THE INDIAN COTTON EXCISE.
[To TRH EDITOR OP THE "SPRCTLTOR.1 SIR,—In the interesting letter by Mr. Harold Cox on "Indus- trial Development in India," which appears in your issue of February 17th, there occurs a passage upon the excise duties on cotton which is wholly misconceived. I do not know from what source Mr. Cox derived his information. But the official papers on behalf of the Indian cotton manufacturers have been through my hands, and their grievance is entirely different from that which Mr. Cox believes it to be.
The fact is that there is no competition between Lancashire cottons and those produced in India, and therefore the countervailing excise does not countervail. Lancashire sends only five counts to India. India produces only coarse counts. The exceptions to these two propositions are infinitesimal. Where the excise hits the Indian producer is in the fact that it is levied at all. Cotton yarns are produced in India either on power-looms in factories or on handlooms in the villages. The excise is not levied on the handloom product at all, and indeed could not be. The result is that the power- loom manufacturers have to lower the price of their products in order to compete with the handloom producers by at least the amount of the excise. The customer does not pay it. That is the real grievance. The power-loom manufacturer had to pay the excise merely to remove a fancied detriment to Lancashire, which does not exist. A minor grievance is that the Indian power-loom manufacturer has to make returns to Government of every yard he spins, and to pay the excise before he has sold the goods. The Lancashire producer is under no such obligation.
This explanation has often been made, but apparently is not yet understood.—I am, Sir, &o., A. N. CUMMINO. Constitutional Club.
Previous page
