THE BUDGET CAMPAIGN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 14174, 24 September 1909, Page 5

THE BUDGET CAMPAIGN.

MR. BALFOUR'S SPEECH.

PENALISING CAPITAL.

"SOCIALISM GONE MAD."

PLEA FOR TARIFF REFORM. : By Telegraph.—Press Association.— (Received September 23, 11.30 p.m.) ! Lokdok, September 23. ; Mr. Arthur Balfour (Leader of the Opposition) delivered an impori tant speech upon the Budget at Bingley Hall, Birmingham, last night. There were 10,000 present, including 2300. . representatives of the Unionist and Conservative Associations. No fewer than 50,000 applications for admission were received. Peers and members of the House of Commons filled the platform. There were many ladies present. The scene was one of indescribable enthusiasm when Mr. Balfour entered with Mrs. Chamberlain. MR. CHAMBERLAIN'S MESSAGE The tumultuous cheering was renewed when Mr. Austen Chamberlain read his father's message, as follows : — /"I hope the House of Lords will see their way to force a general election, and I don't doubt what the answer will t>e. Mr. Asquith seeks to represent the Budget as an advantage to working men. I cannot take this view. The Budget is the last effort of free trade financiers to find a substitute for tariff reform and Imperial preference. " It is avowedly intended to destroy the tariff reform movement, which I believe is the necessary remedy for the present want- of employment. " The Budget will supply us with money, but deprive us of work. Therefore, you have to choose between tariff reform, which assists trade, increases employment, and secures a fair contribution to the revenue from the foreigners using our markets, and the Budget, which casts fresh burdens on our trade, hampers .our industries, and takes the commonest comforts from our people." THE SOCIALISTIC CREED. Mr. Balfour, who was received with great cheering, said that the letter that had been read from Mr. Joseph Chamberlain showed that that gentleman was still able to give them his matured thought in a great .political crisis.

The view that the Budget was a poor man's Budget was a fantastic one. If they could abolish poverty by abolishing riches the task of social reformers would be easy. Any fool could destroy wealth. Mr. Asquith had initiated doctrines which carried, by implication, the whole socialistic creed.

The Budget was not a continuation of the traditions of the Chancellors of the Exchequer during the last 60 years. It masqueraded "in old clothes, but they did not fit. If they wanted to know what the bulk of supporters of the Budget were thinking they must not go to Mr. Asquith, or to those he intended to placate last Friday, but to the candid utterances of his more important colleagues., Mr. Asquith's version of the Budget was intended for drawingroom use. It was very different to that given in the street corner oratory of his bustling colleagues.

DRIVING AWAY CAPITAL. " This socialistic folly," he went on, " cannot go further than it has in the handfc of the present Government. With regard to land, the modern Radical Government ,says, c Let us abandon small land ownership and only give a small lease ownership.' That seems socialism gone mad. -j " Security is the very essence of industrial success. You cannot confiscate the property of A without making B tremble in his shoes. It is no use to pass philanthropic legislation if the poor is more injured by the manner in which you obtain the money." " You have mobile capital, international capital, ready to move to America, Germany, or England. PROBLEM FOR THE WORKERS. "If he gets interest, it matters little to the rich capitalist whether he gets it by giving employment in America, Great Britain, or Germany. Is it all one to the workers of this country That is the problem you have to consider. I think it is the root and crucial point, the essential knot, of this controversy. " What we want is business. The policy which gives business is the policy for the working man. The rich can laugh at any Chancellor of the Exchequer. When at Birmingham two years ago, I pointed out that, owing to the progress of expenditure, the need of finding money would bring home to every thinking man the necessity of an alteration of the fiscal system. That prophecy has come true. The old system has broken down, and the fiscal machinery must be scrapped. "It is intolerable that while America and Germany are allewed to forge weapons by which they are going to withdraw from our sphere of commercial influence, our own colonies, we should sit with folded arms, and hiding behind antiquated formalse, refuse to look facts in the face. ' * TRADE OF THE COLONIES. " I confess that I look with amazement, not contempt, upon those who, with perfect equanimity, face a situation which, if allowed to continue, will build up great communities surrounded by their own tariff walls, against which we will beat in vain, and will see the colonies and dependencies of the Crown belonging economically, industrially, and financially, to. some other commercial system than that of which we are the centre." Mr. : Joseph Chamberlain listened to the speech by means of an electrophone installed at Highbury (his residence), and connected with the nail. - .