IMPERIAL POLITICS,

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 12378, 11 February 1911, Page 5

IMPERIAL POLITICS,

(Press Assn.— By Telegraph.— Copyright.) LONDON; -February 10. Speaking m the House of Commons, Mr A. Lyttelton declared, that colonial Ministers would have an 'easier task m asking for taxation for naval purposes if they could show that the ships were destined to protect trade fostered by mutual preference. Mr Apquith said that ""the United States did not place the same interpretation on the most favored"' nation clause as Britain. < British . gjd&ds were not, as a matter of treaty fight, entitled to enter America on the.Jßarne favorable terms as Canadian. Nevertheless the Canadians at present have so small a share m the trade m manufactured articles affected by the agreement that the probability of Canada' competing with Britain was infinitesimal. He denounced the present "incurable sloppiness" which had characterised the tariff reform agitation from its inception. Protection was not dead, but he believed they were about to celebrate, the obsequies of Imperial preference which was one of the greatest political impostures of modern times. ...i^..', ; . Mr Balfour objected to the accusation of imposture against Sir Wilfrid r Laurier and other colonial statesmen. ' The Opposition's fiscal amendment to the Addreea-in-Reply wafc " rejected by 324 to 222 votes. > - Mr Balfour has nominated "Mf." Altera Douglas, Mr W. H. Long, and Lord- Bel - borne to inquire into the Unionists' organisation. (Received February 11, 8.8 . ft.'m.) LONDON, February 10. In the House of Commons Mr McKinnon Wood informed Mr Byles that the interchange of views with Germany continues arising out of Herr yon Hollweg's speech on December- ! iOsji. The Government is hopeful that : j&' ; .. will help the growth of friendly relations; The Times says that" Unionist leaders m the House of Lords do not consider it desirable to introduce: a .Bill embodying their proposed reform's. Lord Carrington is considering an agricultural banking scheme, working through the larger joint stock -banks, who will lend at a half per centum above the bank rate on condition that they are permitted to audit, the accounts of local co-operatiye',«tocleties.' On the division Oh thY nAcaf amendment the O'Brienites abstained from voting, but the Laborites and NaUenalists voted with the Goyernmi&fc.' .'^'Qn • tho previous fiscal questions the Nationalists had always abstained from voting. Mr Lewis Harcourt, replying; *to Mr Butcher, member ol' , York, '.. «ucl' that when the Declaration of London is forwarded to the' Dominions they'-.will not be invited to express thefr'vie.tys'.,. Replying to Lord Bereafflfd; Mr McKenna said that his' endorsement of the Naval Priae Bill had not beeh^ttppended with the knowledge -and .concurrence- of the Admiralty. Mr Buxton, President of the Board of Trade, replying to a deputation* ,_*> m the Trades Union Congress, declared a suggestion that trades union' officials 'should be supplied on applicatiqn A .*^ilJh the name and wages paid by firms! offering employment through labor exchanges. He added that such a course would undermine* the Labor Department.. Mr Wood, Foreign; Under^Cjtetary, speaking at the City Liberal Club, said that unless . the rules, embodied, m the Declaration of London were -ratified, tho development of the principles' oor( r International agreement would he^eriouslv retarded. The Declaration must' be considered as a whole. Regarding The view, of the matter of a blockade, the Declaration established the British, .practice that if food came m British 'mfjtchTgtntpieti nothing was altered ; if m a "neutral vessel we were better off ih'an.Tbefore. and as belligerents we' were "gainers, owing to recognition of important points m naval practice heretofore questioned. The Westminster Gaeette declares that the House of Lords dropping reform implies a significant cooling process, ' Mr Asquith's reference to -^imposture caused Mr Balfour to hbtly , retort that the Prime' Minister's epithets not merely accused Home politicians of -imposture, but associated every great party? m every great self -governing colony with, imposture. The •übjeot of preference was earnestly pressed on the Prime ' Minister by Sir Wilfrid Laurier when they were face^to face during the latterta. visit to London, but was, deliberately, rejected. ______________ .