The Irish standard., 1909-06-12

\ Redmonds amendment, and, Viscount
-Morpeth, who also supported. the
h amendment favored the encoura cement
! OF, the Irish tobacco industry by means
Of remission Of taxation than by grants
I in aid to growers, Mr.. Chaplin. want
ed to leave the duty on irish tobacco
/. unchanged. Mr., Clancy and Mr..
\, Goulding favored the reduction, but
Il Mr.. Tough, as a free trader, could not
~ support the amendment. Mr.. Austen
!. c Chamberlain gave his support to- Rel
] mond,s amendment and then the chan
cellor of the exchequer arose. .
i. Mr.. Lloyd George said there was
general sympathy with the tobacco
growing experiment in Ireland. The
government had already manifested
their interest in a substantial. manner.
The question at issue was the method
Of assisting the industry. He agreed
I that it was case for exceptional treat
ment-no free trader could quarrel with
that proposition (hear. hear. 1t was
an industry that was deliberately
crushed by act of parliament. He had
before him the. report Of the. commit
tee which sat in 1880. and which was
the beginning of the destruction of the
Irish tobacco industry, which was fair
~ hourising. Tobacco growing had
I been prohibited by legislation in Great
Britain previously. The act of 1890
was merely an extension Of the pro-
: hibition to Ireland
Mr.. VIM. Redmond-But at that time
1t was an important industry in Ire
land.
Mr.. Lloyd George-Undoubtedly Ire
lands case was stronger, because it
was an existing industry. and it WAS
. destroyed by act of parliament. For
this reason it had a special claim and
was on a totally different footing
). from other industries. 1t was more
or less on. the lines Of the encourage
ment. of afforestation. They could not
. suddenly pass an act of parliament
and say. "In future the prohibition
:. against the growth Of tobacco is with
. drawn, and you can go on. planting
tobacco as much as you like" 1t took
years to train a body of people suff-
4 GENTLY. expert in the cultivation of the
I. crop; and for this reason they could
not possibly make it commercial
!. success at the start. What was need
ed was that something should be done
to place the industry in the position
/, it. was in before parliament killed II.
IT was necessary to provide experts
!. and train the people in the industry
/. it was more or less of an educative
6 process But on the. other hand, if
they imposed a duty of 3s Sd on for
/. eign tobacco and only 2s 1od on to-
hacco grown at home. they would be
establishing a tariff which they could
never withdraw. Instead they had TAX
en- the, course of giving a grant Of 5000
pounds year. Honorable members
spoke as II the government had done
nothing and said that the 5000 pounds
was for the purpose of experiments.
But he pointed out that in addition to
! the 5000 pounds year, money was
, spent by the department Of agricul-
ture in experiments and experts in
connection with the industry. the par
ticulars of which Mr.. Russell would
/ explain. Mr.. Redmond's proposal
n would involve loss of only 1000
pounds to the exchequer, but the grant
4 the government were making was four
times that amount. Irish members
,a.s!aid their proposal should be agreed
Ito In expiation Of the wrongs inflict-
ed on their country in the past, It
was not the first time he had heard
that language, but was that all the ex.
piat1on that was due to Ireland? I'm.
ionist: members said they should make
some sacrifice to Ireland in order to
make expiation of the wrongs Of the
!; past. but their idea Of sacrifice was to
sacrifice somebody else's principles, 10
give up"a thing they did not believe
an, and that was free trade ((ministeria,
6 cheers.) If they owed something to
ireland they should sacrifice far moro
4 than Sd duty, and they were doing far
4 more. He was glad to hear Of the
esnccess that had attended Colonc,
\ Everard's labors and expenditures IN
this new field of industry. and he was
also glad, to learn that he was making
IA profit of 50 pounds ISIS an acre.
Mr.. W. Redmond-.No. no.
n Mr.. Lloyd George said the honor
Il able member. with shrewd KNOWLEDGE
sS|. parliament. saw the danger of that
point Qaughter.) Ireland now grows
81 thu very best tobacco successfu,,y
and oolonel Everard had sent him =
sample Of It, which was most excel-
lent tobacco. The honorable member
DAl~