'APPENDIX  D.—REPORT  ON  GERMAN  TARIFF.

21

C  3

the  bulk  of  the  burden.  And  the  general  decrease  of  import  trade  which
might  be  expected  to  result  from  a  general  rise  of  price  through  increase
of  duties,  must,  it  appears  to  us,  entail  a  general  decline  of  export  trade
also,  to  the  further  detriment  of  the  German  consumer  considered  as  an
industrialist.

On  turning  to  the  appended  statement,  it  will  at  once  be  noticed  that  it
is  proposed  to  increase  the  German  import  duties  on  the
Gen o e f ra Ä eaSe  g rea f  mass  of  articles  in  which  the  trade  of  this  country  is
interested  by  rates  varying  from  25  to  100  per  cent,  and
over.  In  some  instances,  as  in  the  case  of  various  classes  of  machinery,  the
percentage  increases  on  present  rates  reach  almost  startling  proportions.
Moreover,  the  statement,  as  will  be  seen,  mentions  a  number  of  articles
which,  although  previously  free  of  duty,  are  now  to  be  charged  burdensome
rates.  And  it  has  to  be  added  that  where  the  proposed  increases  in  duties
fall  short  of  the  level  of  25  per  cent.,  the  articles  are,  in  most  cases,  already
supporting  as  heavy  Customs  charges  as  they  can  well  bear.  To  attempt  to
particularise  in  respect  of  the  rates  for  individual  articles  would  virtually
involve  a  recapitulation  of  the  whole  statement  which  we  think  should  be
placed  in  its  entirety  before  the  German  Government  with  a  view  to  obtain
reductions  in  the  proposed  rates  of  duty  on  the  articles  included  in  it.

But  it  is  not  alone  in  respect  of  increased  duties  that  the  new  tariff  is
viewed  with  disfavour  by  our  commercial  and  industrial
divfsioïof  Tariff  community.  It  has  to  be  pointed  out  that  it  proposes
to  enact  an  extensive  subdivision  of  some  of  the  more
important  categories  of  the  existing  tariff,  and  that  this,  in  actual  practice,
will  require  intricate  calculations,  greatly  increase  the  labour  of  German
importers  and  Customs  officials,  and  unduly  impede  the  course  of  trade,
besides  giving  occasion  for  innumerable  disputes  between  importers  and
the  authorities.  These  obstructions  will  probably  be  felt  on  the  German
side  as  much  as,  if  not  more  than,  on  our  own.  Similarly,  German  manufacturers ­
  in  several  branches  of  business  will  appreciate,  more  than  our  own,  the
force  of  the  statement  that  many  articles  classed  as  manufactured,  upon  which
higher  duties  are  now  proposed  to  be  charged,  are  either  the  materials  of,
or  accessories  for,  German  industries,  and  that  the  higher  duties  will  increase
the  cost  of  production  of  the  goods  in  which  they  are  interested.  Many
instances  of  this  might  be  given,  but  the  fact  is  so  apparent  that  we  content
ourselves  by  merely  directing  attention  to  it.

As  above  stated,  we  do  not  propose  to  discuss  in  detail  the  effects  of  the
.  suggested  rates  of  duty  in  respect  of  any  of  the  articles
on^German^ntoests.  mentioned  ^in  the  appended  statement.  We  desire,  however, ­
  to  direct  attention  to  some  important  points  in
connection  with  certain  of  the  articles  which,  as  it  appears  to  us,  might
usefully  be  considered  by  the  German  Government  from  the  point  of  view  of
German  official  and  trading  interests.

As  to  slate  (No.  231),  we  are  advised  that  the  German  market  has  been
Slate  mainly  supplied  with  roofing  slates  by  the  North  Wales
district  for  over  half  a  century,  and  that  the  North  Wales
slates  have  been  and  are  largely  used  for  Government  and  other  public
buildings.  The  average  value  of  the  exports  of  roofing  slates  from  North
Wales  to  Germany  is  put  at  100,000Z.  per  annum.
It  has  been  suggested  to  us,  with  regard  to  the  clause  of  No.  403  of  the
proposed  tariff"  relating  to  tissues  composed  partly  of  silk
îssues^fWoo  and  ( not  mentioned  in  the  appended  statement),  that  the  South
of  Scotland  district  produces  a  speciality  in  the  shape  of
woollen  goods  containing  a  very  small  portion  of  silk,  which  German
merchants  would  find  it  profitable  to  buy  if  the  duty  (450  marks  per
100  kilogs.)  were  not  practically  prohibitive.  The  contention  is  advanced
that  woollen  goods  containing  a  proportion  of  not  more  than  10  or  even  5  per
cent,  of  silk  should  be  classed  for  duty  purposes  exactly  as  pure  woollen
tissues  under  Tariff  No.  430.