BRITISH POLITICS

Gisborne Times, Volume X, Issue 1012, 3 October 1903, Page 3

BRITISH POLITICS

LORD. MILNER .COMMANDED TO VISIT. BALMORAL. EPISODE UNPARALLELED IN OUR POLITICAL HISTORY.

j By, Electric Telegraph—Per Press Association —Copyright. LONDON, October 1. .Lord Milner has received Ilis Majesty the King’s command to visit Balmoral. It is expected that the Cabinet .will he announced on Monday. The King returns to London, to he present at the transference of the seals of office. Mr Ritchie, in resigning, wrote that he was in entire sympathy with desire to'unite the colonics and the Motherland more closely. He knew no method of granting oreference to the colonies excepting Mr Chamberlain's proposed taxation of food, involving an increase of taxation, and to that policy he was opposed. Regarding access to foreign markets, and the proposal for retaliation, lie .thought that would lead to protection and greater evils than it .was intended to prevent. The Standard is puzzled over the " episode, which it declares unparalleled in our political history. Ilf adds that the whole story has not been told, and a solution is awaited with the liveliest expectation, inasmuch as when Cabinet separated on the 14th, Mr Ritchie and Lord George Hamilton still believed that it continued to include Mr Chamberlain. Lord George Hamilton, in his letter, declared that the trade returns pf the past three years demonstrated that the springs of commerce are undiminished and responsive. India’s .exports exceed the British Empire’s normal demands. Free access to foreign markets is essential to India. However, preference operated within the Empire, retaliation outside would aggravate and heighten hostile tariffs. Tt is rumored that Lord Stanley Will succeed Mr Austen Chamberlain as Postmaster-General. Me. Acland Hood, speaking at Sheffield, said that he believed the. general elections would not occur lor two years'. Government 'agents are arranging for delivery in the colonies of a lecture prepared by recognised experts at the instance of Mr B. Morgan, late Trade Commissioner in South Africa, showing the progress of British manufacturers. The same lectures will he delivered on the Continent, with a yiew to stimulating trade.; Mr Chamberlain, in a preface to his lecture on reciprocity, consisting of articles published in the Daily Telegraph, vehemently) assails his opponents for representing that food Was heretofore free, and deliberately Jgnoring;i the that‘ ailarge part of the revenue is derived from food ■ and 'drink, the hulk thereof being consumed by workers.; He declares that the danger of the future will not he a,rise of prices, owing to taxation, but failure of supply, owing to natural causes or combinations, similar to the wheat corner engineered by Mr J ospeh Loiter, the American speculator, some time age. Mr Chamberlain adds : And the policy that develops new markets, and increases food-producing areas Will tend ''to cheapness and stability of price. Any duty to secure preferential' trade with the colonies, Will be small, and probably wholly —certainly partly—paid by foreigners. Any additional cost to the workers will be met by equivalent reductions in other equally necessary articles of food. The change would provide’more employment to our people, a greater demand for labor, a rise of wages, full work, and fair Derby, has opened the conference oil the’fiscal question at Sheffield. . Sir J. E. Dorington, member for Tewkesbury, moved an official resolution, welcoming Mr Balfour’s policy. . P Mr Chamberlain is to move in xayor of .preferential tariffs.

A GjRKAT GATHERING. MUCH CHEERING FOR CHAMBERLAIN. Bv Telegraph—Press AssociationCopyright.) Received 10.45 p.m., Oct. 2. LONDON, Oct. 2. The National Union Conference at . Sheffield is the largest and inosr iniluentiai ever held. It is noticeable that whenever Mr Chamberlain s jiauic and policy are mentioned the audience, except the compact of frccloodcrs under Mr W. J. Galloway, •one of the members for Manchester, jeheered itself hoarse with enthusi--41 An official resolution, moved by Sir John Doringtoiv, welcoming Mr Balfour’s policy, favored reconsideration of the fiscal system and the recovery of fiscal freedom to negoMr Chaplin moved a rider expressing thanks to Mr Chamberlain and satisfaction for his patriotic endeavor to cause attention to the need for such reconsideration, and to the importance of Mr Balfour’s policy adding that the Conference, while reserving final judgment until Mr Chamberlain’s proposals were more fMly developed, approves of any practical scheme of promoting closer Snion of the colonies and the MothprThe voting was deferred until toldav to enable the Conference to-con-bhler Mr Balfour’s speech.