BRITISH POLITICS.

Gisborne Times, Volume X, Issue 1036, 31 October 1903, Page 1

BRITISH POLITICS.

MR CHAMBERLAIN’S SPEECHES

By Telegraph—Press Association-* Copyright. LONDON, Oct. 29 Continuing, Mr Chamberlain said that statistics showed the extra price of food was not in proportion to the amount of the tax. It Was remarkable that the proposed revision of tho fiscal, policy was recc. -cu abroad with general good temuer. All protectionist countries felt that if they could not meet us in a reciprocal spirit, and we retaliate, they and not the British consumer, wouti pay the duty. Frcefooders declare! that a tax on imports, if purely for revenue purposes*;was* .justifiable. It was a good tax if it bcneiited the exchequer without doing a halfpenny worth of good to anybody else, but if incidentally it benefited any interest in the country, or benefited the whole country by advancing the great ideal of Imperialism, then if was anathema. “ I call that,” said Mr Chamberlain, “ preposterous. It is a misapprehension of Government duty to say, ‘ Support tho Government so long as it takes money from the pockets of the people, however burdensome the tax-; but if the Government 'act as managers of a greae undertaking, and make the shareholders’ interests part of their duly, watch everything abroad, intervene to give a turn to assist their own people, then it is not worth the nation’s confidence.’ All this springs from the bad doctrine of laisse/. faire which is at the bottom of the whole policy of the Freetraders. Before u su uoiqisod rno po'jmo.irddi: o.u great Imperial race I wish to substitute a scientific system of taxation for taxation of a most brutal and arbitrary form.” if]r Chamiherlain received a great ovation at the Town Hall, Liverpool, where he was ban-quetted. When ho appeared on the balcony overlooking the Exchange, the vast crowd gave him an enthusiastic reception. Mr Chamberlain -delivered a most telling speech in St. George’s Hall. Responding to die Conservative Working Men’s Association’s -presentation of an address and casket, he said : “ I rejoice that I retain the confidence of a great majority of the workers, upon whom the Kingdom’s prosperity and life depend. If ever I doubted the success of my mission Ido not doubt it now. I have noted in Liverpool something more than party support—belief in my, sincerity and in the fact that- I have no personal object) to serve in carrying, at my age,- a torch across the length and breadth of the land. Another factor in which everybody is concerned is the solution of the problem resolving itself into a question of continuous employment anil improvement of the condition of the people,, many foreign work people in ■ this respect being better c-ircum- J stanced than most of those of Brit- ] ain. What country in the civilised 1 world is there where so much is ‘ spent on pauperism proportionately to population ? It was an exaggeration to say that one-third of the population was on the verge of starvation, hut lie feared there was- too much truth even in that attenuated ‘ statement- Moreover,, the statistics of political economists are misleading, and deal only with the highest class of workmen. They never deal

with the amount of individual employment, but deal with average wages. lam told a Liverpool docker has fair wages, but has he continuous employment? (Cries of No.”) What advantage then are fair wages if he works once or twice a week ? .The greater and more regular the employment the greater the workers’ prosperity. Wages rise without harming anybody. L«ok at the industries that are going and gone, filched from us by unfair means Witness the depression; watch the (trade at Brcseot, owing to Americans dumping 20,000 surplus watches at any price.- We fetch 240 millions of bottles from Ger-

many. Has 'Germany any spec al faculty for making bottles ? (Cries of “ No.”) That branch of the industry has been seriously injure!. [Plate-glass making formerly employed 20,000 English workmen ; all that has gone. Warrington’s former export of wire exceeded -Germany’s output ; German exports now exceed the whole make of England. Mr Chamberlain concluded by predicting a cycle of bad trade, whan be was unable to say, bringing with it further depression and misery. Then, if not before, the country would, alter its fiscal 1 policy.. Many comments have been made on Mr Chamberlain’s quotation from Mr Gladstone’s 1861 Budget, the effect of which is that it is a mistake to suppose that the best method of giving relief to the laboring classes is ito simply operate on. tho articles they consumed. The best way to do them the maximum 'amount oi good would be to operate on articles -riving maximum employment. Mr Gladstone in 1860 expressed doubt whether fourteen years after t-lw anti-corn law had been passed the workers had obtained cheaper food.