Tariffs and Equality of Opportunity ..
An important application for a reduction in tariffs under the terms of the Ottawa Agreement is being heard at Ottawa by. the Canadian Tariff Commission. The Lancashire cotton representatives are asking for a " substantially lower level of tariffs " on the ground that the British gain in, export trade has been at the expense of U.S. cottons excluded from the Canadian market, and that the Canadian manufacturers enjoy far greater benefits under the agreement: The Canadians stress the increase of British exports to Canada; and protest that there is no real ground for the application. The fact that an impartial Canadian Board is givirg full hearing to the British case is , a notable advance; Which is made possible by the machinery set up at the Ottawa Conference. Whether the strain will' be too much for the machinery is a question which this test may decide. The complicated business of costs of production in each country must be the Board's next Consideration, and it will be a matter of some interest to ic.e how it copes with the tangle of technical arguments Concerning machinery' and wages which forms the basis Of the costs formula. The aim defined in the Ottawa Agreement was to enable British manufacturers to Compete with Canadian on equal turns in Canadian markets. But 'whether such equality can be accurately established by tariff manipulation is more than doubtful.
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