Industrial Assistance in Pre-War Britain

The potentially adverse effect of imports on domestic wealth and employment had been recognized as early as the fifteenth century, and early forms of state intervention in industrial affairs took the form of trade protection to both restrict imports and to secure for English goods a favourable position in export markets (Skuse, 1972). Measures included the 1651 and 1660 Navigation Acts, which gave English ships a monopoly of imperial trade; the 1663 Staple Act, which required all European goods destined for the colonies to pass through England; and the 1660 Restoration Subsidy Act, which taxed Irish woollens. By 1721, the import of manufactures was officially discouraged, while raw materials could be imported free of tariff, and virtually all the export duties on English goods had been eliminated. This system of trade protection was in place for much of the eighteenth century, but was gradually eliminated in the nineteenth century with the rise of laissez-faire free market economics. The last of the Navigation Acts was withdrawn in 1849, and other protectionist measures such as the Corn Laws, which had limited competition in agriculture, were repealed in 1846.