From the Archives (March 8, 1922): Cotton excise

As regards the suggestion to remove the cotton excise duty Sir Malcolm said :- "You are well aware that the imposition of this duty will fall on the consumers. But what I was not prepared for was that excessive sympathy for the consumer professed by the advocates from Bombay. I do not remember that when the mills were making very large profits, they showed any practical sympathy to the consumers by reducing their rate of profit. This duty had been denounced as counter-vailing duty and some members have told they cannot accept it. This is no longer a countervailing duty. I do not admit that this has been done in the interests of Manchester or as a countervailing duty or to the dictation of any interest except our own revenue interest. I will brook neither here nor any where, the statement that I and my colleague were influenced by anything except the desire to make our budget square. How ridiculous that statement is would be seen from the observation of Sir Vithaldas that the real competitor is Japan and not Manchester.