§ MR. FIELDTo ask Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will reconsider the proposed financial arrangement concerning the importation of tobacco strips, seeing that its effect will be to decrease employment in the three Kingdoms, and give more labour in America.
(Answered by Mr. Asquith.) It is no doubt true that the effect of the additional duty on stripped tobacco, as of other protective duties, has been to create additional employment in a particular trade, but I cannot for that reason countenance the continuance of what I regard as a mischievous economic experiment.