ABSTRACT
The policy of the Colonial Preference is not a new gospel, as some modern Protectionists suppose and proclaim; it is as old as Protection itself, and as old as the mercantile system, which see. In the very heyday of the mercantile system, in 1660, in the glorious reign of Charles II., a heavy duty was imposed upon timber; a higher duty still being imposed upon foreign timber, the higher duties being known as aliens' rates. In 1661 timber imports from the North of Europe were absolutely prohibited, although this extreme Colonial preference was of the greatest injury to the British Navy. In 1840 the Select Committee of the House of Commons, which examined the import duties, condemned the Colonial Preference with no uncertain voice. Mr. Chamberlain's Preference proposals of 1902-3 are merely an attempt to revive an old and discredited system which was found out and thrown overboard, after long and bitter experience, sixty years ago.
