From the first, Free Traders warned the public that the adoption of a restrictionist tariff policy would provoke retaliation abroad. With the exception of agriculture, the Britain's greatest industries were exporting industries; and it was common knowledge long before the "National" Government was formed that these were the industries which were most depressed. Yet, as Free Traders pointed out, it was these very industries which, in the event of our adopting a tariff policy, stood to suffer the most from retaliation. The danger was obvious, and what has happened has shown that the persistent warnings of Free Traders were entirely justifiable. The French surtax on the coal was a direct reply to the restrictions which we had placed upon imports from France. It was removed early in February 1932, for reasons best explained in a statement published in the South Wales Journal of Commerce of February 18th.