The Marlborough Express. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. TUESDAY, JANUARY 4, 1910. THE FACTORS AGAINST THE LIBERALS.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLIV, Issue 2, 4 January 1910, Page 4

The Marlborough Express. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. TUESDAY, JANUARY 4, 1910. THE FACTORS AGAINST THE LIBERALS.

There is now in progress in the Mother Country a political struggle which, in its intensity and its furreaching consequences has been .surpassed, only by the momentous conI tests which preceded the passing of the great Reform Bill and the repeal of the Corn Laws. The decision of the hereditary branch of the British Legislature to reject the Liberal Budget, the last of a long series of destructive obstacles placed in the path of the reform legislation passed by the House of Commons, left no other course open to the Liberal Government than that of challenging the Peers and their sympathisers to a fight to the death, the battleground to be the electorates. Compared with the struggle which is now in progress, and for the final result of which we shall have to wait until close on to the end of this month, the political contests of Australia and New Zealand are almost ridiculously insignificant. For the question at issue is not merely whether the country will or will not confirm and approve the action 'of the Peers. It is far more than that. The elections will settle the much-debated point as to whether Great Britain shall or shall not desert the policy of Free Trade, to which she has so long and so faithfully adhered, and adopt or reject the alternative policy "of Tariff Reform—in plain English, return to a protectionist policy. The Liberals claim that with the new system of land taxation proposed by the Budget there, will be no need to seek other sources of revenue, the exact results of which are, so they contend, more likely to be evil than beneficial to the trade and commerce of the Old Country. The Conservatives, on the other hand, profess to see in Tariff Reform a panacea for the unemployment and depression in trade from which Great Britain has recently been suffering. They claim, too,_that the Oversea Dominions of the Empire are hungering for a closer tie, which, so it is suggested by Mr Chamberlain and his followers, can be brought about only by a policy of nscal reciprocity and preference.' they allege too, that the Liberal Government has not exhibited sufficient care j* i? naval def«nce of the Empire, and they are strongly opposed to any system of Home Rule for Ireland. Taking all the visible and probable phases of the struggle into careful consideration, we are inclined,, to the conclusion that the odds are someS -V-S l avour of tte Peers and the lanff Reformers.1 The latter have for some years carried on" an ever-active propaganda throughout the country, with the object of proving that Tariff Ketorm will mean more employment and higher wages. To the charge of the Liberals that Protection spells dear food," they reply that even cheap food is not obtainable when the workers fail to obtain and retain employment at a living wage, and that eveir should there be a slight advance IL J? C lc? £ f bread and meat as the result of the new fiscal system it WO?? e, vastlv overbalanced by a substantial rise in wages and by the security of permanent employment That the Tariff Reformers were great! ly afraid of this: c*y of "dear iood" was evidenced by the almost hysteriinl bntia \T h? h th« ey kept Otl rePeat- £&»» ut,^ttgly-^Smce one of their leaders, the Hon Henry Chaplin, more outspoken than tactically discreet has openly declared his opinioTtlfat wSS n + gra/ n *2 d meat must *»■ subjected to taxation, they have been but chum that the set-off o f higher wages and more regular employment will prevent any evil result to the workers We have, on a previous occasion, alluded to the dishonesty wrth which certain of the Tariff ReforSs British electors—especially in th« manufacturing districte-into the mis! taken belief, that Colonial PreferenS k£ ng^he P°rt* of AusfarJ? all BrS l,Ca^ da *£,?"* in »P«tß of all British goods. This, of course is fnMITT :iflf th 6 W^«n 3 asTt would Colonial industries, which ; have taken years to establish, and whicE are avenues of employment for our youths S z°r g mciv- ? ut the ***$£X SSL not praC^ lSed ' a»d »«y, ™» fear, turn not a few constituencies in Lancashire and Yorkshire from the Liberal into the Tory camp. The i^ionalso, cannot Pfail serously to complicate matters. While Nation a ?ii hat *¥ m?^ vt of thG IriS in many British electorates, may be rnen^tb 1^68* Value to th« G°™»ment the concessions promised by Mr eSJ^f *A* "Ot have the NmLI dr™g a large number of IS.?? f?™ft, voters, fiftherto solidly Liberal m their views, into the arms M rl^1 lOn ' be Jt re^embered, that Mi Gladstone lost a portion or his Vote 3 PaCt f arA loyal N<>n«onformi si vpte^and so fell from power: and reSSfST 6" of thi. s f af ™akes "^ ISSn'fs? yaS .*° the results of Mr Asquiths recent pronouncement-a pronouncement cleverly, if trickily construed by Mr Chamberlain info what it certainly was not, namely, a cowardly capitulation to Nation?list pressure. Lastly, as a factor in favor f,,11v C^ nser at. lyes '■• i* is being skilfully and plausibly pleaded by Mr I Balfour, the Marquess of Lansdowne and others, that the Peers were Z! Jectly justified as \ body of leggfative "revisers,'^' in rejecting the-W S?i and, 7 mJ lch specious nonsense is being.talked as to the "flood of SoGreat Britain were the benevolent and paternal ' Jheck" of the House of Lords to Tae removed. Of all the various forces likely to be dangerously antagonistic to Liberal success we regard the Tariff Reform proposal as the most mischievous. The brewers the Liberals have always had against them The influence of the Anilican I Church, too, has generally been exer- ! cwed in favour of the Tories, and will be again this month, although nowadays there is a strong and ever-in-creasing minority of English Church- j men who hold Radical, almost Socialistic, opinions. Landowners, both in i town and in country, will be mainly j on the Conservative side, and several other smaller and purely sectional elements might be mentioned as being likely to be inimical to the success of > Messrs Asquith and Lloyd-George. The "case for the Liberals"—a very strong case we think we can prove it 1 to be—we hope to place before our j readers to-morrow. Indirectly, the! British general elections possess a far ' greater imm>rtance for Australia and 1 Aew Zealand than might at first be •

imagined, and the progress of the struggle _ cannot fail to arouse the keenest interest wherever the British flag is flown.