The Dominion. FRIDAY MARCH 11, 1910. THE OUTLOOK FOR FREETRADE.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 763, 11 March 1910, Page 6

The Dominion. FRIDAY MARCH 11, 1910. THE OUTLOOK FOR FREETRADE.

,■ Although for .the ; present the Lord's "veto" and f the Budget, are tlie most immediately important of political concerns of the United Kingdom; yet to, anyone whd takes a long Viaw of British policy, they aire of lesl\ moment than the fiscal issue. .A hijit. of : the uneasiness of pome of the v 'Free-traders .is supplied by tne cable. message of yesterday in which is. given an opinion expresse'd by Mr. Alfred Mond, the treasurer of the. Free-trade Union,' as'a. result .of the division on Me. Austen Chamberlain's Tariff Reform amendment, to the Addfess-in-Reply. It will be remembered that the amendment was rejected by 285 votes.to. 251,, the Nationalists .having abstained from' voting. Since the, Nationalists arc not Free-traders —the Spectator says they are "Protectionists to a man"—it is natural enough that' Mr. Mond should conclude that "Free-trade as Britain's fiscal policy can, rid longer be regarded as-secure." The true position is explained by the Spectator in an illuminating'article on January 22 last, in the/course of which i* urged the Unionist Free-traders to sink the fiscal issue in the presence of the : greatcr, as the more immediate, danger of a Radical-Social-ist, domination; it was.: of the Unionist . Free-traders that Mr. Mond was thinking ,wheri he said . that "if Free-traders had wisdom and courage they would put .Freetrade first"; and so make it safe.

The Spectator's article supplies a .convincing reply to this attempt to blame the Unionist Free-traders for the present peril of; the existing fiscal system'/. Keferring to the attempts made during the) first week of the elections to induce-.' these -voters to support the Government, is said: Those,who care "for. the cause of Freetrade, it is urged, ought to help a Government .-whose mission it is-to act as trustees for the safeguarding-of that great principle! We sincerely trust that no .Unionist Freetraders will be taken in by talk of this. kind. "■;■ -.-".; In 1906 we did our very best to-return the Liberals to power because-', wo: were innocent enough to believe that they would,-whilst Free-trade was.in peril, sink the more partisan part of. their political programme and act : as trustees for the principle of free exchange. We did' not. conceive it possible that power obtained on the cry of Free-trade would be used for carrying put Socialistic'' schemes involving an absolute negation of tho'principles of free exchange, schemes for . piling up. a huge: burden', upon the taxpayer, and, filially, for promoting fiscal changes entirely opposed to the spirit of Free-trade.' No sooner, however, had tho Liberal Government got well into the saddle with the. help of the Unionist and other inoderato Free-traders than they proceeded with, the most cynical indifference to use their triumph for . purely party purposes.,.. . ■'.. ■' When the "Spectator" ventured to protest against this monstrous betrayal* we were coolly told by the ..".Westminster.Gazette" and other Liberal organs that it was necessary to make Free-trade. popular with the electors by joining it on to' a Eadical programme, . and, in effect, that the Freetrade pill could not be swallowed without a good deal of Socialist', jam.

The result of this attempt to "make Free-trade principles popular" has been to reduce the Free-trade majority to zero. It is- not to be wondered at that the Free-trade Unionists followed the Spectator's .advice to throw their whole weight against „the Government. It is the fault of Mr.. Mokp's' own party ■ that the moderate Free-traders have not'swallowed all the other things for which that party stands, All the Liberal leaders declared with the utmost emphasis during the election campaign that the Tariff Reform movement had been filially destroyed, but it is clear onough now that they entirely miscalculated the situation.

If it were possible to annihilate every other issue for .the moment, anil then to. submit a fiscal resolution to the House in such a way that every vote would be cast solely,.on the merits of the resolution, without prejudice to Other interests* there,is no doubt that the majority would go against Free-trade. It would be erroneous to suppose, however, that this would prove that a majority of the nation is in favour of Tariff Reform. Thousands of Free-traders voted against tho Government, and .their; votes, a'dded to those given for the Government, .make a total that must at least equal the Tariff Reform total. But Freetrade is none the less in peril. What are. the Unionist Free-traders to do at the next election? If they vote against the Government, they may. only reproduce the present situation. If they vote for the Government they will imperil a number of national interests of the ■ first importance without rendoririg their fiscal system really secure. For it is not secure under a Government that has already tampered with the principle of free exchange and that requires the aid of a Labour party that is not sound on Free-trade, whatever its leaders may say, and of a Nationalist, group that wants Tariff Reform in the interests 'of Irish agriculture. The supporters of Tariff Reform certainly appear ■ to have the best of the situation.

