The Daily News. THURSSDAY, JULY 9, 1903. PREFERENTIAL TRADE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXXXV, Issue 159, 9 July 1903, Page 2

The Daily News. THURSSDAY, JULY 9, 1903. PREFERENTIAL TRADE.

These have been many attempts made n the course of bhe discussions which lave resulted from Mr Ohamberhiu's ironouncement on this subj ct to make t appear that the principles of Free trade and Protection are seriously in 'olvad, This hardly appears to be s air way of putting it as the real qut-s ion at issue seems to be the freedotr if one part of the Empire to enter int( igreement with another part withou (rawing upon itself the ire of somi oreign nation. The London Time lealing with Mr Chamberlain's pro }Osalf>, says,; —" It has not been suf iciently remarked that Mr Chamber ain hßs not spruDg upon the country i lew sat of questions merely by way o variety or of academic recreation. Oi ;he contrary, the views he has laid be *o»'0 the nation are directly connectet wMi political developments of a nove kind, with which it is primarily th< luty cf the Colonial Secretary to deal Whether right or wrong, Mr Chamber lain occupies the strong ground of beinj sntirely within the rights and th duties of his office. We pointed ou last week that an unprecedented situa tion, of a kind grossly injurious aliki to the dignity and the interests of tbi country, has been created by tjhe actioi of Germany. Sir Robert Giffeu, wh< has been ail his life a champion of frei trade, and whose reluctance to derogati in the smallest degree from its supre macy is sufficiently conspicuous in hii letter, dwells to-day in oureolumnsupoi the decisive importance of this factor ii the case. Canada, an integral portioi of the British Empire, siw fit to remi certain duties upon goods coming frou the mother country. She did th : i without reciprocal advantages, an< withou 1 ; departing in the smalles degree from her engagements toward: other nations. Germany -has to al intents and purposes declared tha Canada is not a part of the Britisl Empire, and that she ha? no right ti regulate her arrangements with thi other portions of that Empire withou German consent, purchased by Germ u participation in any domestic benefit that may accrue. As Canada ven properly refined to submit to this die tation, Germany resorted to what an called reprisals and imposed extra duties upon Canadian goods. We havi no means at present of efficiently re polling this unwarrantable intrusioi into our domestic afl'airs. But, as Si Robert Giflen forcibly argues, it is ou duty to repel it, and therefore to devis moans of doing eo. As Canada ga VI blood and treasure to play h r pat daring the war as an integral p >rtioi of the Empire, so are we bound toe >mi to her aid with the strength of thi Empire in order to shield ber frou unjustifiable attack. What happeni to Canada to-day may happen ti any other porfion of the Empire to morrow. What Germany does witl impunity we may be very sure tha others will imitate on the same eas' erins. The consolidation of the Era pire is not desired by any r.f our 1 ivals any more than the expansion of ou trade. Alienation of our colonifs \voul< he as dear to them politically as com morcially; and in saying this we full' recognise that they are only playinj their own game in a legitimate way Thoy are not to ba blamed for desirinj to fee us weak and disunited, or fo: trying i:o t.ake away as rcu b of tin • mplovmoM' of our people as tiny can !*i we aie very much U> bl m if w, do not strain t»v«vy nerve to frc-tra* iheir schemes, and if we fail' to p'fr our game with stremwusHosjs ti

theirs. That is the political situation out of which Mr Chambei lain's action springs. It is one which did cos confront Cobden and the other fithers of free trade. It is one of which the theory of free trade takes no ecMunt whatever. But it cons'.itutes a real ptril, involving nothing lees than the question whether the Empire is to be consolidated or broien up, What is more, the question is urgent. We have to answer Canada one way or the othi r. To decline to answer in the light way is to answer in the wrong way; and not Canada only but the whole Empire hangs upon our decision. This is no mere colon'al question as the Little Englanders pretend. It is a question involving the interests of the forty millions at home, at least as much as those of the colonies. No shallow comparison of colonial with foreign trade should blind us to the faci tbat, if we are to hold our own at tho present day, we must do it, as the British Empire, r.05 as tho lit'le island of Elizabe hj, Other Ha'ions are wel aware of the fact, and it is high time that we shou'd recognise it iu a practical manner."