Australian Press Opinion.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXVII, Issue 11057, 19 September 1903, Page 5

Australian Press Opinion.

Received Septembei 19, 10.10 a.m, SYDNEY, September 19:

. The Herald esljs -the prospects before the Conservative" Government, -which • directly favoured, the establishment of pre- s ferential tariffs -whiclij were not asked for by the colonies and which never have been discussed here as within the range of practical politics, were ,^he disruption of the strongest .Cabinet, in command of the largest majority that ihas^beefl I ' known ,in British politics.' It 'would jhaVe imperilled the rUnionist League, .with the, Conservatives,' and have introduced such -a 1 con- 1 ' dition of party >■ politics as would ,be / without , parallel' since the party system became/ .practically part of the Constitution of the United Kingdom. 'In the circumstances ; the conclusion arrived at by the Cabinet, even though it involved;' the resignation of Mr Chamberlain, is to be welcomed as .the: wisest course that could -be taken at

present. Mr Chamberlain is a' man' of great intelligence, force, and notable j doggedness of purpose, and may persuade the people that' in preferential tariffs lies safety of the Empire, ■ but of this we are Bure, ' that in resigning he has done himself and his , cause no harm. He may be able in a new and commercial edition of the MidlotHiaii .campaign. to. rouse the electors to a sense of the importance of *his views to the Empire. ■-■•,'■- The .Telegraph says . that although Mr Chamberlain has rendered service ; as . Colonial Secretary which has been heartily \ acknowledged, jhis'- retirement^ in all circumstances is about the besttning politically that could have happened to tho Em- I pire. ' It, is an admission from .the, high priest of preferential trade that the people * will have none of his creed, and therefore a sign that for the present at least there will be no chance of. success for the strangely mistaken project of • linking up the various parts' of the Empire _ by, tariff, chains, which, if they- were forged rqund the various countries, would gall tnem until they burst it and perhaps the Empire' into, what he 'himself would call pieces and separate" atoind/ Mr Chamberlain's scheme fo;c creating frajbemalism, besides provoking -conflicts amongst-Minis-ters and in the House,*3iaß aroused resent- " mftnt in Canada* and nerved Mr Seddon, who has hitherto posed as the - chief est Empire loyalist, to^threaten to enter into closer commercial relations with 1 foreign nations unless thfc Britisher consented' to • give cash preference to-New Zealand- meat. . Although preference is banished from the Government programme as admittedly no go, retaliation is to be persevered with, so that the situation still bristles with material of colonial interest. There- is some , consolation, however, in the knowledge that at the next election the defeat of the»Government may :> be* expected, and with that result, the final laying of the Protectioniß.t / bogey, which has talked, so , briefly and so' miserably failed to scare British people out' of, tKeir: sanity. ' '■', ■