Catalogue description Tariff Advisory Committee (1923): Papers

Following the report of an inter-departmental conference on proposals for the introduction of a tariff on trade, a Tariff Advisory Committee was set up in November 1923 under the chairmanship of Viscount Milner (1854-1925). Its members were largely drawn from agricultural, business and shipping interests. Representatives of the Board of Trade and the Board of Customs and Excise attended the Committee's meetings and these departments supplied the two secretaries. The Committee had no definite terms of reference but was limited in its deliberations by the Government's declared tariff policy. Thus duties on staple articles of food were excluded from consideration, and as the Committee decided no duty should be placed on raw materials, it confined its attention to the general character of a tariff on manufactured and semi-manufactured articles, and the rates of duty to be imposed.

The Committee examined evidence submitted by the Board of Trade, the Board of Customs and Excise and other Government departments.

After the General Election in December 1923, the Committee was dissolved. Although the Committee had not completed its enquiries it made an informal report summarizing its work and conclusions.