FISCAL SYSTEM.

Press, Volume LXI, Issue 18548, 25 November 1925, Page 13

FISCAL SYSTEM.

+ ( LORD BIRKENHEAD ON PROTECTION. EMPIRE PREFERENCE. (rROH OUR OWN CORBESPOHDENT.) LONDON, October 23. Lord Eirkenhead, addressing tho members of the Constitutional Club, reminded his .hearers that tho Conservative l?arty always made it perfectly plain that it ,had certain advico to grive to the country which, in tho opinion of the Party, would afford the greatest alleviation that could bo given to depressed trade and unemployment, and that was a reconstruction of their fiscal system. They had never abandoned that view for a. moment. They were told by their opponents what a discredited Party they were for not having solved the prdblem of unemployment. The fact was that there was hardly a minute when tho subject was not engaging a part of their faculties. But so far, iu his judgment, the only real alleviation, and even then it "could bo only partial, was the reconstruction of their economic forces. Bub limited as they had been, owing to. the disingenuous presentation of tho opposite tide fey Socialists and Liberals, ib was a little unfair that their critics should complain that they had not made more progress in tins direction. Tho Government had made some progress by means of tho Safeguarding of Industries Act, and they proposed to continue that pressure. The information' that was being accumulated would convince the nation that the course tho Conservative Party had advocated since the days of Mr Joseph Chamberlain was the wiso course. There were many indications that the Socialist Party was gradually and painfully undergoing an educational conversion upon economy.- It was a littjo difficult to insist i upon a certain standard of employ- | ment and wages in this country when .' they allowed unrestricted importation j of goods from countries where thoso conditions did not prevail. Silk Duties. ■ I "1 do not want you to fail to re- j alise the difficulties of our task. From tho ci-itir-isins in tho newspapers, wo ! might ho asked: 'AVhy don't we have j some young-■gentlemen from Fleet-1 Street in tho Cabinet ? It would re- ! duce our anxieties and make our discussions easy, because they know everything, and how to do everything.' My answer is in the words of Oliver Cromwell: '1 beseech you, sirs, sometimes you may be wrong.' "At one time there was a great outcry in certain quarters against the silk duties. But tho silk' duties haying been a success, tho subject was tacitly dropped, and the Cabinet was now called a collection of bloody-minded I ruffians who, having failed to remove / silk from the limbs of our ladies, aro. uoiv involving the nation in war with tho Turks. (Laughter.) I ask you to be careful before you accept all these criticisms." Educating the Nation. It was significant, said Mr Amery, in a speech in London, that tho new Australian tariff gave deliberate help to those of our industries which seemed willing to help themselves. The effect i was to increase by something liko half a million a year the value of the pre* ferenco given by Australia to this country. ' Britain's hope lay in the development of the unlimited resources of tho British Empire, and in giving a direction to her trade that would enable thoso ! resources to be more fully developed. Trade returns showed that oue Aus- ; tralian or New Zealandcr was wortVi to Britain as a purchaser of our mauu- j factuVes sis hundred times as much as a Buss::i!i, one hundred times as much as a Chinaman, twenty times as much as au American, and many times indro -. than tho citizens of any European nation. Until the country as a whole was renlJv educated to the overwhelming importance of Empire development and trade, and !£ivo to its Government j a clear mandate to carry out wholeI heartediv and over the whole scale of | production a policy of Empire proferi once, we should not make the progress we ought to make, and not bo ahle to deal with the critical 'situation with which we were faced. The nation needed to hj« educated, and also there was need .of tho substitution of outworn formulas and superstition for a great conception of an immense Empire with boundless resources being used to raise the standard of living of all its peoples.