CO885(1-2) — Page 252

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference -

TITLUC.O.

885

1 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

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was given to levy countervailing tonnage duties in the same manner as countervailing customs duties might be levied under the former Act. The duties may be removed and reimposed. Under the authority of these Aets orders in council were issued in 1823 and 1826 respec- tively, laying a duty of 48. 3d. per ton on ships of the United States entering the ports of the British West Indies, and adding 10 per cent. to

the duties chargeable upon goods imported in

such ships.

By the Act 8 & 9 Vic., c. 90, s. 8, moreover, power is given to the Queen-

1st. To impose an additional duty, not exceed- ing one-fifth of the amount of the existing duty, on articles the produce of any country in which higher duties are levied on British than on other foreign produce.

2nd. To impose an additional duty of similar amount, on all articles imported in the ships of any country laying higher duties on articles imported in British than on the same articles in national ships, or laying higher tonnage duties on British than on national ships.

3rd. Either to prohibit or to lay one-fifth additional duty upon, any manufactured article imported from a country which prohibits the export of the raw material from which such article is made.

4th. To lay one-fifth additional duty on the manufactured article in case a duty is laid on the export of the raw material.

It was under the provisions of this section, or

rather of its prototype in the Act of 6 Geo. IV, c. 106, that the additional duty of 20 per cent. was laid by Mr. Canning on goods in Dutch vessels, which has been maintained on goods in Belgian vessels since the separation of the two countries but was taken off those of Holland in 1837.

There is also a section in the Corn Law (5 Vic., sess. 2, c. 14. s. 8) empowering Her Majesty to prohibit the importation of corn and grain from any country which lays higher duties, &c., on British ships, or goods in British ships, than on national ships, or goods in national ships, or

higher duties, &c., on British produce than on the produce of the most favoured nation. This

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section, though I am not aware that it has ever been acted upon, is still unrepealed.

2. With regard to the trade with the colonies,

it is provided by the fourth section of the Pos- sessions Act (8 & 9 Vic., c. 93) that foreign ships shall not trade with our possessions, unless 1st. They be ships of a country which, having colonial possessions, grants the like privileges of trading with those possessions to British ships;

or,

2nd. They be ships of a country which, not having colonial possessions, places the commerce and navigation of this country and its possessions abroad on the footing of the most favoured foreign nation.

3rd. Or unless Her Majesty shall see fit to grant them any of those privileges which the Navigation Law allows, without their fulfilling the conditions above set forth.

All these powers will be repealed by the pro-

posed Bill, and the 10th clause will be a simple consolidation of most of them. The 9th clause, though new, is justified by analogy.

Next, with regard to the general objection to making our legislation depend upon the legisla

tion of foreigners, it is to be remarked in the first place, that a distinction ought to be made between reciprocity in customs duties and reciprocity in navigation restrictions. It is undoubtedly true that in either case the party keeping up restric tions injures itself as well as its neighbour; but in the case of restrictions on trade it injures itself more than its neighbour, while in the case of restrictions on navigation it injures its neigh- bour more than itself. If duties are levied here

on the produce of France, and in France on the produce of this country, both countries suffer by being unable to get what they want as cheaply as they might. If the duties are taken off on one side the direct exchange of produce is at once facilitated, because the merchants are only mulcted once instead of twice in the course of

it and the country where the duty is taken off has the best of the bargain, because it can get what it wants very cheaply if it pays in gold, which it can obtain by an increased export of its

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