Except in lumber and kerosene there was practically no direct trac but considerable quantities of hardware and other articles ente through Liverpool or Hamburg. A direct trade has developed stepp what since 1913 but even in 1917 a large proportion of the from the United States entered via Cadiz and were credited to Spea The United States sends to the Canary Islands chiefly lumber, ke sene, and tobacco, but during the war coal and foodstuffs were ad to the list. TARIFF POLICY RELATING TO THE CANARY ISLANDS. Import duties.-Since 1854 the Canary Islands have been ports." Though commerce has thus in general entered them customs duties for revenue purposes have been levied on a few cles of wide consumption and with no general preference to Spu du products. The articles dutiable according to the law of Mar 1900, are: Alcoholic beverages and tobacco; teas, coffee (and su tutes) and cocoa; sugar, molasses, and glucose; and spices and sale cod. In the cases of sugar, tobacco, and fish these duties protecte industries. The rule that no preference be given to Spanish proda was broken in September, 1914, by a preferential rate on a single it sugar.37 The law of March 6, 1900, did not change the rates previously force, but by royal decrees of 1900, 1901, and 1907 s various rate were reduced, e. g., on alcohol and spirits, raw cocoa, chocolate. spices. The rates now in force, after further changes during the w are as follows: Salt cod and stock fish. Cocoa: .do.. 8500 $ ..do.... 24 10 m In the bean, unroasted, and cocoa shells the produce of and imported direct from Fernando Po. - per 100 kilos.. 50.5 .do.......... 65 * .do.... 200 In the bean, unroasted, the produce of, and imported direct from, Fernando Po.... From other places of origin. per 100 kilos.. 80 ..do.... 107 0 Roasted, ground; chicory, roasted or unroasted, and other imitations of coffee. per 100 kilos.. 250 ( ..per kilo.. 10 Chocolate.. Juice and molasses, cane and beet root, containing more than 50 per cent of crystallizable sugar - per 100 kilos.. 80 a When imported from the Peninsula and Balearic Islands, or from nations with treaties actually in force, or enjoying the most-favored-nation treatment, except Portugal, so long as the treaty with the Nether lands remains in force. Spanish sugar is free. 26 Ib. Decree of Sept. 11. Gaceta de Madrid, Sept. 15, 1900. Several organizations had petitioned for the temporary free entry of Spanish sugar. The reductions to 25 pesetas per 100 kilos put the Canary Islands on the same footing as Spain, where a consumption tax of that amount was levied upon local production, except when the product was exported. For the preference to the raw cocoa and coffee of Fernando Po see p. 550. The duty on rum and gin since Mar. 20, 1900, had discriminated against countries which had net most-favored-nation treaties with Spain; but the important exporters of rum and gin all have such treaties *Gaceta de Madrid, Aug. 20, 1907. taining up to 50 per cent, inclusive, of crystallizable sugar, Pes. cts. per 100 kilos.. 40 00 innamon, cloves, and other spices, or imitations thereof.....do.... 100 00 imitations thereof, also yerba-maté.. in the leaf: Philippine. tured tobacco: Habana. Philippine. Mixed. Virginia. .do.... 150 00 Verdin. "consumos" and the "cabildo." —In addition to the customs which are applied equally throughout the islands, imports bject to a number of other taxes which are not uniform but are ted separately for each city or island. In the past the most tant and also the heaviest tax-heavier than the customs 3—has been the consumos or consumption tax, which correis to the French octroi de mer. This charge is for some es a composite of an internal-revenue tax (whose proceeds go e Spanish treasury) and a city tax, and for others it is a city lone. The cities are divided into five classes according to popu1, and the maximum taxes authorized increase with the size of ity. Thus cities of 5,000 population or less may levy 8 centesia pound on meat while those of 40,000 or more may levy as much ! centesimos, the intermediate classes being limited to 9, 10, and entesimos, respectively. Las Palmas, on the island of Grand ry, which imports two-thirds of all the merchandise imported the whole group, has abolished the consumos in favor of other s. In the city of Santa Cruz de Teneriffe one or both of these s fell upon nearly a hundred articles or classes of articles, at s varying from about $0.13 per ton on sawdust and peat to about 15 per kilo on table oils. In Arucas most articles are taxed, but y at insignificant rates, e. g., a single entry of the 44 items on the edule groups all cotton, linen, wool, or silk, and manufactures reof, at 2 pesetas per hundred kilos. Some smaller cities levy y on liquors, hog products, table oils, cereals, dried and canned etables, jams, and soap. Another tax to which goods imported from beyond the group are ject is the cabildo or island tax, which is levied separately by h of the seven large Canary Islands. In La Palma and Grand nary the cabildo is 1 per cent on all imports,10 except that in each se there is a short free list including olive oil, wheat, rice, candles, d also a few other articles of common consumption on which the o lists do not agree. In Teneriffe the duties (except on alcohol) e all levied per metric ton (2,204 pounds), lime and cement paying pesetas, lumber 7.50 pesetas, and practically all other merchandise pesetas. While some of these four taxes fall upon only a few articles, and thers are levied at very small rates, the total on certain articles is This description of the consumos and cabildo is based on a report by the American consul in 1917. "Except that Grand Canary levies a specific duty of $0.04 (equivalent) per liter on alcoh ol. large. Thus the total charge in Santa Cruz de Teneriffe on a pe alcohol is as follows: th Export duties. The export duties levied in Spain are not im s in the Canary Islands. The only export duties in the islands cent years have been a few levied for the purposes of conserve during the war. For instance, when in 1916 Spanish suge granted free importation into the Canary Islands, the duty pre imposed upon its importation (25 pesetas per hundred kil transposed to its exportation. Concealed preferences. The extent to which the selection of ble articles was and is favorable to Spanish trade interests ca be set forth accurately as regards figures," but that the selectio dictated by preferential considerations is suggested by a comp of the list of dutiable articles and the figures which show the of the imports for a normal year, e. g., 1912. The following f may be considered in this connection: TABLE 8.