Herald of Wales and Monmouthshire Recorder

A POLITICAL REVIEW. SIR ALFRED MONO GIVES A SURVEY I Of THE SITWATMW. There was a large and enthusiastic I gathering of Liberals at Mond Buildings, Swansea, on Friday evening, when the Eight Hon. Six Alfred Mond., Bart.. M.P., addressed a meeting on current politics. Mr. Ricfeard Martin, J.P., who pi-e-, sided, proposed a resolution eacpressin^ the profound sympathy of the meeting with krs. Morgan B. Williams, Killay, atld family in their sad loss and bereave- manl U through the death of Mr. Morgan Bransby Williams. As Liberals, we can- not forget hi" many years of good service to our eause, and the zeal and devotion he brought* to bear in the furtherance of cur principles. Swansea has lost a large- uearted and public-spirited citizen, and his afeeence will be keenly felt in the many P-ndertakirgs he conceived and fustered for the advancement of the town of bis adoption." The motion was earned in sileace, all present standing. A Great Lots. I Sir Alfred Mond, who was received with acclamation, said that before. he embarked on his speech he would like, on belzalf of Lady Mond and himself, to couple tMW names with the resolution, which had just been passed, of sympathy, and condolence with -Ily,. ihran H. Williams and her h', n-> ',0 express his sen tiillC, w tue ..tiiuc of personal loss, and the sense of the loss which had been sustained by the whole of this Liberal party by the passing away of tkeir old friend. (Hear, hear.) Anyone who had the privilege of knowing lb. Morgan B. Williams find of knowing all had achieved, realised in full measure how great the loss was, and any- one who had had the pleasure of being on terms of friendship with Mrs. Morgan B. Williams and her family would appreciate the splendid work which they had cle" foL- the good of the cause. He could only bop., that in the rising genera- tion they would ind worthy successors to Mr. Morpan B. Williams to carry on his work both as concerned the town and the Liberal party. (Hear, hear.) Dealing with current politics, Sir Alfred said that that gathering could scarcely be looked upon in the light of one of their regular meetings, but it had been suggested that as he I happened to be there, it might perhaps be interesting to most of them to have IOm. talk about the political situation is i* at present existed. (Hear, hoar.) There were, of course, several factors of ¡ importance dominating the political situation at the present moment. In the first case. he would advise them not to be to> inach disturbed or to allow them- selves to be stampeded about all the stories and rumours which had recently appeared about the Liberal party going to pieces in the House of Commons. Speaking with Rome intimate knowledge of what had taken place, he would say that a great deal of undue prominence and exaggeration had been given in the I, Press to one or two figures in the Divi- sion Lobby that did not at all warrant the importance that was attached to thejn at the present day. It had become a kind of fetish to imagine that if' the Government did Bot happen to have the whole of the party present that it was going out of office. (Laughter.) It was a very foolish position to take up, and he did not think any Government had ever taken up that position. The strain on the Liberal members during the 11\. few years had been very severe, and aJtho?h, through some unforseen con- tingency, members might not be praeent, I they would be with them in spirit, and a; long as the Government had the neces-! -ry majority to Mtrry the proposals!: which they presented, that was the oh]y k thing thai really mattered- Coming to the question of Home Rule, the right hon. gentleman said that that wa? a question of the highest importance &ad one of the greatest interest to them. They in Swansea had never had imibts at any time, either as to th-? justice oi the advisability of the Irish cinim for self government. The magnifi- sTTat" meeting which had recently been addressed by Mr. Joseph Devlin in the Albert Bali was sufficient testimony to, the fefeling in the Principality as to thr; justness of the Irishmen's ancient cause. Sir Alfred proceede d to deal with what he described as the efforts'of the Govern mont to conciliate, as far as possible, th? p-reiiadice, and bethought the unreason- able prejudice of a certain class of Irish- men m the province of Ulster. The opinion had been expressed that thn Uoverameirt had erred on the side of weak* ass t<. allow themselves to be influenced in allowing breaches of the law to go unpunished. It was a mistake to think Ijecanse the Government had thought it was the beat policy to pursue im the interests of peace a policy wf conciliation, that they could oft stampeded into doing anything that thev considered to be wrong. It was certainly not the opinion of the Liberal pnrtr in the House of Commone or of Himself. He had noticed in recent debates in the House of Lords on the part wi: the Unionist leaders an attempt tcr i: rNlit the Home Rule Bill and the w-tion of the Government. Sir Alfred emphasised the fact that the Amending Bill had been introduced not as an act of fear, but as nn act of But the Tories had ignored that point of view and had endeavoured to lay down a position M hich no Government nor the hishparty could accept. He thought, him- self, that the Tories were making a great mistake if they had an idea that they could compel legislation under the 1 hie its of civil wat. But he thought they were bitterly mistaken. The people of this country might be persuaded, but they could not be bullied. (Hear, hear). The Position of Ulster. When people spoke to him of the in- i.i.