1 JANUARY 1881, Page 11

It is evident, from Lord Hartington's reply given on Tues-

day to a deputation from the cotton-spinners of Lancashire, that the Indian duties on cotton goods arc doomed. Lord Hartington admitted that the policy of Lord Salisbury must be carried out, and observed that the effect of abolishing the duty on one class of the cotton goods, while leaving it on another, had boeu to drive all the Indian manufacturers to that other. The duties, therefore, were clearly protective, and a further raven cc must be made, whenever the finances ivould allow, in the direction of Free-trade. The decision will cause extreme irritation in India, where it will be attributed entirely to subservience to the interests of Manchester. The Indian cotton-spinners, with their cheap labour and cheap cotton, ought to be able to dispense with a duty, but they say they are not. If Lord Hartington wants a substitute, why does he not ask some competent English expert in excise to examine the Alikaree system P There is a million to be obtained there, with the fullest approval of all 7—is-us, all moralists, and all Members of Parliament. Put betel into the Abkaree.