PROTECTION IN GERMANY.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXXVI, Issue 13529, 10 November 1911, Page 2

PROTECTION IN GERMANY.

ABROGATION OF THE TARIFF. Scouted by Imperial Chancellor. BERLIN, November 7 In the Reichstag lire imperial Chanceh lor. Dr. von Bethinann-Hollweg, scouted the idea of abrogating the present prote * tive tariff. r Even a temporary suspension, ho declared, would he dangerous. Referring to the proposal that meat should be admitted free s a means of reducing the high cost of living, the Chancellor pointed out that such a cour e was impossible, and denied that there had been any abnormal rise in the prices of necessaries. KAISER FACING DEFEAT. Elections Sure to Bring Hostile Majority. Before the end of the year, or . at the very latest in January,, 1912, the general elections for the Reichstag are to take place (says a well-known. American writer resident in Berlin), and as the rime approaches the anxiety of :tho Government, which expects a great defeat, is becoming more and more evident. While the patriotic Germans have little or no fault to find with the foreign policy of the present administration, the great masses of tlie voters are thirsting for revenge over the Itra-conservative landowners (junkers) who, in conspiracy with the Catholic Centre, m 1909 placed enormous new burdens of taxation, ujion die middle classes and the poor while they absolutely refused to tax the great fortunes. .; r The. supposed, representatives of rile people favoured the millionaires, but taxed all the necessaries of life, even down to matches. The Budget which' the allied groups of conservatives succeeded in pass mg was go utterly unjust that even PriricA von Biielow, as staunch a “Junker” ca any, refused to accept it, a refusal which ultimately led to his downfall.