-ii-e of asking aaiyone in Ulster to be governed by a parliament from Dublin. h* felt inclined to ask, How much greater ii the injustice of asking one solitary Irishman to be excluded from the government of his own country ? (Hear, hear.) The one was a positive proposition, and the other a Dejative ore To wish to join in the government of year own country, and help to uplift its people, was a much higher claim than to stand sublimely aloof, to turn your back OIl your ov. n country and villify, it. M-J had often thought how unreasonable, it was to take up the attitude that whole dis- tricts of Ulster, after Nationalist majori- ties had been continually returned from Ulster to the Houee of Commons in favour •f Home Rule, should be excluded from a heritage which the people of Ireland had fought for, anrl looked forward tn, for years. He did not think King CatsfHl and his friends would succeed in that project. If they wanted peace, they must accept a reasonable basis, rind one of the tenae should he that the people of CJlsrter should determine whether they should stand out or not. Referring to the Welsh Church Bill, Sir Alfred said he was not much perturbed about the action of the lordif an that measure. If they liked to appoint a committee in order to carry oil antiquarian researches—{laughter)—on that or on unv other subject, they we<v quite at liberty to do so. What object there was m those rMardH)S he entirely fai?d to t?e. and what possible influence they coaid have fM< the minds Q?HtinkiT)? h> man bMngs was to him an" absolute mystery. If they were anxious to niitki-, ap for a lack of <*d?tation in,' and boýiedKe nf, Church history, he ?houtd have tho??ht they could have ooosen I ?noth?r place and another opportunity. The idea of the Peers solemnly sitting there, and hearing Sir Lewis Dibdi.n discourse on what the position of jlitj Church was in the thirteenth century- whet her the House of Commons or the King could alter anything at that time without the consent of Convocation— seemed to him an absolute farce. The Church at that time was the- church not of a small minority, but the church of the whole people. It was, moreover, the church of the whole Christian world. Of course, its position and influence in men's minds was of a kind they could'scarcely (onceivp to-day Hj dr. not suf/jose the king of that dav dared to alter anything in the Church without the consent of the Pope. No one would say that the Archbishop of Canterbury held the position of the Pope, of the thirteenth century, and they werf no longer going- to be dominated or bullied by threats of excommunication from Can- terbury when they were lighting for religious freedom. Nor did he think it mattered to the people of Wales, or that should they take i-lic- iioti(?e of the insolent pre- sumption of the Hown o? Lords Com- n.'tt? sitting in judgment on so-(alIed petitions—petitions the promoters ol which had not the courage to submit m the proper form to 'he proper tribunal, the House of; Commons. The recognised constitutional' method was to Kubmit pent'n"? to the Petitions Comnitee ot\ tItc M?nse of Commons. The petitions in q(, shou were Nothing but private docu- ments got up by private individuals no one kmw ?xacrlv how—(laughter)—or exactly why. (I?n.ghter.) If people wished to send those petitions to the Lords they could do so. But tbeyn, md not ask us to assist in the farce that is going on." (Hear, hear.) "It is an absurd lyiethod,- declared Sit- Alfred, of carrying on political propaganda or warfare. It is meant to deceive, but it will certainly not deceive tho people of Wales." (Applause.) An absurd attempt had been made, he con- tinued, to persuade the people of Eng- land: that the people of Wales were not is favour of Disestablishment and Diseridowment. When they thought over the history of that controversy and the solid body of representatives Wales had sent to Parliament on that issu- no Liberal or Labour member would na, e won his seat for five minutes if he had not been in favour of that proposal —all this childish tomfoolery at the! ele\enth hour was really enough to try the patience of a saint. (Laughter.) Why after the opponents of the Bill had not succeeded at the ballot box, had they gone sneak i He; around—(hear, hear)—pre- senting petitions to