The Dominion. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 1909. BRITISH POLITICS.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 437, 20 February 1909, Page 4

The Dominion. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 1909. BRITISH POLITICS.

Tafi first dftys of the new session of the Home Parliament abundantly confirm tho general expectation of a mora than ordinarily interesting political season. The: Speech from the Throne, so far as if relates to impending .legislation, appears to ■ indicate. that '• the.. Government

has been taking the advice of those of its friends who bcliove that a concentration of. energy, upon social reforms of various' sorts is the best preparation for"the attaok on tho Lords." Tho times are riot favourable, however; for any merely theoretical programme of social reform along conventional , linosi since the wide- : spread industrial distress in Great; Britain, has., raised a clamour for extreme, measures of relief. Tho only proposal of the Govornmont which goes in tho direction of relieving tho pressure of unemploymohfc is- a/scheme of labour exchanges, which Mr. Ceuechill .declares, to be "tho gateway, of industrial sootir-' ity,", but which the Labour party is in no humour.tp regard as iiiiytliing bu't a trifling with tho As in New ■Zealand, tho Labour party,'at Home has learngd how to put pressure on the Government, and' tho Government is already disepvaring that once a, polioy of sops to trades-unionism is begun it must be continued until another Governinerit takes office. It is most difficult to trace tho current industrial depression io its

stmrco, but it is a rfiasonablo hypothesis •that tho fiscal polioy of Great Britain 'has little or' nothing to dc> with it, Mr. John Betes finds the root of tlio trouble in "the violent fluotuations of industry;" and Me,- deolaros that the worfcors are suffering fr6m the alarm which the Government's rashness in speeoh and aotion has produced in investors. , When the extroiiie mftbility of cajiital is con'sidered, and the readiness of British investors to notice and avoid perilous fields

of enterprise is taken into account, nothing appears more likely than that the Violent fluctuations £>f industry referred to.by Mb- Buens arise from the' cause suggested by BALfourt. Before the ! euro, can be prescribed, the disease' thusfc be dtegtiosed. The Unionist party is of course quite ready withjts remedy, and it is now vory confident that the public will endorse a policy of tariff refoi®. l We in Austfalaaia, howevef, know' jbfer■fectly well that the protection of the manufacturer will lead to a demand that the Worker shall have a full share of the benefits so gained, ind the industry itv self, is iii consequence very little, if at all; benefited. Restrictions upon industrial coriditionSj whichmaybe bofno for a tirao by a rapidly developing, and, economically, almost virgin country like New Zealand, may havo a disastrous effect in a couiifcrj"of intensive industrial-' ism like Clreat Britain. The long series of Government defeats at the by-clocfions pi bvey however, the progress that tariff reform is making, in the eicckir&tes. .. The ntain difficulty before the Govern-, ment ia the financial problem. Of all the varying estimates of the extra revenue fficjiiired for the coming year which havo been put forward by the leading newspapers, fidrio that is worth considering falls belbw twonty million pounds. The Speech forecasts a deficit, but nothing is saidj apparefltly, as to ,the approximate amount of the shortage That, find the details of the Government's plans for raising further revenue, will fiot he cojtainly known until Me. LloydGeorge brings down what events seem to be preparing to ihake the most important Budget for many years. Hints have already boon thrown out as to the ideas , of the Chancellor of the Exchequer. A graduated income tax and a special tax on land values aro both spoken of as likely proposals,- and, if the Government intends to be thorough ire its financial resurrection of the Licensing Bill, there will bo heavy exactions fi*om the liquor trade. The Unionist newspapers - are already, preparing, the public to. expect "a confiscatory Budget," and are ready to welcome it as affording tho Lofds aii Opportunity to force on the conflict which the Government talks of so loudly and I'fcfflsos sb'fiMly to begin. For "a confiscatory Budget," to quote the Times, "of a nature likely to provoke such constitutional obstruction as belongs in fiscal matters to the Peers," would enable the Unionists to appeal to tte electors on tho l'evonuo question arid the (juestion of the House of Lords combined. The terms of tho Opposition's official amendment to the Address-in-Roply—regretting that the Gqvti Y nnl6nt had failed 66 recogniso tho gravity of the at&te. (if trade and tinomplbymont, and emphasising the need,

If or fiscal reform—indicate .that -the Unionist party feel-.that:'the'tendency of events ig to merge- all the controversies in tho central problem of raising revenue and retaoving the industrial' 'disorders of the Kingdom. The Government, however, appears to have ho ptesent intention of precipitating the struggle with the Lords that the tariff reformers are anxidus to see begun. It is almost the most reHiai'kable feature of tho Speech that no allusion whatever is made to the subject, although it was the theme of, almost every Ministerial speech' during the recess. .

. Heavy as is this load of trouble,, it ia ,• ho irieans all_ths.tj.the (jbvernrriont has to contend against, Ireland is as difficult as ever, and the Nationalists are not uneager to mako all the profit possible irora the Government's , embarrassments. Without Expressing any opinioi. upon the rights or wrongs of either case, we may compare the position; of the Government in respect to-Ireland with the position of the Nfew Zealand' Government during the wave of revolt that spread through Labour circles hero in the first part of last year. The one crumb of comfort in the Government's trying situation is the fact that international politics contain no troublesome elements. There has followed from the King's visit to the Emperor of Germany a marked improvement in the, relations between the two countries and in the tone of the talk in both. The Outlook in the Near East is infinitely brighter than it has over been. The magnificent revolution in. Turkey , has supplied a stable platform for the maintenance of order in a region that has been a menace to European peace for many years. The relations between Japan and America are satisfactory, ( The Anglo-Russian agreement is. working well, The one. difficult problem immediately confronting the Government is presented by the continued .anarchy, in Pci'sia. .-'Persia," says .the Speech, causes anxiety,' 1 and while the policy of non-intervention is adhered to, the Government is convinced of the necessity for, representative institutions.&nd • practical reform. The Turkish Constitution' has not been working long: enough 'to enable anyone to dismiss the fear of Loup Lansdowne that representative government iii, old despotisms is:, very, old wine in very new bottles. It is Satisfactory to note thiit the Government intends to givej the Shah no support, financial or otherwise,' iintil" he grants once more the 'Constitution that he so violently roVokcd.