§ SIR H. VINCENT (Sheffield, Central)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether at midnight on Sunday next, the 31st of July, the Treaty of Commerce concluded with Belgium in 1862, and the Treaty concluded with Germany in 1865, prohibiting articles the produce or manufacture of Belgium (alternatively Germany) being subject in British Colonies to other or higher duties than those which are or may be levied upon similar articles of British origin, comes to an end in accordance with the 12 months' notice given last year by Her Majesty's Government; and that an order has been given by the Government of the Dominion of Canada to all its officers of Customs to reduce from that minute, by one-fourth, the duty upon all goods either the growth, produce, or manu- 428 facture of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, of British India, Ceylon, the Straits Settlements, of Bermuda, the British West Indies, and British Guiana, or any other British Colony or Possession, the Customs tariff of which on the whole is as favourable to Canada as the British preferential tariff of Canada is to such Colony or Possession, or certified as containing at least 25 per cent. of their value in British labour; and if he has any information indicating the probability of like action in the near future by the Governments of Australasia, British South Africa, and Newfoundland, or of the Crown Colonies?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLONIES (Mr. J. CHAMBERLAIN, Birmingham, W.)The treaty with Belgium terminates on the 29th instant, and that with Germany on the 30th instant. From the 1st of this month the duty on imports into Canada from this country and all foreign countries entitled to most-favoured-nation treatment there has been reduced by 25 per cent. On and after the 1st of August the benefit of this reduction will be confined to goods the produce of the United Kingdom, Bermuda, the British West Indies, and any other British Colony or Possession the Customs tariff of which on the whole is as favourable to Canada as the preferential tariff of Canada is to such Colony or Possession. As regards the third part of the Question, the only information I possess is that at the conference of the Australian Premiers on the 8th March last the following Resolution was passed—
That in the opinion of this Conference any Federal Tariff should give a preference to articles of the produce or manufacture of the United Kingdom. In default of an early Federal Tariff the Premiers will recommend to their respective Cabinets to alter the tariffs of the different Colonies, so as to give a substantial preference to the United Kingdom and to such Colonies.The Government of Western Australia is about to submit proposals to the Parliament of the Colony in pursuance of that Resolution.