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PROTECTION AND THE NEW TOBACCO…

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PROTECTION AND THE NEW TOBACCO DUTIES. THE attention which is being directed to the effect of the changes in the tobacco duties under the Budget is thoroughly justified. Not merely is the bearing of the new duties on particular branches of the tobacco trade oppressive, but they are so devised as to confer large and unfair advantages on other members of the same trade. Had Mr. Austen Chamberlain had in view the idea of dis- criminating between the wholesale tobacco manufacturers and the great body of retailers to the advantage of the former, he could hardly have succeeded more thoroughly. This unjust operation of the Budget changes was not at first sight perceived. those who hailed it. somewhat prematurely as it now turns out, as an honest Free-Trade Budget, did not per- ceive its full effects. Partly this was due to tne concealment by Mr. An-ten Chamberlain of vital facts; partly to the highly technical nature of the subject itself. Certain it is. however.that the light thrown upon the matter during the last few days has placed the Budget in an entirely new aspect. What seemed to be proposals cast on traditional Free-Trade lines now appears to he a thoroughly vicious scheme permeated by a Protectionist flavour. Is laying his Budget before the country the Chancellor of the Exchequer declared that it was part of his object so to revise the tobacco duties that the British tobacco manu- facturer should not placed at anv dis- advantage compared with his foreign com- petitor. Free Traders, of course, have no objection to such changes if it can be shewn that any existing arrangements handicap the home manufacturer. According to Austen Chamberlain, the system of levying the same duty on both the stripped and the unstripped tobacco leaf had the effect of causing the process of stripping to be done in the country of origin, whereas it might as well be performed in England, and tins give employ- ment to British lalx.ia-. B •/ putting an additional duty of :1. on the stripped leaf the Chancellor of the Exchequer proposed to remedy this state of things. He: declared that the amount in questi« >n was only just sufficient t> • make good to the British tobacco manufac- turers the expense he was put to in stripping the leaf. From the Free-Trade point of view the argument appeared at nrst sight convinc- ing. and the revision of duties unobjection- able. But the further light thrown upon the matter has raised grave doubts whether that opinion can be sustained. FOR the Chancellor of the Exchequer managed to suppress a point essential to the consideration of the matter. What he left unsaid was that the importer of unstripped "tobacco leaf actually does at present obtain a rebate from the Customs authorities of :j" per lb. upon grinding the stem into snuff and exporting it or depositing it in a bonded ware- house. From this it is quite clear that the British tobacco manufacturer is not compelled to import the stripped leaf. as was suggested by Mr. Chamberlain. On the contrary. he imports stripped or unstripped precisely as it pays him to make snuff or not. Since the demand for snuff is so small compared with the tobacco trade generally, it results that the quantity of unstripped tobacco imported is always small compared with the aggregate importation. It is difficult to acquit Mr. Austen Chamberlain ot a certain want of candour in having concealed from Parliament and the country this important fact relating to the existing rebate. Obviously it alters the complete incidence of the duty, since it shews that even if the existing scale operated slightly in favour of the importation of stripped leaf the effect was far less powerful than the Chancellor's speech suggested. And the sup- pression of such a material point was still more censurable since it really changed the entire nature of the tax. Instead, that is. of heinff a reasonable adjustment of the duties in the interest of British tobacco-strippers, it is actually nothing less than the Protection of a section of the tobacco manufacturers which the Budget carries out. How this is done will become perfectly clear when the facts are clearly grasped. According to authorities, on an average olb. of leaf go to lib. of stem. Under the new scheme the importer of unstripped tobacco receives an advantage of :;(1. per pound—that is to say, upon buying 61b. of leaf and stem he pays duty to the amount of Is. Hd. But. according to Mr. Austen Chamberlain's estimate, he loses •r>d. OIL the pound of stem. so that as a result of the new duties he is a gainer to the extent of Is. Id. Since, therefore, he is so sub- stantially to the good by importing unstripped instead of stripped tobacco leaf, this revision of the duties may be characterised as a piece of Protection pure and simple. That it is not on a large scale matters little—the principle acted upon is the same. The revenue and the tobacco consumers are to suffer in order that employment may be given in the form of tobacco-stripping to a very small number of hands at Liverpool. Bristol, and other tobacco- importing centres. As the labour is unskilled, and therefore ill-paid, the only effect will be to increase the ranks to some extent of those low-grade industries which that eminent Protectionist authority Professor Ashley regards as a mark of national deterioration. SSuch is the broad effect of the" whiff of Protection for which the Chancellor of the Exchequer is responsible. usual, the reappearance of Protection in the Budget has been accompanied by a sugges- tion of the scandals which are so closely related to the system. The House of Commons has witnessed during the last day or two anyvv scenes arising out of the persistent efforts of Mr. M'Kemia. M.P., to have some light thrown on a highly suspicious incident. Inuring the month of March last the imports of unstripped tobacco leaf were unprece- <!entedly heavy. What was the cause of this pheia nienon, just on the eve of a Budget which made every holder of this class of tobacco a richer man Y We have it on record that one of the leaders of the tobacco trade, Mr. (allaher, a member of Air. Chamberlain's Fiscal Commission, gave evidence before a committee, and urged upon them the desirability in the Budget of making the very < h-uige in the tobacco duties which the Chancellor has carried into effect. In an inter- view with the Tobacco Weekly Journal he admits that "his views had been accepted by the Exchequer. The connection between Mr. Gallaher's evidence and the enormous rise in the imports of unstripped tobacco is. to say tLe least, suggestive. It justified to the full Mr. M'Kenna's request for a special com- mittee to inquire into the facts. Mr. Balfour has refused the demand with a touch of indolence added. Apparently, therefore, the public must, be left to draw its own conclu- sions from a strange combination of facts. -toU- A IL\ILW4-\1 LLECORD. Th« (ircat Western Knilway eclipsed all previous re.'cnls in the iounn-y trom PlymouMi on Monday bv '.inuring a train carrying the American mails i-L Mmv hours forty-seven minutes, thus beating t!> •■!•.< i ri vious time by seven minutes. The train 9.23, and was drawn to bristol hv til- eeyiri" City of Tniri, which was changed for the X -rth Mi-Hands, and* South Walt's were 'iroj.pe-• at r.ristol, and the Puke of Connaught took .-•n .-rain to P. ddin-ton, which was reached at 1.10 p, the entil e distance, including the stoppage, having been covered at the average rate ot slightly ovr G5¡j, miles per hour. A second train left Mil;buy at 9.48 with passengers and bullion, and this arrived in the metropolis at 2.12, stoppages having been made at Exeter and Uristol.

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