Nonconformists? (Ap- plause.) They could not succeed at the, baillo: box because the majority of the people had made up their minds on this subject for some fifty years. The House or Commons had passed this Bill for three years. Whatever the Lords did. whether the Government remained in or came out of office, one thing was certain —this Bill would be on the Statute Bcok before the next election took place. (Lo-i-I applause.) Bonar Law—(laughter)—had given many election pledges. One time he pledged himself to the repeal of the Insurance Act. lis said on one foolish occasion he would repeal the Welsh Church Bill- We are quite prepared to fight the next,elation on that issue in Wale"dlaredjr Alfred. "If -v^e have fought hard to get that measure. ani the Statute Book, we should be very poor people not to fight to keep it there. If the Tory party wish to challenge us on that measure, we Welsh members would be tflad to accept it." (Applause.) There had been a great deal of mis- understanding, both about Mr. Lloyd George's Finance Bill and about the action of certain members of the Liberal Party and cf the House of Lords. Lloyd George's Finance Bill was a very lurfNv• itripfeftant. and freely conceived measure, a.nd' it had to deal with a" Ü h:1rl..ion of the, following character; Mr.. Lloyd George had to find considerably increased funds for the Navy; nearly a million a year toe increased benefits: and advantages under the Insurance Act; a considerable sum of money for necessitous school areas; and to pro- vide in the future for a large amount of money for the relief of local rates. To achieve these objects the Chancellor pro-j posed an increase in the death dutios, a very large increase in super-taxes, and important modifications and an in- crease ih Certain "grades of the income-' tax.- I This measure had certainly had, from the beginning, his very hearty sym- pathy brft. difticulties arose, due partly; ta the procedure of the House of Com-j mons, probably in part to the existence of the House of Lords. While he thought his audience were all agreed' that it would be a good thing to do something to relieve local rates--(hear,i, heai- 'on the other hand, at any rate, all Liberals were agreed that they should take special provisions and safeguards that money that came from taxes to relieve, rates should not find its way into the pockets of the owners of the land (Hear, lxear.) This double con- tingency Mr. Lloyd George, who felt, it quite as acutely as any of them, pro- posed to meet by making the grants to the local authorities in the Finance Bill contingent 8Il the passage of another Bit!-tie Revenue Bill. providing for a! new form of valuation, separating the valuation of buildings and improvements fro l the valuation of land. so that when tfcft relief was made it should not coin-e to the owners of the sites but the owners of the improvements. (Applause.) A Dangerous Precedent. I Now, while the Finance Bill, when in- troduced, proposed to raise taxes in order to provide for these local grants, it at the same time provided that the' grants should not be passed unless another measure was also passed. if there were no House of Lords in exist-1 en :e such a provision would have been entirely unnecessary, because they would have known then that the Com-i inoas would pass the contingent measure. A number of members-he did not ex- clude himself from them in any way whatever—felt it was not right, as far as i O:Ii' constitutional practice was con- cerned, and for other reasons which he would discuss later, that Parliament should levy new taxation before its ob- jects had been sanctioned, and it was cer- ta n they would be carried into law. In other words, they felt that the imposition of new taxes, with the possibility that the purposes for, which those taxes weroj being raised might never be realised, was: not only a dangerous precedent, but! might lead to a situation in which the money would be very easily wasted. Their experience in recent years was that when the Tt-easury was full the Departments were very rapacious. It. I had been their experience, and particu- larly in the matter of armaments, which they all wanted to see reduced—{applause) —that supplementary estimates for many millions were presented to the House l which, he believed, would never have boon presented to such an extent had it not been that the Treasury had a lot of money in. Their position in the case of the Fiuuncn Bill was that the proper pro- cedure vVfts that the objects for which rim money was being raised should be effected'' before the taxes were raised. There was nothing very revolutionary; about that view; on the contrary, it was the eld -practice. Nor had the result oi thetr action "been of a very striking cbar- a< fer, although, of ceiirge, all they could have done this year in any case would have been to: provide temporary grants tor a period of four months of the financial year. When some members, including him- self, took the view to