The Thames Star. Resurrexi. FRIDAY, JANUARY 18, 1907. THE FUTURE OF TARIFF REFORM

Thames Star, Volume XLIV, Issue 10195, 18 January 1907, Page 2

The Thames Star. Resurrexi. FRIDAY, JANUARY 18, 1907. THE FUTURE OF TARIFF REFORM

!To most colonial*; tha fiscal policy of the' Imperial Parliament is f&tf**! understand^an-di it;i* t» be hoped that if the) legislaitm-s v* Home are nob a™ of the feeling iv tto colonies, •awing stronger and Sponger, the Colonial: delegates a* the lmpenai Con, ference will give- theiri colleagues the .'denied information. Ne,w Zealand is mtering into, reciprocal tariffs with the Commonwealth of Australia, with South Africa, Canada, and America^ in fact it is carrying, out ai policy ot .fiscal reform-and ad^mctomt with other countries, while the -Motherland foolish^ stands aloof. It is pleasant to find that there -ore enthusiastic! propagandists of fiscal reiorm .and reciprocal tariffs at Homie. One of the most enthusiastic is Mr Gaa'vey, tie editor of the "Outlook." Despite the apathy of the Government and' the misrepresentations to -which this important matter has 'been subjected he Strenuously insists upon the absolute aecessity of preferential arrangements being entered into between, tho Mother Country and the colonies, as the only nieana of .preventing the Empire from being surpassed by more than one protectionist nation in every element of political and coimtfercia! power As. the population of a country dotermmes both, its working and it^> fighting force, he rt-Miinds us that a,t the present rafts of increase, the United States ten years hence v, ill possess 100,000,000 of inhaibitants; Germany at least 75,000,000, and Great Britain no more than -17,000,000, so that unless tho latter tfelds together the. whole of the Empire into one great comnniercial unit, protected as against the rest of tho world liy such, ft fiscal policy "as -thei other leading nations liave adopted n,nd are strengthening, •ho must subside into the position of xi second-class Stale. Speaking of the condition of Germany and Aknerica. more particularly, 'Mr Ga-rvey tells us, ihat, "iAt the present moment, under the increased tariff which came into force last March, the problem of unemployment has wholly disappeared in the first of these countries, and that both there amd in America there are more plnres op^n than there we ]>ereona to fill them, despite the hisih rate of increase and the. foreign immigration." The expori trade of both

thesie nations expands faster than tihmt of Great Britain, while there is a, corresponding enlargement of the volum» of the home trade, whidh is not the. case in the Motlier Cbuntiy, where tihiea-'e is ai great, dearth of employment, groAring destitution and a rapid decline in agrioultural production., involving the depepdenoei !of thie grertt buSc of tiie populajtion upon foreign supplies of food. "The industrial loss pj suichi a system of •unreaiprocajted free import®," observes the writer, "is that it proividea the -least security for employment and the least secui'ity for capital." 'And at thie sarnie time.it is gradually drawing 1 away from Grent Britain ihor resen-es of the piecious metals, for, between 1896 and 1905. inclusive, her net cash contribution to Germany amounted to £63,500,000. so that, to quote the terwei remark of Mr Garvcy, "Cobdenism gives Germany the key of the British casli box."