MR. BALFOUR.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 322, 8 October 1908, Page 7

MR. BALFOUR.

TRADE FLUCTUATIONS ABOyE TARIFFS HOUSE OF LORDS REF9RM. CAPITAL'S CONFIDENCE DISTURBED. (BV telegraph—runss association—copteiout.) (Rec. Octobcr 7, 10.5 p.m.) London, October 7. Mr. Balfour, Leader of the Opposition, in a speech at Dumfries, referring to reform of the House of Lords, said lie was dismayed at the idea of the establishment of an elective Chamber co-equal House of Commons. The country would not tolerate the possession by the Houso of Commons of tho power to pass, without discussion, measures of tho utmost importance, unless they were reviewed by some-second Chamber. Mr. Balfour condemned tho Government's reckless and irresponsible schemes of social reform. He censured tho Chancellor of the Exchequer (Mr. Lloyd-George) for his disastrous attacks on tho propertied classes, which were calculated to destroy that confidence which was the root of all enterprise. While he himself was a> profound believer in fiscal reform as a means of promoting tho unity of tho Empire, the stability of trade, and the growth of national industries, he did not pretend, to believe that the alternations of affluence and depression, of feverish over-production and melancholy under-produc-tion, could be cured by any' system of fiscal reform.. The paradox of cheap money and bad trade is attributable, according to the Unionist press, to capital's lack of confidence in the _ Liberal Government—"a want of 'confidence'which even a low bank rate cannot dispel." Writes the "Daily Mail": "Britain'to-day lias more money than work. Redundant capital lies idle or at the unproductive interest of 1 per cent. Redundant labour is idle at the season when employment should be at its best."