PROTECTION IN FRANCE.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1753, 21 June 1888, Page 4

PROTECTION IN FRANCE.

The Commercial Treaty that has been in operation between Italy and France recently expired. The efforts made to secure a renewal have so far failed. This brought oa a contest in the French Chambers. Under the expired treaty, raw silk was admitted at a very -low'..duty.. An effort was made by the manufacturers of Lyons to have , it, placed on the Free list. Thb course they pursued is strikingly similar to that of some of the woollen manufacturers of this country. It transpired during the debate that 24,000,000 pounds of raw silk were used by the manufacturers in a year, of which 2,000,000 ‘pounds, dr about one-twelfth, were produced frotn thecocoons of the Ardeche, in Southern France, The figures come to us through Freetrade sources, and should not, perhaps, be unreservedly accepted. But whatever the extent of the production of the raw material at home and its probable future, the French Chambers, by a large vote, decided to protect : ad‘well the growers- of the raw material as well as the' mauuacturers. They would not; consent to ■ the. destruction of one industry forthe benefit of another, A Bill was, therefore, passed by both Ohamb'eM( duty that will give the silk growers of the Ardeche a chance. The France is now a large exporter of sugar, though ia the early years of the century she did not produce a pound, and that"this wonderful change hyd the.’.systein, ? of,. Protection, 1 is evidently comprehended in .all its grand;:proportions by French statesf, i A Jj \ . ■