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COMMERCIAL INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE :
We have here to refer to two matters which do not stand altogether on
the same footing as those to which we have hitherto
Salt. alluded. The first is in regard to salt (No. 278 of
the proposed tariff), At present imports of salt into
Germany by sea pay only the internal duty of 12 marks per 100 kilogs.,
being thus placed on equal terms with salt of native production, while
imports by land pay a duty of 80 pfgs. per 100 kilogs. in addition to the
internal duty, i.e., 12 • 80 marks per 100 kilogs in all. The effect of the new
proposal, if enacted, would be to place all imported salt on the same footing,
whether introduced by land or by sea. The imposition of this duty of 80 pfgs.
per 100 kilogs. on sea-borne imports, equivalent to 8s. a ton, amounts to
about ò0 per cent, upon the delivered price. The importance of salt as ballast
is well known, and we are assured that a large part of the export trade of
the Baltic ports will be hindered if the tonnage now employed in salt ceases.
The export of salt to Germany is principally to the ports of Danzig, Königsberg,
and Memel, from which ports exports are alleged to be in excess of
imports, so that outward tonnage is necessary for German trade. Moreover,
the importance of cheap salt as being necessary to all classes and as a raw
material needs no argument. If the proposed tariff, as is generally alleged,
is intended to benefit the German agricultural classes, a prohibitory duty on
the article seems inconsistent with this object, as salt of moderate price
and of the highest quality free competition can render available is essential
to prosperity in butter making, curing, and other agrarian pursuits. We
are informed that there has always been a demand in Germany for English
salt, especially for dairy purposes, English quality being superior to German.
This latter statement is supported by the fact that a fair trade in salt is
being carried on with Germany at the present time, although in addition to
the excise duty, chargeable on British and German salt alike, the British
salt has to pay freight. The increase in the duty, if enacted, will of course
virtually kill this trade, and its stoppage will not only injuriously affect
the German butter-makers and other users of salt, but also that part of
both the British and the German shipping industries engaged in the carrying
trade between the two countries. And beyond this, it has been estimated
that the increase in the German revenue from the additional tax, even should
the present trade be undisturbed, would be less than 9,000¿. per annum.
The second matter is in regard to straw plait, and in this case the duties
are proposed to be reduced. Straw plait, whether in
Straw Plait. the raw state or bleached or dyed, now pays 10 marks
per 100 kilogs. when imported from countries entitled
to most-favoured-nation treatment in Germany, and 18 marks per 100
kilogs. when imported from non-treaty countries, the raw product of a
non-treaty country (e.g., China) being admitted at the conventional rate of
10 marks per 100 kilogs. if bleached or dyed in a treaty country (e.g., the
United Kingdom). The treatment proposed by the draft tariff is that straw
plait in the raw state shall be admitted free, without regard to its origin, and
that the bleached or dyed article shall pay 8 marks per 100 kilogs. Aided by
the present tariff provisions, a considerable export trade to Germany in plait of
Chinese, &c. origin, dyed or bleached in this country, has sprung up in recent
years. The free admission of unbleached and undved plait proposed by the
new tariff will do away with the advantage under which this trade has become
possible, and it is urged by those interested that this will not only be
inconvenient to exporters in the United Kingdom, but that it will injuriously
affect German hat manufacturers also by lowering the quality of their raw
material and restricting them to the few bleachers and dyers in Germany
concerned in the straw plait business. It is asserted that the great body
of opinion among straw-hat makers in Germany is in favour of a retention of
the system of uniform treatment of raw and of bleached or dyed straw plait.
In putting forward the foregoing observations we, of course, fully recognise
that the proposed tariff, besides being subject to amendment by the German
Legislature on points of detail, is to be considered as being largely in the
nature of a tarif de combat, and that a good deal of bargaining with other
nations, such as Austria-Hungary, Italy, Belgium, and Switzerland, and
