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COMMERCIAL  INTELLIGENCE  COMMITTEE  :

supplied  a  similar  want  in  Germany.  We  are  assured  that  the  enactment  of
increased  duties  in  Germany  on  British  earthen  and  china  wares  can  only
result  in  strenuous  efforts  being  made  by  onr  home  pottery  trades  to  fetter
and  restrict,  as  far  as  in  their  power,  export  trade  in  such  wares  done  by
Germany  with  this  country.
We  have  already  referred  in  general  terms  to  the  question  of  the  necessity,
even  from  a  purely  Protectionist  point  of  view,  of  the
and°m£uiirfactures  P ro P ose ^  increased  duties  on  iron  and  steel  and  manuthereof.
  factures  thereof,  including  machinery.  It  may  not  be  out
of  place  to  offer  a  few  observations  as  regards  details
affecting  this  and  other  points  to  which  we  have  alluded.
We  are  informed  from  an  authoritative  source  that  the  discrimination
proposed  to  be  set  up  under  No.  785  of  the  draft  tariff  between  bars  weighing
more  and  bars  weighing  less  than  one  kilogramme,  will  be  vexatious  in
more  ways  than  one.  It  will  render  necessary  the  opening  and  weighing  of
every  bundle  or  package  ;  it  will  cost  more  t  o  collect  than  the  duties  are
worth  ;  and,  in  addition,  it  is  alleged  that  it  can  only  have  been  designed
to  affect  certain  small  sizes  of  which  our  Sheffield  district  has  made  a
speciality,  and  upon  which  the  cost  of  production  is  already  high.
It  is  suggested,  too,  that  steel  discs  should  be  specifically  included  in  this
class  (No.  785)  at  2  mks.  50  pfgs?  per  100  kilogrammes,  as  they  now  are
under  the  existing  tariff  ;  if  not  so  included  it  is  possible  that  they  will  be
classed  under  No.  798,  with  a  result  equivalent  to  prohibition  of  trade  in
these  goods.
As  to  Nos.  786  (ô),  787  (6),  and  788  (b),  relating  respectively  to  rough
sheet  iron  or  steel,  sheet  iron  or  steel  polished,  &c.,  and  tin-plate,  all  less  than
1  millimetre  in  thickness,  the  effect  of  increased  duties  would  appear  to
be  the  placing  of  obstacles  in  the  way  of  those  German  home  industries
which  use  sheet  iron  and  tin-plate  as  the  materials  for  their  manufacture,
by  destroying  possible  competition  within  moderate  limits  and  with  it
the  only  check  on  monopoly  prices.  It  would  seem,  moreover,  that  the
fishery,  agricultural,  and  fruit-growing  industries  of  Germany  would  be  likely
to  be  promoted  by  making  tin-plate  cheaper  instead  of  dearer,  especially  as
we  are  informed  that  the  German  tin-plate  industry  is  in  very  few  hands  and
that  with  duty  amounting  at  present  to  2/.  10s.  per  ton  manufacturers  have
already  something  approaching  a  monoply  of  the  home  market.
As  to  iron  and  steel  wire  (No.  791  of  the  tariff),  it  seems  difficult  to
understand  the  reason  for  the  proposed  advances  in  the  duties  of  from  16§  to
100  per  cent.,  when  we  find  by  published  records  that  the  exports  of  iron
wire  from  Germany  during  1900  amounted  to  about  170,000  tons,  while  the
imports  during  the  same  year  were  only  about  8,700  tons—a  balance  in
favour  of  Germany  of  about  161,000  tons.  This  proves  conclusively  that  the
Germans  can  not  only  supply  themselves,  but  send  large  quantities  into  the
English  market  at  a  price  with  which  it  is  impossible  for  English  manufacturers ­
  to  compete.  The  small  quantity  of  wire  which  is  sent  into  Germany
from  this  country  is  high-class  steel  wire,  used  for  special  purposes.  The
export  to  Germany  of  this  wire  has  been  decreasing  for  some  time,  and  it  is
with  difficulty  that  English  manufacturers  are  able,  even  under  existing
conditions,  to  make  any  sales  in  Germany.  Under  the  proposed  new  tariff
the  trade  now  done  would  virtually  be  prohibited  altogether.  As  touching
the  interest  of  German  users  of  wire  in  the  matter,  we  may  refer  to  the  statements ­
  contained  in  the  last  two  paragraphs  of  our  former  report  respecting
the  operations  of  the  German  Wire  Rod  Syndicate  during  the  half  year  to
31st  December  1900.  The  price  which  the  Syndicate  is  said  to  have  obtained
in  Germany  for  wire  rods  in  this  period  was  12/.  10s.  per  ton,  while  the
price  charged  for  foreign  sales  was  V.  per  ton.  -  In  other  words,  taking
10s.  per  ton  as  a  fair  profit,  German  consumers  had  to  pay  about  21.  3s.  per
ton  above  a  fair  price  in  order  to  enable  the  German  manufacturers  to  export
at  21.  4s.  per  ton  under  actual  cost.  The  way  in  which  such  a  state  of  affairs
operates  against  German  industry,  leaving  aside  the  tax  upon  the  general
community,  is  shown  by  the  Report  of  the  Wire  Nail  Trade,  dated  Dusseldorf,