Second Schedule.

Part of Orders of the Day — Finance Bill. – in the House of Commons at on 17 June 1925.

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Photo of Sir George Gillett Sir George Gillett , Finsbury

The object of my Amendment, which is the first of a series, deals with the articles made wholly or in part of silk or artificial silk. I fully realise the object of the Chancellor of taking revenue but to a considerable extent it would not be fulfilled. All our desire is that any temptation to continue these duties may be to a certain extent taken away. The chief point which really underlies our proposals is our objection to the principle involved in the Customs duties on articles made only from silk and I should like to point out, in the first place, that in connection with silk there is a matter that is not sufficiently appreciated and that is that it is bound to have an effect on other countries and it is especially unfortunate in the case of silk that the countries affected are nations very intimately connected with us in the last war. However, that is one of the effects of any protective tariff and it is especially noticeable in this case. The second reason is that I think that this is a step backward. We have seen some of the Continental empires divided up into smaller countries which have started on Protection tariffs to prevent the free flow of trade. We are simply following a policy which has been condemned in many quarters. To investigate all the articles which may have any silk in them beyond a certain percentage would involve a needless amount of work, and would impose a burden upon trade. That is really the underlying principle of these proposals. That is certainly the object I have in view in opposing them.