24"
TIE
DIC.O. 885
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
6
6
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
6
to it, would not be likely to increase, and the price obtained for it would, therefore, not be ultimately
enhanced.
11 4.
19. If the differentiation is to be confined to some specified articles, the difficulties of arriving at an equitable arrangement would be in no way diminished. Some of these difficulties were clearly pointed out by the representatives of New South Wales, Queensland, and New Zealand, in the course of the discussion, and no practical standard was suggested by which the value of the concessions to be made on each side could be tried or adjusted. These would obviously vary according to the number of Colonies sharing in the arrangement, and
other circumstances, many and, as the people of this country and those of the Colonies would approach the consideration of the question from entirely different points of view, a satisfactory agreement would seem almost impossible. To this country it would mean a possible increase of revenue for a period, but at the same time a serious curtailment of, trade, with loss of employment and enhanced price of food. and other necessaries, and it would, in the main, be judged by its effect, on our commerce and on the condition of the people.
20. To the Colonies, on the other hand, it would in the first instance mainly present itself as a question of
W"...
T
revenue. A remission of duty on the bulk of their imports would involve an entire readjustment of their fiscal system, requiring the resort to increased direct taxation or other means, and though there might be
.: ]
Tris
+
་་fty'་
wit
at first an increase in the price of their produce imported into this country, the revenue difficulty would probably appeal to them most strongly.
21. A consideration of these practical difficulties, and of the more immediate results above indicate of a system of mutual tariff discrimination, has con- vinced Her Majesty's Government that, even consequences were confined to the limits of the Empire, and even
en if it were not followed by changes of fiscal policy on the part of foreign Powers un favourable to this country, its general economic results would not be beneficial to the Empire. Such duties are really a weapon of commercial “ war, used
10
it's
.
as a means of retaliation, and inflicting possibly, more loas on the country employing it than on the country against which it is directed, and which would not be likely to view them with indifference.. **~22: 'Foreign countries are well aware that the Colonies differ in their fiscal policies and systems
from the Mother Country and each other, and if a policy of the kind 'advocated were adopted, our foreign rivals would "hot" improbably retaliate, with results injurious to the trade of the whole Empire.''
חי
זי
23. In the course of the discussion at the Con- ference the opinion was generally expressed that, although in present circumstances, while so large a proportion of the trade of Great Britain is with foreign countries, the arrangement might scarcely be acceptable to this country, the Colonial trade of Great Britain increases so much faster than the foreign that the conditions and proportions would be reversed at no very distant date, and the arguments now urged against the policy of the Resolution would
no longer be regarded as valid.
24. As a matter of fact, however, the proportion
J
of the colonial trade of this country to its foreign trade is very nearly the same now as it was forty years ago.* The development of external trade does not always keep pace with the growth of population, more especially when it is subject to tariff restrictions either avowedly or incidentally protective, and although the Colonies have much room for expansion in the matter of population, and English capital has flowed into them, perhaps more
T
* Comparisons are only possible since 1854. For the five years,
1854-58; the total imports into this country were 820,904,8307.;
the imports from,British possessions, being 195,556,9901, or 23-8 per cent. of the whole. During the five years 1889-93 the total imports were 2,112,252,9167., and the imports from British possessions were 482,427,761, or 22.8 per cent. of the whole. The total exports adring 1854-58''were 657,099,8257., and the exports to British possessions 186,056,8177., or 28-3 per cent, of the whole. During the period 1889-93 the total exports from this country were 1,521,736,951%, of which the exports to British possessions were 438,401,5427,, or 28-8 per cent. Taking imports and exports together, the trade of this country with British possessions in the earlier of the two periods formed 25-8 per cent. of the total, and th the later 25-3 per cent.
"
N
A 4