NOTES OF THE DAY. * Last night's Gazette contains the railway returns for the four .weeks .ending February 5 and for tho fiscal year to that date (311 days). Tho revenuo and expenditure for the four weeks are divided as follow between the two islands: Revenue. Expenditure. Net revenue. £ - £ ' . £ North 140,511 87,007 ' 53,534 .South 135,368 84,516 50,852 When we examine the earnings per mile of railway the superiority of the Northern lines, despite the fact that the Southern lines have made a good recovery compared with last year, becomes very manifest. There are only 1135 miles of rail in this island as against. 1574 miles across the Strait. The following table is very instructive: - ' Net earnings per mile. £ s. d. North 47 3 4 South 32 6 1 The net earnings per mile for the preceding four weeks were: North £68 ,6s. 4d., South £39 4s. 6d.; but the holiday mdnth is the month of the heaviest passenger traffic. The net earnings Jor tne period April 1, i'9o9\ to, February 5, .1910, amounted to divided as follows: Norths : v£4i(jj446; South, £427,888; The net earnings, per mile for this period aire therefore £361 125.., 6d. in the ease of the North .and £271 16s. lid. in the case .of the South. The. figures as a whbie continue to Emphasise mbr'e strongly, than ever the folly and injustice of the Government's policy of spending in the So.uth the bulk of the moiiey available for construction.

; . The ~election, of .members of the Wellington.Hospital and Charitable Aid Board} .the new, . controlling body.tif hospital, and charitable aid matters under the Act of;last sessions will takS place on March 16. This election is one of considerable importance to the community and we trust that the public will take a proper ■interest in the 1 matter of casting their votes. A very large sum is spent annually in Wellington in connection with the hospital arid in charitable aid work, and the responsibility for the expenditure of this money is no light matter. We have no doubt that the public, in casting around for candidates to vote for, will bear in mind' the sitccess which has attended the work of the "Hospital Trustees here for many years past. We are never averse to the introduction of. hew blood in connection with local bodies and hope to see some introduced, into the Hospital and Charitable Aid Board; but it would be foolish indeed to overlook the value of the experience gained by tho old members of the Board of Trustees and the excellent record of their past services. Only one lady candidate has been nominated and we have little doubt that the public will see the wisdom of securing her services. Also, it will act wisely if _it takes advantage of the opportunity of adding a medical hiari to the. Board. . The majority of the candidates arc well known and there is the material available for the selection of an admirable governing body. All p'ersons whose names appear on the municipal electoral rolls are entitled to vote.

An illustration of'the liabilities imposed on the employer of labour under,' our labour. laws was afforded by a prosecution in- the Magistrate's Court yesterday. An employer who had succumbed to the stress of bad' times, and who had been forced by his losses to close down his business, found himself With three apprentices on his hands. These youths had been apprenticed to his predecessor in the business and he had taken'- them over with the business. When trade.became so bad that he found himself compelled to close down, the employer learned that he was still liable, to his apprentices.' He had no work for them because he had had to close his factory, but under the law he apparently was forced to find tHem a new employer or pay them wages for doing nothing.. Had he been a "capitalist" hisposition might riot have, been a serious one, but unfortunately he was -not—his capital had gone, with his business and he now had to look around fora new means of earning his own living. He succeeded in getting two of his apprentices taken over by other firms, but with the third was less successful. He arranged for one firm to take the lad, but a hitch Occurred; and this happened a second time. Eventually, having failed to pay a week's wages for nothing to this apprentice, he was hailed before the Court and fined a sum equal with costs to something like £5. Apparently the only refuge for an employer in such circumstances is the Bankruptcy Court or the cemetery, for these ap T pear to be the only means of relief open to him under the law.

The British Government's proposals in regard to naval development, as indicated by a cable message published this morning, are somewhat staggering. A leap from, ■thirty-five .■ millions, the v amount voted last.year, to fifty millions is a remarkable response to the clamour . for placing the British Navy in a position of indisputable, 'superiority to its rivals. 'One of.the platform cries of the Unionists during the recent general election campaign was the demand for a strong naval policy, and it is supposed to have strengthened them very materially with the country. It was generally felt that the Government was hanging back in the matter of naval development—that the interests of the Navy were being: sacrificed to the desire for social reforms which would make heavy inroads on the funds at the disposal of the" Chancellor of the. Exchequer. If the figures cabled out to-day are correct the reproach hurled at the Government can no longer be used with justice. The critics will doubt be busy as to the... merits of detailed plans of Cabinet in the way of , naval construction, but the total amount involved is so immense that it is hardly likely > that protest will be made on the ground that the vote asked for is inadequate.