which be had referred. there was no question ss to the money itself the, were simply holding to tbe old principles of finance which Mr. Gladstone carried out through his whole life. I would like to say, and to make it perfectly clear," emphasised Sit Alfred, that on no occasion when we have hud j he pleasure and privilege of seeing tbe Prime Minister or the Chan- cellor of the Exchequer, have we objected to the taxation proposals, nor have we objected in the slightest degree to the way in which the money was being raised, nor (t)(, the fundamental objects for which thr money was being spent; but we asked that matters should proceed so as -to I give plenty of time for consideration, and in such a way that ordinary Parlia menlary procedure could be easily followed." The changes to the Bill were not se enormous as some people imagined. The provisions, relating to grants tc local authorities which were in the Finance Bill had now been placed in the Kevenue Bill, which, he hoped, the House would discuss later in the Session. If it passed, as he hoped, all that would htppen would be that there wonld be a small iiitciiegsum of a few months only: grants would have disappeared from this financial year, and the scheme wouldJ begin ,m the next. There had been placed in his handr; since he had been in the room a reprint of a speech of a friend in the House of Commons, and he must confess that he was very much st-ruck with the fact that tho Conservative party in Swansea could f.nd nothing better to attack him with that. the speech of another Liberal. (Laughter.) But if they knew his friend Sir Arthur Markham as well as he did. h did not think they would have taken the trouble to reprint his speech, because first, they misquoted hiin in thr-ir leaflet, secondly, Sir Arthur Markham misquoted him (the speaker) in his speech—(loud I.,ttighte.r)--aitd thirdly, because there wis little diGerence between, them anyhow. The pcint he had always made, and was making in the speech Sir Alfred Mark- ham criticised—a point hot very new, but ,er,r old—was that he objected -.I,ibor--ti s had always objected—to the owners of l:)jad w h o had had  land who had had .he burdens of local rates placed on their shoulders rolling those burdens off on 1.0 other people under no obligation to pay. He said that that was a most important question, and he had there a quotation from a speech by Mr. Cktbden in 18-19. It was a very burning question at the time. He referred to the very question why should local taxes be laid on real pro- perty, and said that: "Because those bur- dona have been borne by the real property bf the country for two or three centuries at the least. Poor, rates, have been for nearly three centuries borne by the real property of the country, and others are nearly a3 old as our Saxon institution. This property having changed hands, either by transfer, succession or in trust, at least a dozen time, the ch-anges have been endorsed upon the title deeds, and the property has been bought, or in- herited at so much less in consequence of those changes, and therefore, the present owner of the real property has 'no right to exemption from those burdens, having bought the property knowing it to be subject to those burdens, and having paid less in consequence." Btiti I have another r-oasot why this property should bear tbede local buMens, and it: is this: It is I the only property which, not only does. not diminish in value, but in a country growing in population and advancing in prosperity, it always increases in value, and without any help from the owner." Evils of the Present System. I He (Sir Alfred) opposed the diminution of the burdens in real property. Per- sonal property meant the earnings of everybody who was carrying 011 a profession or 1 business, or manufacture., or anyqno who was. work- ing with his brains or Itandp. He thought they ought to Ipyy their rates' on the Rite value and not on the improvements. Our present rate system was the greatest deterrent to the improvement of land, .nyvfbere in that vn if they a piece of vacant land they would know that it would figure in the rate boks at agriculti-i-al value, pro- bably with half the rates remitted. But it a man came along and saw it covered with grass and having energy and enterprise, anxious to start an industry, wanted to buy it, what price would, he have to pay? Not by the rate boQjs value ai alj, hu,t .at bQilding. value, a very different tigure. That man would erect a factory, give employment to labour, increase the trade of the port, but would he be given a public reception or a banquet? Not at all. That site would become greater in value, and as a con- sequence the rate collector would call and say You have been foolish enough to do something." That man would be taxed because he had erected a factory. and had improved the value of the land The rating system, contended Sir Alfred. was wrong. Continuing; the speaker dwelt at length on land taxation. Rating of site values had acted beneficially where adopted in other countries, and if adopted in this country the beneficial results would stagger the whole of England. (Applause.