POVERTY IN ENGLAND

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 65, 7 September 1911, Page 3

POVERTY IN ENGLAND

INTERVIEW WITH MR. EDMONDS. FUTURE OF TARIFF REFORM. I'reinantle, August 2>S. Mr. Edmonds, editor of the Sydney Bulletin, after a trip through a great part of Europe and Palestine, returned by the Ophir yesterday. Interviewed, Mr. Edmonds said: "I! think there will be a revulsion of feeling I for protection as soon as the excitement 1 over this veto business has subsided. | The tariff reform party has been,very, busy over the latter question, but direct-! ly its hands are free an agitation will be started, and then you will wee a majority for tariff M'ort.l." England, one of the richest countries in the world, has a tremeadous amount of money invested abroad. This might bring in dividends, but it does not gain work for the poor, who want- employment badly. Her woollen industry has not increased, and her cotton, ship-building, and iron industries have decreased. "I was much struck with the great poverty existing in the United Kingdom. In Ireland, for instance, the pay of railway employees onlv averages IDs 8y 2 d per week. In England and Scotland it is higher. The Scottish railway employees on an average receive 22s per week." Jn England it is 25s per week. W hen von take away the comparatively good wages that are paid to enginedrivers', what can be left for porters, etc?

"The poverty in England is terrible. If you just, take a trip in the West End, and happen to look up a street, some poor derelict sidles up to you to ask whether he can call a taxi for you. They are always on the look-out for a copper. Almost before your carriage is stopped there is someone ready to open the door for you, and anxious for a tip. "England is in- a bad way without protection. Her agriculture has diminished, and her manufactures have not increased. For the sake of the poor, protection would be best for her."

Mr. Edmonds was asked to give his opinion concerning the, alleged interview that Mr. Stead had with Mr. Fisher, but beyond stating that Mr. Stead was noted J'or some eccentricities, he said little.

I his, however, he did say concerning the terms of the interview itself: "Australia lias done, more good- service to the Empire than is acknowledged, and it is quite entitled to hold an opinion of its own. The Commonwealth has never caused the Empire a Boer war, or a Zulu war, and has really helped in three wars of the Empire. 'She has practically acted as a money lender for the world, over live hundred million pounds in gold having been won from her within a period of nearly 110 years. How could London have acted as the financial capital of the world without all this gold from Australia"