Artificial interference with the course of trade has in this
case proved once again to. be disastrous. Lord Leverhulme told his shareholders, that. West African commerce was so depressed that, for the purposes of the balance-sheet, he had not put any value on the shares in his West African companies. The differential duty ought, according to the Protectionist, theory, to have benefited British traders, but it has- really harmed them. Fur- thermore,. it has injured the native traders, both directly and indirectly. They have had to accept less than the world's market price for their kernels. They have lost their customers outside Great Britain, and their rivals in the. Far. East and elsewhere_have been greatly stimulated by no longer having to compete in foreign markets. with. West African produce. We trust that.Mr. Churchill will reconsider the question and restore fiscal freedom to our hard-pressed West African colonies.
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