TRADE WITH CANADA.

Waikato Argus, Volume III, Issue 210, 16 November 1897, Page 2 (Supplement)

TRADE WITH CANADA.

In the current number of the Canadian G azette (dated September 1C) there is an article entitled " The Tariff in OperaHon A Startling Result." It is there said that instead of increasing trade between England and Canada there is a substantial decline. During the four months in which the tariff has been in operation there has been a decline m exports to Canada of £lßl 565, 9 14 per cent., as compared with the corresponding period 0f1896, when the high tariff waV in operation. Several reasons are eiven by those who should know. All fgree' that four mouths is too short a period in which to fully test a tariff Others point to the largo rail-road iron reduction as largely outside all questions of tariff. Another vital influence in impeding trade has been the uncertainty as to the extra interpretation of certain matters affecting the tariff, especially the question of country or origin the preferential clause being interpreted at nrst to apply only to goods originating in Great Britain, but that restriction has bow been removed.

The Toronto Globo, the leading Government organ iu Ontario, makes the following significant announcoment of Government policy :—" We intend to deal fairly by those who have dealt fairly with us, and if the practical working of the tariff shows that it does not carry out the intention of favouring British imports the tariff will be amended."