15 MARCH 1930, Page 1

. Superficially it seemed paradoxical that the Unionists, as a

Party, should oppose the coalowners' wish for a levy. Colonel Lane-Fox, however, said, quite justifiably in our opinion, and the proposal meant subsidizing foreign buyers and penalizing' home industries. How, indeed, could we condemn foreign dumping if we ourselves took to dumping ? Sir Herbert Samuel, for the Liberals, described the proposal as an " inverted form of Pro- tection." Mr. Graham in vain pointed: out that there was a precedent for the levy in the Five County Scheme, and that its effect there had been to stimulate exports. If the levy dropped out of the Bill,. he said,:the rest& would merely be that Parliament would :•be_ prevented . from " prescribing the form of the levy," for nothing could stop the owners arranging one for :themselves. True ; blit the successful levy in the Five County Scheme is voluntary.