The Waikato Times, THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE, AND KAWHIA ADVOCATE. Established Thirty-Three Years. THE OLDEST DAILY NEWSPAPER IN THE WAIKATO. THE LARGEST CIRCULATION OF ANY DAILY PAPER SOUTH OF AUCKLAND. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 31, 1906. ELASTIC TIES.

Waikato Times, Volume LVII, Issue 6929, 31 January 1906, Page 2

The Waikato Times, THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE, AND KAWHIA ADVOCATE. Established Thirty-Three Years. THE OLDEST DAILY NEWSPAPER IN THE WAIKATO. THE LARGEST CIRCULATION OF ANY DAILY PAPER SOUTH OF AUCKLAND. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 31, 1906. ELASTIC TIES.

TiiK Canadian Minister of Agriculture, Mr Sydney Fisher, has been saying things whicu will not be convenient for quotation in Mr Chamberlain's speeches, Although a member of a Government which has already given preference to British products, he declares that, were he in England, he would be a Liberal and a Freetrader. He thinks that the best way to strengthen the Empire is to give each part of it an absolutely free hand. Mr Chamberlain's plan of entangling it in a network of tariff concessions and fiscal obligations ciearly does not appeal to him. Even more remarkable is his declaration that, as a Canadian farmer, he would rather not have preference in England. The conclusion is one which it is useless to quarrel with just now, but the reasoning is hardly sound. Mr Fisher says tbat the Dominiou farmer cau boat his rivals at every point, and that apparently contents hiui. Apparently he forgets that the How uf population towards Canada, attracted by such an advantage, tends to equalise conditions, and that the more thoroughly the Canadian farmer can beat his rivals, thy more rapidly will the ponu. latiuu of the Dominion itcrotae. We thuught tbat to attract population wa-j the great aim of all Canadian statesmen. There are, however, better reasons for reconciling ourselves to the advent of the Freetraders to secure power in Britain. In the first place itjis to the colonial farmer's interest that the population which coq-

sumes his wool, butter, cheese and meat in the Motherland should be as numerous, as healthy and as prosperous as possible. Science and experience agree that freetrade, with cheap food, is conducive to such conditions. But a consideration of of wiiler appeal is that expressed by Mr Fisher when he urges thdt the best way to strengthen ihe Empire is to give an absolutely free hand to each part. Ic was the freedom given to the outlying parts of the Empire by the Liberal stares >i -n of the past that made their Imperial spirit what it is to-day, and it is by sue!) elastic ties that it will still he preserved.