§ 43. Mr. Holtasked the President of the Board of Trade if he will remove the import duty on foreign raw goatskins.
§ Sir D. EcclesNo, Sir. On 16th March an application for the removal of this duty was rejected in order to preserve the Commonwealth preference.
§ Mr. HoltDoes not the President of the Board of Trade agree that it is unreasonable to keep this duty on if supplies from the Commonwealth have in fact gone to other countries and are not now available to this country? Why, therefore, will he not agree to remove this duty so that the industry can buy its raw material at less cost from some other source?
§ Sir D. EcclesThe preference margin is of importance to the Commonwealth and it is in fact guaranteed to India, Pakistan and South Africa. We cannot break these guarantees without expecting to pay something very large in exchange, and I do not think it would be a good policy to do so.