The Daily News. THURSDAY, JUNE 25, 1903. MR, CHAMBERLAIN'S GREAT SPEECH.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXXXV, Issue 200, 25 June 1903, Page 2

The Daily News. THURSDAY, JUNE 25, 1903. MR, CHAMBERLAIN'S GREAT SPEECH.

Thb London Times, writing five days after Mr Chamberlain had delivered his great sp'feeh on preferential trade, made , the following weighty remarks, which are worthy of tVe most cartful ' attention : The echoes of Mr Oham ■ 'berlam's speech are still roiling round the world, some of them, as might be expected, returning his ideas distorted beyond recognition, All the worthy people who are still in the tribal stage 1 . development, and cp.imot conceive of life S4VO as gnveraod by a fetish, are terribly distressed by the fear thai >ae'c 6wa tribal fetish is threatened wnu loss of its sacrosanct character. Hera tbe fetish is called Free Trade, in Australia it is called Protection, and the horror of the worshipp rs is abiut' equal in the two cases. JVr Chamberlain has not laid a sacriligious hind upon the fchriae. He has merely asked the people to consider well whether (he _ presence of the shrine is alone sufficient to proteci: them from every peril, end to procure for them all the prosperity that is attainable. He h<;s ouly reminded them that freedom of trade is a means, not an end, and that free trade is made for the nation, not the nation for free trade, We have derived | great adva&tages from free trsde, and | we sba 'l any cise continue to do eo. But they have not been unaccompanied fcy drawbacks which events are forcing iuto it creasing prominence, Mr Ch)m- . berlain wants the country to consist i the whole question, and to ask whether , everything done in the came of fres trada has necessarily been well do ie. We have gaked great marke's for our matufactures, which, however, ;iim iu many cases being wrested from us by people who practise protection. In oth«r words, the policy which won the markets in a particular set of conditions does not avail to keep them v hen these conditions have changed. In gaining these markets we have [radically s erificed an enormously valuable as3et —the agricultural land of the country. From a national point cf view it does not matter iu the least to whom the laud belongs, or what domestic changes it may be desirable to mike in respect of it, The lind cannot be cultivated profitably by anybody, and jthe nation is the loser by tluxompsra- | tivo idloaet-'s of the greatest of all its j productive machinery. The merr money ios3 must be deducted frc m the gams of our commercial policy i n making up the national balance-sheet But the money lcs3*is not all. It involves two distinct national dangers of a very grave kind. Jt involve the expatriation of the rural {.opulation, ' which must always be the physical i backbone of the cation. Thodetcriora- i tion of ths physical type in townß is ' now regarded with something akin to ! despair by our physiologists, yet the ! towns have hitherto drawn much fresh I blood from the fields. The. supply i, I decreasing from decade to d cade, and ! at; other generation or two of uncheckt d ] degeneration must ptvduce resul s too J painful to bear thinking about. The o.her dinger is that which besets a nation aimcsfc completely dependent \ upon ouUide supplies of food. We are all aware of it, at ha* all of us who i ih:.vk, but we fclirmk from discussing it I i because thr.re is i,o complete or satis- '• i factory remedy unless we can again! br-ng t;>o land into cultivation, These' ( are the penalties wo pay for our com-' G

meicial policy; and they form a tremendous set-tff, not all mfasur.bla' iu money, to our commercial giins. l Soma poople think tha', ds a nure mat'er of businete, we might have done better with fewer foreign markets and a larger home market among a robust nr.d healthy populnion. But there is still more. Iu pveserca cf (he entry of powerful Govertimeuts end uopteceicuted financial combinations into the commercial r.rene, our cmmarci il polity U failing to B?euro the advatiagfis for which we have sacrificed fo i much. From Hamhu'g to Niuchwang the doors are shut or are st;adily bt (shut and barricaded aspintt us. We jc« do nothing but make impotent protests in tha name of fair pi .y. We have not a single weapon in lhe commercial wu\ We are fortunate if wi* got most-favoured-nation treatment, which moms thai we, taxing nobjdyV sooo's, are not worse treated than anchor nation which puts on tax for tax and makes every psnny a matter (f •targain. Fjr our comp'aisanoe we aie treated with contempt and insolence. The German Press is talkiog atpreseni aa if Germany hsd a vested right t)pin us to a policy which enables hfr to cu> into bur unrkets, including our home market itself, The Qermw Government assumes a right to dictate the relations be'.ween this country and her colonies, and to enforce German vi*;ws of the cona itution of the British Eapiw, Canada has ssrupu'ously observed her engagements with Germany j bu', becausj she has chosm net to ei farce the same terais ss between herself and tbe Mother Country, Ge m ny h'.s p.;na!iz;d her by ex ra duties, and is hesitating about going furthsr only bacau?e there is soma fear of Mr Chamberlain. We hive to put up with th's mtrurion into our domestic c mcerns because worsh ; p of the fetish leives U3 without tha most ordinity weapons cf defence. We shall next be having diplomatic interference because tha Germans who mike money in this country are expected to piy icc.metax, Free trade is a gool thing just so far as it p.y*, and so far as cm ba seen at pres.ct i". will ahvaye piy us to adhere to it in a reasonable and bu;i ness-liko way. But Mr Chamberlain thinks it time for the coun'ry to consider whether it pays to push any ihe.ry to the point at which it throws our land out of cuhivation, depopulates <ur ciuairy dutiict?, phces our daily bread at the marey of foreign Governments and capitalists, exposes us to external interference with our domestic affairs, and after all does not succeed too well ia maintaining our co ximacd of foreign markets."