The Daily News SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 23. BRITAIN'S BUDGET BATTLE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 198, 25 September 1909, Page 2

The Daily News SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 23. BRITAIN'S BUDGET BATTLE.

\'ot within recent times has any policy Budget of mi Imperial (Jovcrnnient ev.-1 ■ited such tremendous interest as has ollowed tile presentation of Mr. Lloyd-, jcorge's revolutionary and far-reucliiiig iroposals. For many years past the main issues on which the parties have .livided were Home Rule and tariff reform—the former policy ;i legacy to tile Liberals from the late Mr. Gladston;. and the latter the gradually growing conviction with wliich Mr. Chamberlain galvanised the Unionists into something like homogeneity. And on these distinct issues—Home Kulc and Free Trade as the outstanding planks of the . Liberals and anti-Home Rule and Tariff Reform as the buttress of the Unionists—it is probable the two great parties in British politics would have continued to woo the preference of t»e electors. But the growing naval strength of the German navy demanded a corresponding proportional .incrva-cd expenditure on the British Navy, and new avenues of taxation had to be found to provide the sinews of war. Added to this unanticipated expenditure, the policy of the Government to provide oTcl age pensions and other schemes for the betterment of tiic masses, the necessity of lindiug new sources of revenue became apparent. Briefly, stripped of the innumerable side issues, the sources whereon the Budget proposes to impose additional taxation is the cause of the present politcal battle. Additional duties an the monopoly of alcohol, and new taxation on the unearned increment of the property of the great landlords at once laised the opposition of wealthy vested interests. The. -sympathy of the democratic dominions is undoubtedly \v ! ill the Liberals in their policy to tax into a condition of productiveness the immense holdings of the landed aristocracy, whose broad acres are in hundreds of cases put to no other use than that of preserves for game kept for the pleasure of the owners and their friends. It has been said that the House of Ijonls own one-fifth of the land in tin; United Kingdom, and it is thus easy to understand the hopes oj opponents of the Budget! that the Peers will do all constitutionally possible to render it harmless to their interests. Xo one seems to know exactly what the' Lords will do with the Budg-t when it reaches them. Opinion is (livid-. I'd as to the power of the Peers to seriously interfere with its financial * provisions, and Mr. Asquith has chal- [[ lenged the House of Lords to tamper f with his proposals. Both parties are f apparently prepared, however, for sii'h L treatment of the Budget by the Lords £ as will involve the country in a general t election. t'nfortunately' there seems I little likelihood that 'a straight-out ► issue on the Budget would decide the t fate of the Government in the event of i an appeal to the eomitvy. Mr. Balfour. I who at last seems to' have fnllv ael eepted inspiration from .Mr. Chnniuei- ► lain, offers the country fiscal reform as f an alternative to the taxation prnposa s I of the Liberals. But while the sym- ► pathy of Britishers over-seas is largely f with the Unionists in their advocacy S of preference, it is difficult to see how v the operation of this measure would ! provide the Exchequer with the funds required except at the expense of tim working classes, while the rich wou'd escape. Much, therefore, as the dominions would desire to have their produce . given preferential treatment by Britain. ► it is not at all clear that the'abandoi- \ ment of free trade, much as it mighl ► benefit the producers of the Empire, ► would largely Increase the revenue oi £ t the Imperial Exchequer. Unfortunately ► [Mr. Balfour, in his great anti-Budget ► speech at Birmingham on Thursday. p while offering tariff reform as an alte'r- ► native policy to that conveyed in the ► Budget, did not enter into* details in ► such a" way as to make comparative » examination of the respective policies | possible. A further consideration that ► would serve to confuse the issue in the ► event of an appeal lo the country, ' would be the question of curtailing the ► power of (he House of Lords. In the ► maze of such great principles of eon- ► tention, it is impossible to foretell whit* ► the fate of the Budget might ultimately \ be, but this may be taken as certain. ► that whether it be the tariff reform or free-trade -parties that are returned to power, aif era of radicalism is rfnwiiijio in the United Kingdom—a radicalism making for the social amelioration oi the lot of the masses and the reviving of agriculturalisni in rural Britain—an! j legislation for the democracy must occupy the forefront in future GovcrnI ment achievement.