Great Britain (to whom for fiscal purposes Northern Ireland is allied) and the 26 counties embodied in the Irish Free State. It is obviously important, the Belfast Chamber of Commerce Journal points out, that trades in the United Kingdom and abroad should clearly understand that their relations with Northern Ireland are in no way affected by the fiscal arrangements of the Irish Free State. In this connection it is worth while noting that since April 1 the accounts relating to trade and navigation of the United Kingdom include the trade of Great Britain and Northern Ireland with the Irish Free State, and from the same date the direct foreign trade of the Irish Free State is excluded from the accounts.