* would find people anxious to use the land to the best advantage not to keep it idle. That was what they were out for irboy wanted reform in the housing question and the health question. The Sugar Tax. I He thought himself the sugar tax was a great blot, and although since they had come into office they had reduced the sugar duty by half. they had not wiped away, in his opinion, what. was one of the worst duties ever put upon the working classes. Sir Alfred proceeded to quote Mr. Lloyd George's reason for not including the abolition of the sugar tax in this year's I'inance Bill. The speaker said that the diminution in the income tax was purely a temporary matter, and next year the tax would- ha ye to be increased again. But if the Chancellor abolished the sugar tax he would not want to re-establish it. Sir Alfred then proceeded to deal with the leatlet which had been issued by the Tory party in Swansea, which purported to give Sir Arthur Murkham's version of a speech by Sir Alfred, and he (the speaker) said that to endeavour to make out, as the leatiet did, that Mr. Lloyd George refused to put on the income tax to make a present to the speaker or any- one else was absurd. "Well," said Sir Alfred. "Anyone who knows Mr. Lloyd Georg(! need not be told how to characterise such a statement." The Prime Minister had promised to appoint a committee to go into the whole ques- tion of the income tax. It was a very important question because the whole of tbe itigome tax had not been touched for nearly a century, and had become a jumble and a jungle, and wanted to be put on a more simple basis. Sir Alfred went on to deal with a question, which he said, was undoubtedly a difficult one, and would certainly have to be faced very soon-that of a Rating Bill. He pointed out that the principles which he had laid down would require the careful consideration of all those interested in the problem. With regard to the leaflets which had been circulated by the local Conserva- tive party, Sir Alfred said he wondered what in the world his Conservative friends thought they were doing by circulating in an intelligent, up-to-date constitu- ency the literature of the backwoods. The leaflets were only lit to be ladled out among electors in a backwoods constitu- ency who knew little of current politics, and who could hardly rea.d or write. The leaflets were so untrue in their statements, and so ridiculous in their conclusions that I it passed his comprehension how they could be expected to influence a single voter in the constituency. They were so absolutely childish that they were not worth any serious notice. (Hear, hear). It Was much more interesting to note that next week one of the SQ far hidden benefits of the Insurance Act would come into operation. One of the things on which he had been very keen for many years, and which he re- garded as being as important as the Old Age Pensions Act was the question of Disablement benefit. They all knew the tragedy of a man of middle age with a family, who, perhaps, broke down in health, and became incapable of earn- ing, and had before him a long vista of years with a wife and family which he did not know how to feed. For the first time in history they were going t) help that man. The Old Age Pensions Act gave a man a pension at 70 years of age, but under these provisions of the In- surance Act, if a man broke down in health in middle age and could show he was no longer able to earn his living, he would have a pension all his life. Many of them had felt that 70 was too old an ag- at which the pension should be given- Many of them had found that th"1 workman fell out between the age of 60 and. 70. but for the last two years subscriptions had been payable under the Insurance Act, and now if a man fell out it employment and could show that he was unable to work, he could get his disablement pension. Who will dare now to speak of the repeal of the Act?" he asked, amidst scenes of great enthusiasm. Who dared to go round and talk non- sense about making the Insurance Act a voluntary Act and endeavouring to throw this machinery the Government had erected out of gear and into chaos? He had always said, and he repeated it that evening, that he thought the Insurance Act was one of the greatest, if not the greatest among the social measures passed in this country, and would do more good than any piece of legislation passed in the Commons. (Hear, hear). The more they wont on the more they would see that this was true. Sometimes when you are up against a great mountain," said Sir Alfred, close to it, you are dis- appointed. It seems to you not what you expected, it does not impress you with its majesty, but when you come away, when you are some distance away, when you see it looming in its proper ¡ perspective against the sky, you suddenly realise