§ SIR G. CAMPBELLI beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for the 760 Colonies whether Her Majesty's Government perseveres with the policy of that part of the Swaziland Convention, by which the Transvaal was required, as the price of certain advantages, to enter the highly protective Customs Union of the Cape Colony; whether, in that case, Natal must either submit to a double tariff on the trade with the Transvaal by way of Natal, or must also enter the Cape Union, and abandon its more Free Trade policy; and whether Her Majesty's Government has thought it desirable thus to favour Protection at the expense of Free Trade?
§ BARON H. DE WORMSHer Majesty's Government adhere to all the provisions of the Convention into which they have recently entered. In the event of the South African Republic joining the South African Customs Union, it would collect duties on goods imported by way of Natal at the Union rates. In that event, it would be entirely a question for the Natal Legislature whether it should continue to apply the present Natal Tariff to general goods merely passing through Natal for consumption in the Transvaal, or grant the exemptions in respect of them already enjoyed by spirits, wines, tea, and manufactured tobacco, or whether it should join the Union itself. The Customs Union Tariff is a Revenue, and not a Protective Tariff, and the question of "Protection" versus "Free Trade" does not appear to be involved.
§ SIR G. CAMPBELLThe Cape Tariff is a high tariff, while that of Natal is a low tariff. There is a great discrepancy between the two.