COMMERCIAL RELATIONS WITH CHINA. (Hansard, 23 March 1847)

§ VISCOUNT SANDON

rose to move for the appointment of a Select Committee to take into consideration the present state of our commercial relations with China; and observed, that he felt himself excused from the necessity of intruding at any length on the attention of the House, from finding that the noble Lord at the head of Her Majesty's Government had no objection to the appointment of the Committee. The motives which had induced him to undertake this subject were these: he found among his own constituents, and also among a great many other parties connected by commerce and manufactures with the newly opened trade between this country and China, a strong impression prevailing that the advantages which would result from that trade would be of a very limited extent, unless a considerable reduction of the duty on tea were effected; for so long as a heavy impost of between 200 and 300 per cent was levied upon the only article that they could receive in return for their exports, it was impossible to expect that trade to any large extent could be carried on with China. Indeed, the duty on tea was considered by our merchants as a complete obstruction to our trade with China. This consideration would, of itself, naturally enough induce those parties to bring the subject before the House; but there were other considerations of a financial and pecuniary nature that would make it desirable that the whole state of our connexion with China should undergo an investigation with a view to ascertain more largely whether there were circumstances arising 326 from our relations with that country which, independent of the duty on tea, obstructed and limited the extension of our trade. He had no doubt, that an investigation of this nature would be found highly advantageous, considering the peculiar circumstances of the case. Placing our communication with China upon an open footing, was altogether of a recent date and entirely experimental. The result of our victories in China having put us in possession of five free ports on the Chinese coast, and also given us possession of an island in the Chinese seas, a very unusual state of things had arisen, which must necessarily make it the duty of that House to examine into the whole subject, with a view of ascertaining what was the real cause of the obstruction which appeared to exist in the conducting of our trade with that country. He therefore begged to move that a Select Committee be appointed for the purpose of instituting such an investigation.