The Tariff Commission was a 1903 initiative in the United Kingdom to examine and promote proposals for tariff reform, which would protect British companies, and those of the British Empire, by imposing tariffs on foreign imports.

The Commission was established in December 1903 by Joseph Chamberlain, a Liberal Unionist Member of Parliament who had recently resigned as Secretary of State for the Colonies. The unofficial body was set up under the auspices of the Tariff Reform League. William Hewins, the economist and first director of the London School of Economics from 1895 to 1903, was Secretary and Sir Robert Herbert, the first Premier of Queensland, Australia, was Chairman. The Commission consisted of 59 businessmen whose brief was to construct a "Scientific Tariff" which would achieve tariff reform objectives.[1]

The aims of the Commission were to examine and report on Chamberlain's proposals for tariff reform, and to work out what import duties should be recommended.[2]

Members of the Commission included:

The Commission gathered data from businesses through interviews and questionnaires. They intended to publish reports on every industry that they investigated, and bring these together into a final report that would lay out a full tariff scheme. Meetings continued until at least 1917.[4] Seven volumes were published, but lack of funds caused the eventual abandonment of publishing.[2]

Further reading

  • Thomas Brassey, 2nd Earl Brassey (1904). "The Need for Tariff Reform: At the Tunbridge Wells Farmers' Club, on January 15th, 1904.". Problems of Empire: 180–193. Wikidata Q107160221.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)

References

  1. A J MARRISON. "The Tariff Commission, Agricultural Protection and Food Taxes, I9O3-13" (PDF). Bahs.org.uk. Retrieved 22 December 2017.
  2. 1 2 "Collection: Tariff Commission". Archives.lse.ac.uk. Retrieved 22 December 2017.
  3. RPT Davenport Hinds, ed. (2013). Business in the Age of Depression. Routledge. ISBN 9781138988026.
  4. "Report on the Work of the Tariff Commission". archives.lse.ac.uk. November 1917. Retrieved 31 August 2023.
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