-Imports of dutiable articles and of certain free articles from Spain foreign countries, 1912.1 [In thousands of pesetas.] 0 1 Estadistica General del Comercio Exterior de España en 1912, Pt. II. Canarias. Comercio de la tacion por Puertos y Paises, pp. 943 et seq. 2 Not including 46,000 pesetas from the Spanish possessions in Africa. *64 pesetas are accredited to Fernando Po. • Exclusive of 32,000 pesetas from Fernando Po. The figures show that the articles subjected to duties are importa almost exclusively from foreign countries and that certain other pre ucts of a similar nature and almost equally fit objects for taxat but imported more largely from Spain are exempt from duty; importance of this point may easily be exaggerated, however, for dutiable articles are, with the exception of codfish, the almost versal mainstays of revenue tariffs, and with the additional exce tion of alcoholic beverages are not to any considerable extent incl 41 Statistics are not available to render possible a direct comparison between the amounts of duty p upon imports from Spain and those on imports from foreign countries. ion with Spanish products. The concealed preference really ists in the two unusual features, the imposition of a duty on cod e other fish are exempt and the exemptions from duty of wines, and cider. If the sole object of the duty on fish had been to ect the local industry, other varieties than cod should have been ided, for all varieties compete with the local catch--which is not Further, the figures show that the valuation of cognac and r compound spirits largely of Spanish origin averaged eight times uch per liter as that of the simple alcohols of foreign origin, but duty was only two or four times as great. On the other hand, the res show no systematic classification of the duties with the object avoring Spanish interests, e. g., Spain supplied none of the sparkwines which were left free. The conclusion that the preference to nish products shown in these duties was somwhat fortuitous is ngthened by two further considerations. There existed no obstacle treaty or otherwise to granting open preferences if desired, and the ildo shows no concealed preferences." The articles exempt from the cabildo are such as are consumed to ge extent by persons of small incomes, the so-called necessities of ; hence the purpose in freeing them from taxation was doubtless keep their price as low as possible.42 One of the most important is ve oil, which is supplied almost wholly by Spain, but its exemption y be compared with the exemption of wheat, a commodity of like portance but imported almost entirely from foreign countries. e cabildo of Grand Canary Island as established in 1914 exempted h, dried and imported by Spanish fishers, but this exemption has parently disappeared. Effects of the open preferences.-The preferential tariff rates on cocoa d coffee imported directly from Fernando Po give premiums of out 13 cents and 2 cents a pound, respectively, upon such importion. This has no doubt been a factor in the cocoa trade, but in 12 less than one-third of the cocoa and practically none of le coffee came directly from Fernando Po. The preference of over cents a pound granted in September, 1914, to Spanish sugar was llowed by large importations from Spain, from which there had reviously been none. But Germany had been the chief source of he sugar importations and the effect of the duty is obscured by var conditions. The ad valorem rate of the differential was very high when it was imposed, but it was reduced by nearly a cent a pound in February, 1916,43 and increases of costs of production and prices have urther reduced its relative importance. PREFERENCES IN SPAIN TO PRODUCTS OF THE CANARY ISLANDS. The royal decree of 1852 which converted into free ports all the ports of entry of the Canary Islands enumerated 24 products of those islands which were to be granted exemption from customs duty upon importation into Spain. The list differed from that which has been in force since 1900 chiefly in that it named different The exemption of coal is dictated by the importance of the reexport business in bunker coal. 43 Royal decree of Feb. 10. Gaceta de Madrid, Feb. 16, 1916. The rates established in September, 1914, had been 25 pesetas per 100 kilos on Spanish and 60 pesetas on foreign sugars. Under this decree of February, 1916, Spanish sugar entered free and foreign sugar paid 25 pesetas, i. e., the preference was reduced from 35 to 25 pesetas per 100 kilos. The duty on sugar imported into Spain had been reduced by decree of Jan. 30, 1916, from 60 pesetas to 25 pesetas per 100 kilos; that is, to the same rate as that of the internal tax. Before the war Spain produced a quantity of sugar about sufficient for her own consumption and she neither exported nor imported sugar on any large scale; in 1916 she imported a considerable quantity. kinds of vegetables separately instead of vegetables collectally n The earlier list included also cereals, wine, sweetmeats, strawmpose and silk. The changes made in 1900, therefore, somewhat shore Barbar the list. The item fish appeared before 1900 without the limith t that the fisherman must be of Spanish nationality. Basa Chafar added to the list in 1903 by a customs ruling. The impe alo items are vegetables, fresh and dried fruit, and fresh, salted, revera fish; these three classes made up in 1914, 92 per cent of the they a exports from the islands to Spain. The full list of the poo14 t exempted, together with the duties (rates of 1920 see notes on charged on the same articles when imported from foreign co is given in the following tabular statement: fur Me of M TOWE Products of the Canary Islands admitted free in Spain, with the minimum dat town on foreign products.dru 13, 1 of a It h CIVI -per 100 kilos.. EM do...dor do.... But 41900 to h pe in 1 tons with Tron expo M Cent Val 1007 191 191 191 |