A PEER AND HIS MONEY.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLIV, Issue 3, 5 January 1910, Page 6

A PEER AND HIS MONEY.

Th Earl of Portsmouth gives another, proof that often the so-called 'Liberal peer" has only to be scratched for the Tory tartar to eom<3 out (says the Sydney Daily Telegraph).. He is opposing the Liberal Budget, and as an example of its shocking effects on . the country ho mentions that in order to escape the increment tax he has sold much of his English land and invested the proceeds in American stocks. It happens that lately American stocks have had a rising market, so that commercial as well as political reasons may have influenced him .in this transaction. But that it does anything to discredit the policy of the Liberal party is another question., If the noble earl had taken the land away and put that in America, no doubt England would be so much poorer, but it remains there still, and will produce just as much for the use of the people as if his Lordship had remained the owner of it and missed his better investments in Americanstocks. The Earl of Portsmouth has simply invested his money where he saw what he deemed the best prospects of return, and this he would probably have done whether a Liberal or a Tory Government held the reins of power. Under the Liberal policy ha has freedom to ransack the whole world in search of the best value for his money, and so has every other citizen. Lord Portsmouth finds that he 'can do better by purchasing American stocks than Home stocks, and he does not hesitate to go to the best market for his investments. Why, therefore, should he object to an English artisan, who can buy wheat grown on an American farm to better advantage than he can suit himself by buying the produce of one of Lord Portsmouth's estates, having the same right to get the most for. his money? Liberalism means that, an buying■'. a loaf of bread or a parcel of scrip there should be the same freedom, :arid - wheii-. the ~/peer.', does not scruple to! benefit himself irrespective of-the claims of the local market, surely the peasant, who has quite as much need to economise, should be allowed to do the same.