§ LORD JOHN MANNERSsaid, he wished to ask the President of the Board of Trade, Whether, although from the multifarious character of the Differential Duties in the French Tariff it was impossible he could lay them all on the table of the House, it is not in his power to lay a short statement of the Differential Duties referred to in the Third Article of the Treaty of Commerce before them?
§ MR. MILNER GIBSONin reply said, that the Differential Duties referred to in the Third Article of the French Treaty were part of the Navigation Laws of France, which Were not intended to be touched by either of the contracting parties. There seemed to be some misunderstanding with respect to the Differential Duties. English ships entering French ports, and carrying the productions of the United Kingdom to France, would be subjected to no Differential Duties, which affected only the indirect trade that might hereafter spring up. In point of fact, the Differential Duties would be a protection to British trade, as it would secure it from competition on the part of American and other foreign shipping. He apprehended that he could give a satisfactory reply to the 1137 question by saying that a letter was written in 1855 by the Board of Trade to the Foreign Office, requesting the Foreign Office to make application to the Consuls in all the French ports to furnish the Government with the exact status quo as to those Differential Duties which differed in various ports, and the answers had since been received from the Consuls. If the noble Lord wished it, Government were prepared to lay the letters of the Board of Trade with the answers received from the Consuls, on the Table of the House, which would then be in possession of exact information of the Differential Duties affecting British shipping in all the ports of France.