what a great and mighty moun- tain it was. So it is with a great mea- sure like the Insurance Act/ (Hear, hear, and applause.) A Crime Against Thrift. I When the Act was new, and they were up against the initial difficulties, some people grumbled and said it was far from perfect, but when they pictured to themselves the army of 14 millions who for the first time in their lives knew that when they were ill theYdcould have a doctor to make them well. and money would come into the house, they reattach it was nothing short of crimiaa: 4.1 appeal, as some of those Tory pamphfets ad, to the wasters of the corfimuruty. tIa the people who sever tried to make provision for them- selves, but who, when they were ill relied on those who had made provision for a rainy day. Tfiose were the people who were asked to grumble when they were requested by the Government to contribute under a national scheme. It was criminal to issue such pamphlets, a sin against society, a crime again3t tlirift, and a crime against those con- scientious and hard-working men who had carried on such good work for years in friendly societies. Sir Alfred proceeded to say that he -had kept the audience longer than he in- tended, but there were some subjects in which they took the keenest in- terest, and one really felt—and he thought rightly felt-indig-nant at the way in which, they were degrade4 from the high position which they ought to occupy to the mere level of party football and vote-catching. « What of the future ?" asked the mem- ber. "We have much to do; Wales has much to do. I am on a small sub-commit- tee appointed by the Welsh Liberal Party to consider carefully a draft of the Welsh Home Rule Bill. (Applause). A difficult subject, iequiring much con- sideration, not at all easy from the point of view of Wales or the relation of Wales to the future Imperial Parliament, but a subject we have to consider, study, and make up our Blinds upon." Thereceukl be -no doubt that the federal movement, as it had been called—the devolution movement, as he preferred to call it-had made rapid Lead- way. There was no doubt, too, that when Ireland won Home Rulf-ar-d Home Rule it was destined to have—Scotland would not be far behind. In fact, Scotch mem- bers had already introduced a Bill and had a debate on it. Wales and Home Rule'. I Then they got to the position of Wales whether it would re- main a small fraction of an English Par- liament of whether it- would take upon lteftlf the burden and responsibility of governing itself. Personally, he thought it would be fatal to Welsh feeling and national ideals to become an appen- dage to the English Parliament. (Applause.) They were far altead in this country in many ways, politically, over the average amount of English opiuion. They had national ideals and a national language. They could not he national for one occasion and not for every other. They could not ask to be a nation at Westminster if thev were not ready to be a nation at home. Finan- cially, as far as they could ascertain, Wale; would benefit by devolution; she seemed to be paying in taxation consider- ably more than her fajr share towards the common fund. It that were so-and he believed it to be the case—Walea would b- in a better position if she had the money to spend on her own purposes here. (Hear, hear I He alluded to the que.4,tion because hp thought the time had come when it would have to be bodlir faced, carefully thought out, and a "definite conclusion arrived at. There were ether questions—such as Lnd. anrl roforiii ienerkilly-th,,if could never stand still. and not only could never stand still, but had to move more rapidly in the future than in the past. He always felt that there were around him hosts ot' unanswered problems demanding solution, hut which they did not seem to have time to deal with. He always saw stretched before him an enormous territory to clear in the way of the amelioration of the people of this country, not merely physi- cally, but also mentally and morally. He fretted sometimes at the slowness with which the mill, of Parliament seemed to grind cut reform. He shaded to the full the impatience whic hwas felt by reformers, and by none more than by that man of generous temperament and great energy, David Lloyd George, at the slow progress we were making. But we had done great | things in the last eight years. We had been making history at a rapid rate, and we would continue to. There were new fields for their labour; there was the great land campaign which Mr. David Lloyd George had so brilliantly in- augurated, a campaign which would bear full fruit. "I think, when the occasion comes," concluded Sir Alfred, the people of this country will say to us: Go on making more history for the benefit of the masses of the people in this cou ntty" J' (Loud a pplau se). The Chairman proposed a hearty vote of thanks to Sir Alfred for his lucid address, and this was carried with enthusiastic unanimity. Sir Alfred suitably replied.