16 MARCH 1929, Page 35

been given to the artificial silk industry by the so-called

safeguarding duties of a-few years ago, it is not, perhaps, altogether surprising that Mr. Courtauld, in view of the forth- coming Election, should have deemed the occasion one for warning shareholders that his views with regard to the future were based largely upon the supposition that there was to be no repeal of these duties. In this respect Mr. Courtauld was careful to explain that he was speaking neither politically nor as a partisan of Free Trade or -Tariff Reform, but simply as pronouncing an opinion upon the ill effects that would be produced by the removal of duties which had been imposed and upon which the new artificial silk industry in the country has been largely built lip. -