TARIFF REFORM.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 14223, 20 November 1909, Page 6

TARIFF REFORM.

In his speech at Manchester Mr. A. J. Balfour, the Leader of the Union- J ist party, clearly and definitely declared in favour of Tariff Reform. It is the first time, .we believe, that he has expressed his opinions : on this question so openly, fully, and frankly. Until quite recently the complaint of those of his party who desire to bring about a radical change in the fiscal policy "of Great Britain has been that they did not know how far their leader was prepared to go with them. After his Manchester pronouncement there can no longer be any doubt on that I score. • Mr. Balfour ■ has r placed Tariff Reform in the forefront of the issues * which ' the country will : be called upon to decide at the impending general election. It is impos^

sible to say what that decision is likely to be, but there can be no question that the movement for the abandonment of the cast-iron system of Free Trade has made enormous strides since it was first set on foot by' Mr. J. Chamberlain. And there could be no more striking proof of this than the appearance of the Leader of the Opposition as a strenuous advocate of the change in the very home and cradle of Cobdenism. . It was in Manchester that the Anti-Corn Law Association was formed. "■■ It was in the very hall erected to commemorate the struggle* for free trade that Mr. Balfour delivered his great address. It may be that Manchester, which has so often listened to the stirring eloquence of Bright and Cobden, is not yet converted. But in Manchester, as in every other industrial centre in England, the Tariff Reformers are making headway. The conviction is rapidly spreading among all classes

that Great Britain's > commercial supremacy is being undermined by her adherence to a fiscal system that no other country in the world has been persuaded to adopt. International trade competition is becoming fiercer and keener than ever, and the truth is at last beginning to dawn on th© great British public that in this titanic struggle they are not . keeping pace with their rivals, and that the reason is.to be found in their free-trade-policy.. The working classes still fear that any

change will increase for them the cost of living. - It is a fear that* the Cobdenites have worked upon with

artfulness and ingenuity. But, as Mr. Balfour showed, there are no

grounds for it whatever. ,If there were he would not, he declared, be on the side of the Tariff Reformers. The change, on the contrary, would, we believe, prove a great blessing to the working classes in the Mother Country by enormously stimulating

trade and opening new channels of employment. •