The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo. FRIDAY, JUNE 14, 1912. IMPERIAL PREFERENCE.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIII, Issue 142, 14 June 1912, Page 4

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo.

FRIDAY, JUNE 14, 1912. IMPERIAL PREFERENCE.

For the ■coxae iiiU For the vrrang For Oie futmre-m tie dietamee. And Hie- good that ««-«» da. FRIDAY, JUNE 14, 1912.

i The Congress of BriSsh. Chambers of Commerce has passed a resolution wioch, whatever else the Congress does or leaves undone, will make this year's session memorable for all time. By a huge majority it has adopted a motion in favour of Preferential Trade within the Empire. It is true that 58 of the representatives present abstained from, voting; but of the 131 votes recorded only nine were cast against the motion, and no less than 122 vote 3 for it. This appeals to us as one of the most momentous, and significant steps taken by any representative body of British public and commercial men since the repeal of the Corn Laws. For it affirms in, dear and forcible language that the fiscal policy that (England has supported- for the last seventy years in defiance of the public opinion of the rest of the -world, is no longer suited to the needs of the country or the Empire; and it asserts further that the modifications ±o which it should be subjected ought to take the shape and form approved and advocated by the Dominions oversea. That thi very great majority of the British Chamber of Commerce, assembled in congress, should declare their faith in Tariff Reform is indeed good news for colonial advocates of the movement. And no less important than this is the evidence, to which we have already drawn attention, supplied by the inaugural speeches yesterday that the idea of Tariff Reform is making rapid headway not only among commercial men, but among politicians and statesmen of the first rank at Home. ■Backed by such support as this, it might appear that the triumph of the Tariff Reform movement could not be much longer delayed. But it has still to fight against a vast deal of prejudice and misrepresentation which have made its acceptance by the masses a matter of considerable doubt and difficulty. Sir Albert Spicer drew attention to tho worst obstacle that the Tariff Reformers have to face when he said that tho colonial advocates of Preferential Trade, have made it quite clear that they would not support any measure or demand any concession that could injure British interests or make life harder for the masses at Home. This is perfectly true, .but it is hard to get the rank and file of the British piiblie to believe it. Taught to regard the Cobdenite gospel as almost divinely inspired, and assured repeatedly by Free Traders that the colonies want to tax the food of the British worker, and make his bread dearer for their own selfish gain, the majority of the people of the United Kingdom are still very doubtful of the goodness of our intentions- The Tariff Reformers have still to convince them of the truth—that if the British corn market is secured for British wheat growers hy shutting out foreign food supplies, Canada and- Australia and New Zealand and India can supply all England's needs, while competition "between them will effectually keep down the .price of grain and -bread. The gain to the colonies will come not in increased prices, but in control of the British market and the new-found 1 magnitude and certainty of their export trade. If preference is given to colonial products in return for the large concessions that we have already given England in our own markets, while at the same time protective duties are imposed to reserve a large portion of the British home market for the ißritish manufacturer, the position of the British wage-earner in regard to rate of wages, regularity of employment, and' price of food 'will be infinitely better than it is to-day. And the next great step that the Tariff Reformers have to take is to impTess these truths persistently, clearly, and forcibly upon the great mass of the workers at Home,