PROTECTION 



export to England of pitch, tar, 

 hemp, turpentine, and masts and 

 spars, so that the Swedish 

 monopoly in these commodities 

 might be destroyed. Bounties 

 were also given to shipbuilders 

 to encourage the production of 

 ships of good class. The silk 

 industry was benefited by the 

 remission of export duties, and 

 received export bounties besides. 

 Raw silk from the Colonies was 

 admitted free, and in 1765 foreign 

 silk manufactures were prohibited. 

 Earnest efforts were made to foster 

 the linen trade, both by granting 

 bounties and by placing fresh 

 duties on foreign linen manufac- 

 tures, the proceeds whereof went 

 into a fund for encouraging the 

 home growth of hemp and flax. 

 Efforts were likewise made on 

 behalf of the old staple industry 

 of the country the woollen manu- 

 facture. With regard to agri- 

 culture, the system of granting 

 bounties on the export of wheat 

 when the price was below 48s. a 

 quarter stimulated the growth of 

 food in England, and so helped to 

 secure an efficient home-supply 

 during famine years. 



Fiscal Legislation and Free Trade 

 The centuries of development of 

 fiscal legislation were followed in 

 time by a very complex tariff law. 

 Additional duties were imposed, 

 not by a recasting of the tariff, 

 but by adding to existing sub- 

 sidies and import duties. The 

 work of calculating the actual 

 amount of duty payable on any 

 particular import, or the actual 

 rebate allowable on any particular 

 export, became a labour of por- 

 tentous intricacy. Under Pitt's 

 administration, therefore, in 1787, 

 the system was overhauled and the 

 tariff codified and simplified. 



The reign of free trade followed. 

 There were three distinct stages 

 in the movement. The initial stage 

 was inaugurated by Canning and 

 Huskisson in 1822, and in the 

 following years the duties on salt, 

 leather, grain, rum, coal, wool, 

 silk, glass, hemp, coffee, and wine 

 were taken off and the general 

 duties lowered, so that in 1833 the 

 protective taxes ranged from only 

 8 p.c. to 30 p.c. on the most 

 important articles. Export duties 

 were also reduced, but in the case 

 of numerous partly- manufactured 

 articles remained at an average 

 of 10 p.c. By 1837 this move- 

 ment had come to a standstill, and 

 in 1840 there was even a general 

 rise of 5 p.c. in the duties. The 

 reform of the tariff had then 

 become a party question. The 

 great industrial capitalists had 

 gained ascendancy in Parliament 

 and, in the interests of cheap pro- 



6362 



duction, demanded the abolition 

 of duties on raw materials so as to 

 lower the cost of production, and on 

 corn, so as to lower the cost of 

 living and enable them to reduce 

 wages, and also to obtain, in return 

 for the free admission of conti- 

 nental corn, the free admission of 

 English manufactures into conti- 

 nental countries. 



Peel's Tariff Reforms 



The next stage was the tariff 

 reforms of Peel, in 1842 and 1845- 

 46, which gave full weight to the 

 interests of the large manufac- 

 turers. The measures of 1842 

 removed the duties entirely fcom 

 750 articles ; reduced those on raw 

 materials, where it did not alto- 

 gether remove them, to a general 

 level of five per cent., and made a 

 systematic reduction lo 12 p.c. 

 of the duties on partly-manu- 

 factured articles. The corn duty 

 was also reduced, and at the same 

 time the duty on wholly -manu- 

 factured articles was reduced to a 

 maximum of 20 p.c. except that 

 on silk, which remained at from 

 25 to 40 p.c. Export duties were 

 still imposed on coal and wool, 

 and preferential duties in favour of 

 the Colonies were retained, these 

 having as a rule only to pay half 

 duty, or even less, on their principal 

 products. The tariff of 1845 made 

 430 articles duty-free, among these 

 being the most important means 

 of subsistence, raw materials and 

 partly-manufactured articles. This 

 was succeeded, a year later, by the 

 repeal of the Corn Laws, and from 

 1849 onwards a registration duty 

 of Is. per quarter took the place of 

 the old duties on corn. 



The third stage in the trans- 

 formation of the tariff was reached 

 in 1853, when Gladstone made 123 

 articles duty-free and reduced the 

 duty on 146. Raw materials and 

 partly-manufactured articles were 

 now admitted free of duty, and the 

 duties on wholly-manufactured 

 articles were not to be more than 

 ten p.c. There were still prefer- 

 ential duties in favour of the 

 Colonies, but by the tariff of 1860, 

 which accompanied the Anglo- 

 French commercial treaty, the 

 Colonies were put on the same le C*el 

 as foreign countries. 



Although free trade had been es- 

 tablished, a section of the Tory 

 party continued to agitate for pro- 

 tection for the industries of their 

 country. With the greater interest 

 in imperial affairs whih marked 

 the close of the 19th century came 

 a demand for imperial preference, 

 and the movement received a new 

 impetus when Joseph Chamberlain, 

 in 1903, launched a campaign in 

 favour of tariff reform. This did 

 not succeed in converting the peo- 



PROTECTION 



pie, but it was not without effect in 

 securing from the Dominions a cer- 

 tain preference for British goods. 



The Great War revealed the fact 

 that Great Britain had been solely 

 dependent for various imports upon 

 Germany, and some of these were 

 essential ingredients in certain 

 manufactures. A demand for their 

 protection resulted in the passing of 

 a measure, called the Safeguarding 

 of Industries Act, which came into 

 force in 1921. It placed a duty of 

 a third of their value on some 6,000 

 articles. In 1923 Stanley Baldwin, 

 the prime minister, believing that 

 the problem of unemployment 

 could only be solved by giving liia 

 government the weapon of protec- 

 tion of the home markets against 

 foreign competition, appealed to 

 the country in Dec. for a mandate 

 for his tariff proposals. His 

 majority of 73 was converted into 

 a minority of 97, and his resigna- 

 tion in Jan., 1924, was followed by 

 the advent to office of a labour 

 government. 



In the British Dominions and 

 foreign countries protection is the 

 rule. In Canada it was part of the 

 national policy carried out by Sir 

 J. A. Macdonald, and since his 

 time, although there has been a 

 demand for free trade, the changes 

 have been mainly in the direction of 

 raising the duties. The U.S.A. de- 

 clared for protection when the con- 

 stitution was drawn up in 1789. 

 France and Germany and other 

 foreign countries follow a policy of 

 protection. 



Bibliography. The Case for 

 Protection, E. C. Williams, 1899 ; 

 Imperial Fiscal Reform, Sir V. 

 Caillard, 1903 ; The Case Against 

 Free Trade, W. Cunningham, 1911 ; 

 The Case Against Tariff Reform, 

 E. E. Todd, 1911; Modern Tariff 

 History, P. Ashley, 3rd ed. 1920. 



Protection Order. In English 

 law, an order granted by a magis- 

 trate to a wife who has been 

 deserted by her husband. Its 

 effect is to protect any property 

 she has, or may acquire, against 

 her husband and his creditors, or 

 any person claiming under him ; 

 and, in fact, puts her in the same 

 position as to her property as if she 

 were not married. If the husband, 

 or any creditor of his, or person 

 claiming under him, seizes or 

 continues to hold any property of 

 the wife's after notice of such an 

 order, he is liable not only to 

 restore the property, but also to 

 pay to the wife double the value 

 thereof. When an order has been 

 made, the husband or any creditor 

 or person claiming under him may 

 apply to the court that it shall be 

 discharged, and may succeed on 

 showing mistake, fraud, or any 

 other good ground. 



