ABSTRACT

THIS country entered the war in 1914 as a Free Trade country. Nor, when the war ended, was there any suggestion on the part of the politicians then in power that a fundamental change in fiscal policy should be made. Foreign trade was to be left, as it had been before the war, to the unhampered discretion of private traders. Thus by 1st September 1919 the main body of the import restrictions, which had perforce been imposed during the war, were removed by the issue of a general licence for free import, except for a limited list of key products; and restrictions on trade with enemy countries generally were relaxed.1 But the experience of the war and the highly disturbed conditions prevailing throughout the world during the early da ys of peace led to our laisserjaire policy being modified in certain secondary respects.