§ 61. Mr. MITCHELL-THOMSONasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether his attention has been called to the terms of Clause 8 of The West Indian Trade Agreement Act, of 1913, of the Parliament of Canada; whether he can state if any other British Colonies or Possessions have been admitted by proclamation of the Governor-General to the benefits of the reciprocal agreement; and, if so, which Colonies have been so admitted and what obligations, if any, have been undertaken by them with a view to giving preference to Canadian goods?
§ The SECRETARY of STATE for the COLONIES (Mr. Harcourt)Under Section 3 of the Canadian Act referred to it is provided that goods enumerated in Schedule B to the Agreement shall be charged either—
whichever shall be the lower rate. Section 8 of the Canadian Act extends the concessions of the Act to the United Kingdom and any British Colonies or Possessions admitted thereto by Proclamation. By a Canadian Order in Council of 25th January last the benefits of the British Preferential Tariff were extended under Section 4 of the Tariff Act of 1907 to goods the produce or manufacture of:—
- (a) As the rate of four-fifths of the duties, if any, imposed on similar goods from foreign countries, or
- (b) At the rates of duty, if any, in the British Preferential Tariff in Schedule A to the Customs Tariff, 1907, or any amendment thereof,
Swaziland, Basutoland, Bechuanaland Protectorate, Northern Rhodesia, Nyasaland Protectorate, Uganda Protectorate, East Africa Protectorate, Protectorate of Northern Nigeria, Colony and Protectorate of Southern Nigeria, Gold Coast, Sierra Leone, Gambia, Somaliland Protectorate, Federated Malay States, British North Borneo, Sarawak, Brunei, Mauritius and Dependencies thereof, Seychelles, St. Helena, Ascension, Friendly or Tonga Islands, Fiji, Falkland Islands, British Honduras.
1701 So far as I am aware none of these Colonies or Protectorates has made any special Tariff Concessions to Canadian products in return.