§ COLONEL HOWARD VINCENT (Sheffield, Central)I beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade if he is aware that there are many thousands of travellers and agents now in the United Kingdom soliciting the diversion of orders from this country to the Continent of Europe and the United States of America; and if he will confer with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the desirability of following the practice of some foreign countries and British Colonies in the levying of revenue from licences to such foreigners or agents of foreigners to trade in the British market for the benefit of foreigners?
§ THE PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF TRADE (Mr. J. BRYCE, Aberdeen, S.)I have no doubt that there are many agents in this country engaged in soliciting orders for foreign traders, but I have no means of estimating their number. The regulations applied to commercial travellers in the chief countries of the world (see Foreign Office Report, Commercial No. 14, 1890) show that restrictions are the exception and not the rule. The view of the hon. Member that British trade and labour are injured by the visits of foreign travellers and agents, many of whom come to buy as well as to sell, is not only an erroneous view in the opinion of the Board of Trade, but is opposed to the accepted policy of this country in trade matters. The question of subjecting foreign commercial travellers, or a particular class of them, to special taxation is not one for my department; but so far as my own view goes, it is that any such imposition of licences would be hurtful to British interests and would tend to provoke reprisals in countries where British agents have at present free scope.
§ COLONEL HOWARD VINCENTasked whether the right hon. Gentleman was aware that barristers, solicitors, pawnbrokers, and those engaged in a large number of other professions in this country had to pay an Excise licence before they were able to earn their livelihood, and why in that case were foreigners alone to be exempted?