CABLE NEWS

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXXXV, Issue 203, 29 June 1903, Page 3

CABLE NEWS

Si HLEOTRIO TELEGRAPH—OOPXRI3FT. FISCAL UNITY- \ -• • / 87K80H84 BY MESSRS BALFOOR AND up. . - CHAJIBEKLAI.V. ! A PL4IM IsbUE. ' PARTY QUHBTIOS. j ASSOCIATION. j Bmived 28, 4.45 pin. ! Londoh, June 27, The address in a ouket pres e nted!t® Mr Ohamberlt-jn by tbe Const iutiofal Club on, Friday was written a je<U?ago. Mr BJfour* is the cout?|£/of his when making th? plantation, ' • teM it would be fully \jJ ma fc e fiscal the trst of ifrty loyally. .Negotiations in tbe tr>& fe j! gQ 0 f the impofsibk, under present conditions, as our/Jaiigpn had Been jppt Up by throwf„g c u v . sand bags, knd when the sand/tag exhitis'ed we most Theissti o s j3U#fl*WEre nowise new, as the existing 'evils and dangers had been emphasised for yeirs by the Government', or its . members. The public would make a >JJ 'ttiißtafc9 in concentrating its gaze on the particular mithodß for meeting thesa evils. It was not a controversy : BBto whether food should be taxed, but »■ .whether evils existed which d<-m >nded a remedy. There was no real cr tu'is'antial reasoirwhy the proposed policy, if wise and practical in other respects, shou'd not be earned out wi heut increasing the rat. of living. What was wanted was freedom of negotiation %t ..tbe purpose of increasing the freed m uittrade, .untramnnlkd by prohibitive - tariffi. U e would say nothing abcut the further object of strengthening unity, leaving that to Mr Ohamberlain, who was tb6 one man, is dead or alive, who had given life and to the idea of Imperial Übuy. (Ohefrs.) ~. ,r lLr Mt phamberhio, in reply, said hi iw Mr Bilkur's compliment with its generous protestation of loy-liy and fi Vi'y. He paid a glowing tribute to the''coloiiieS'for rallying to tbe ideal cf a common obligation to Empire, despite indifference, slights, sneers, and v.: ■ opposition in the past. There were many methods of promoting closer unity; nevertheless they must consult .-. andfollow.tbe wishes and interests of remembering that the success hi any Imperial union depended on the cot dial support tendered frtm . all par.ts .of the Empire. He, in a "certain ssib?, as repres n'a'ive of the colonies) was hound to ask for an inquiry in parsuarce of their suggestion —that closer U' i y would mos'. profitably vl * 'be reached by a commercial union through prefrrenliil tariff'. Tb'i3 was if.JK> question. A preferential tariff was the inly system capable of keeping the Enpire together. He •"'-JHipgested whether the exports of ' British manufacturers to the color ies .djd not exceed those to all the protected Jluiteg of Europe and America together, a group of exports that were continually and rapidly decreasiog in quantity t "" 'ind' in profitable character. He furth«r [suggsted whether it would not be wiser to cultivate trade with ten J million kinsmen taking from us £lO per head, rather than lose the opportunity for the sake of attempting to

conciliate 300 million foreigners taking a few sliillizigs worth per head. He } addedthat the inquiry will also com--prise-the condition and relative pro,ii_. jpwfofprotectedcountriee. Regarding a policy of retaliation, or, as Mr Balfour -cXhaii totter described it, a policy of .u. negotiation, if, having something to bargain with, we fail in ear negotia- -'•><; tions, we reserve to Britain her vast instead of tolera l ing tfia •Wtn at oup»iron and, textile industries by the importation of goods manufac--7 tursd in protected States and sold here .v.:.belqtw cos! price. He desciibad as monstrous the accusation that the Unionist party intended to impose 01 ''greater burdens on the poor. Ihe cry """ dTa'daar loaf he declared to ba an imposture'. * He pointed out that even if the price of a particular article were -- - • raised by the tariff there would be « u -compensations in other directions, and the cost of living would not be ini'- creased in the slightest degree. He urg'd an impartial inquiry in relation to the interests of the majority of the population. ■ ' The speeches were cheered throughr OUt. The Standard, commenting on the -.i^»pe£chw r aahß if the Colonies will so fir waive their policy cf protecting lecal industries as to open a remunerative market to British goods, and adds thatlt will'probably be harder to convert some of the colonies than to obtaiu ." J the absent of £om) of the constituencies Mr Chamberlsin's scheme.