PARLIAMENT AND THE FISCAL FIGHT.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXV, Issue 38, 13 February 1904, Page 3 (Supplement)

PARLIAMENT AND THE FISCAL FIGHT.

[CFronr- Oac Own Clorrespaiwient.)]

tLfJNDON, Januaiy 8. The Imperial P?arliament meets next month, and werere looking forward to- a lively session. Already curiosity is rife as to the form in which the in-, evitable fiscal question will be raised. The Liberate ?are not likely to let mxych. time elapse before they start the battle, but their feeders will not meet to settle the plan oi campaign until close on the meeting orf Parliament. Their great object wiH. doubtless be to extract from the Pri/ne Minister a distinct declaration of h.is views on Mr Chamberlain's policy., and to this end they will probably propose a resolution condemning the taxation of food. But will Mr Ba>foivr allow himself to be drawn? It is more likely that he will meet the attack with a counter-resolution uiging the inexpediency of committing House to a definite expression of opinion until the opinion of the country has been taken on the subject. In that event, what position would the Free Food Unionists take up? The question is one of considerable interest just now, for the anomalous position of the Duke of Devonshire's followers is causing some of the rank and file no little perplexity and embarassment. If the Liberals invite the House to condemn the taxation of food, the Fvee Food Unionists can hardly vote against the resolution, seeing that they are pledged by the constitution of their league to oppose the taxation of food. But that would mean voting against the Government on what was practically a motion of censnre, and it remains to be seen whether they are prepared to go this length. It will be remembered that when the Duke of Devonshire joined the Free Food League it was on the distinct understanding that that body should not take any hostile action against the Governrnjent. But in the recent by-elections the Duke himself was actively hostile to the extent of inviting all Unionist electors to abstain from voting for Unionist candidates who supported Mr Chamberlain's policy This advice raserns t-o have been more or less by the electors, but the Duke's followers by this time are sorely puzzle-d as to their position in relation to t/ie Government and the Opposition on th& fiscal question. POIiITI.CS AND PUGILISjfi. The political event of the week has been the "Mid-Devon bye-election, which ended in the return of Mr. H. T. Eve, the Lihisral candidate. Tt ■was a political conflict in a very literal sense of the term. Mid-Devon is a stronghold of the Radicals, and their rustic supporters' one Tde/a o£ politics is to "boo" at t.ne othw side. The speakers who supported General Sir Richard Harrison, the Conservative candidate, were consistently howled , down, and meeting after : meeting broke up in the greatest disorder. The clims-x was reached at a meeting held under the auspices of the Tariff leform League at a place called Newtor Abbot. The supporters of Mr. Eve and those of the League came to blows, and in the free fight which ensued the Radicals charged the platform, swept it clear, and proceeded to hold a meeting of their own. It is generally admitted to have been ttoe most violent disturbance ever known in the political history of the division; "which," adds the local paper significantly, "is saying a good deal." * Sir John Cockburn, the South Australian ex-Premier, and Mr. F. B. Cumberland, of the Toronto Board of Trade, were to have addressed the meeting, but they never got a hearing, and, indeed, had a narrow escape from being overwhelmed in the riot. It seems that the Tariff Reform League, anticipating a noisy meeting, had brought clown 20 stewards from Exeter to help maintain order. Hearing of this, the Liberals hastily enrolled a band of men who would not be backward in using their fists if occasion required. Thus, with all the elements of a cotvuagration present, it only needed a spark to set the meeting ablaze. The fight between the rival factions started in the rear of the hall, and fists, sticks, and umbrellas were freely used. 1 taku the following graphic narrative from the "Western Morning News": "Slowly but surely the Newton roughs, led by a man said to be a pugilist and by a young Bailor, gained the victory, and with a ringing cheer, and amid a scene of intense excitement, threw the last of what were considered to be the imported men from the building. Flushed with victory, and encouraged by the professional hecklers, the local rowdies pressed round the* platform. The reporters rose, gathe/ed up their papers and books, some mingling with the audience, others stepping on the platform to get a view of the whole scene. Cheers were again given for Mr. Eve, and one man said to the chairman, Sir John Hext, "Why should you bring a lot of filthy, drunken fellows from Exeter?" The more experienced journalists knew what might next be expected, and moved to the farthest edge of the platform to be ready to jump. Not a moment too soon. There was a rush, chairs overturned, ferns knocked off the platform, and a dozer, or more young scoundrels gained ihe platform. It was another crisis in tho proceedings, for no one could say that the colonial visitors, and even Sir John Hext himself, would not be molested. Mr. Adams came up to Sir John Hext, and in seductive tones said, "You had better leave. We believe what you said, Sir John." Sir John, however, had already made up his mind. Calling Sir John Cockburn and Mr. Cumberland to his side, they left the building together, a.nd were subjected to only a mlsd form of hustling. "A second rush cleared the platform of the other Tariff Reformers, chairs, as well as some of the remaining plants, being thrown down with them. The Liberals werp delighted, and took especial pleasure in beating the Tariff Reform League lecturers whom they recognised. One gentleman was not only knocked down, but trampled upon, and a bad wound on the forehead bears testimony to their savagery. Mr. J. A. Calder Cameron was another gentleman for whom they showed especial aversion, doubtless because he persisted in wearing the stewards' ribbon, and he was thrown from the platform again and again, a blecuing nose being the visible result of the violence." Finally the Liberals held a meeting of their own, threw Mr. Cameron off the platform a few more times, and finished up with a vote of confidence in Mr. Eve. It was a great meeting; the district was delighted. One old man said he had never seen such a fight in his life, and liis comment was, 'Tvpould not have missed that fight for a fiver."