UNIONISTS AND THE TARIFF.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIII, Issue 300, 16 December 1912, Page 5

UNIONISTS AND THE TARIFF.

THE REFERENDUM PLEDGE. TAXING COLONIAL PRODUCE. (Received 10.5 a.m.) LONDON, December 15. A leading article and many letters in the "Spectator" urge Unionist leaders to retain Mr. Balfour's promise of a referendum on tariff reform. The writers assert that Lord Lansdowne's Albert Hall speech, withdrawing the pledge, would do incalculable harm. . T } le . " lrish Times" say s that Irish Unionists are alarmed at the repudiation of the referendum pledge and the possible effect on Lancashire and Yorkshire. Irish Unionists are entitled to ask the tariff reformers to make this sacrifice. Sir J. A. Simon, Solicitor-General, speaking at Leyton, criticising Lord Lansdowne's Albert Hall speech, asked whether the tariff reformers intended to tax colonial articles of food. Sir E. H. Carson had declared yes, Mr. Bonar Law had more than once asserted that colonials would be better treated than foreigners. Everybody was thrilled by the JDominions' contributions to the navy. Was it Unionist policy to tax colonial produce, causing a grievance to the British consumer by increasing food prices and a grievance to the colonial producer, who would be denied free access to the motherland markets ?