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Burry Port Hurdle Races.I

PICTUREDROME.

HARBOUR LIGHTS.

I TINPLATE PROSPERITY. i

I-Alleged Attempted Robbery.

1Octogenarian's Death. --0-

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I" The Yeomen of the Guard."…

I Gorseinon Resident Sentenced.

IA SILVER CORACLE.

IG.W.R. Loco Drivers, etc.

- BENEFIT MATCH.

I LUNATIC ESCAPES.

iTHE EGG TRAIN.7

ITARIFF REFORM.

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I TARIFF REFORM. I 1 0 (Continued.) I THE SHIPPING INDUSTRY. I In Tariff Reform literature the shipping in- dustry has but very little place. The experi- ence of the United States has probably led them to keep silence. In the year 1860 the American tonnage was 21. millions, and the Brtisli 4 £ millions. After fifty, years of Pro- tection the American has dwindled to less than one million, whereas the British has risen to more than eleven millions, and is practically equal to the combined tonnage of protected countries. Germany has made an advance within recent years because of her free imports of raw materials for shipbuilding and State subsidies. The United States alone during six years <1903-1908) has paid the British owners something like iE45,000,000 for freight upon their imports of manufactured goods. If Protection is adopted, and a tariff tension arises between us and foreign countries, they would have a. powerful lever to retaliate and penalise our shinping industry by imposing a special tax on British, boats ,entering their ports. Our shipping industry has been built upon the "open door" policy, which has made it an international carrier, but which Protec- tion, by its exelusiveness, cannot hope to attain. I TARIFF REFORM AND THE ELECTORAL SYSTEM. I It is the essence of a system of Protection that each class of industry should co-operate and become associated, so as to promote tariff measures and watch tariff regulations. Even- tually these associated interests would result in the formation of trusts and combines, which, according to ex-President Roosevelt, are the curse of the United States to-day, and trusts are quite as cruel in their operations against. small capitalists as they are to the community. The workpeople 'n those industries would naturally feel an interest in tariff questions affecting their trade. Gradually, the trusts I would exercise, an influence on the mind of the electorate, and seek Parliamentary repre- sentation. The consequence will be that Par- liament would In composed of an excessive ? number of manufacturers and landlords, whose main object would be to procure tariff legislation for the benefit of their industries. Parliamentary sessions would be very much 'I occupied on tariff questions. Social measures would be of secondary importance. r In Parliamentary elections there would be I pressure, coercion, and even 'Corruption, and the experience of the United States would be- come the experience of this country. Tam- many will reign supreme. I TARIFF REFORM AND FOREIGN COUNTRIES. I Great Britain now enjoys what is known as I the "most favoured nation clause" in tariff treaties with foreign countries. Briefly, its terms are "that no higher duties shall be im- posed on British importations to a foreign country than are payable on the like article of any other foreign country." So that if Ger- many reduces a duty on a certain article im- ported from France in consideration of France reducing her duty on some other article from Germany, Great Britain gets the benefit of the reduced" duties in both countries for her ex- ports. This clause makes it unnecessary for our Foreign Office to negotiate tariff treaties with foreign countries Tariff Reform will put an end to this beneficent clause, and will keep our Foreign Office going in negotiating tariff contracts. Tariffs are a bone of conten- tion, which invariably leads to tension and strife. The tariff recently concluded by Ger- many and Canada lasted seven years, and the loss of trade to Germany ihrough diminished exports to Canada during those years amoun- ted to forty-three million pounds. Where our imports from a foreign country exceed our ex- ports to that country, there will be no ade quate power to retaliate, and the country which will suffer more will be our own coun- try. Apart from tension and strife, tarifhdisputes dislocate commerce and decrease exports. I TARIFF REFORM AND THE COLONIES. In practice the Tariff Reformers' policy of preference would mean that Great Britain ex- port manufactured goods to the Colonies, and import agricultural and dairy produce in ex- change, by means of an increased, duty upon foreign imports. Such a policy would handi- cap the Colonies in taking advantage of their natural resources and develop their indus- tries. It would also check the growth of Colonial population; of all communities, the least populous are the agricultural communi- I ties. The Canadian Manufacturers' Associa- I tion has made it clear that they do not re- quire preference if it means the dumping of English, manufactured goods to the detriment of the development of their industries. The statement of the Canadian Minister of Agri- culture (Mr. Fisher) in January, 1906, is also I worth quoting. He says: "England has not adopted the preference, and I think she did right. England to-day could not give preference without changing her fiscal policy. It would mean Ute ob- struction of her owii increased taxa- tion, and the entering into the complicated problem of a Protective policy. It would in England's case be a radical change for the worse. Tariff Reformers say little or nothing about India on the preference question. India has a system of Free Trade, a population of six times as great as all other British Colornes combined, and in 1908 took three-lourths of the whole of the export trade to British Colo- nies. India will demand protection under a preferential system. As a matter of fact, when Mr. Chamberlain's scheme was first propotin- ded, the Bengal press threatened to form I fiscal reform leagues throughout, the Empire, and Britain's best Colonial Customer, taking I more than fifty millions annually, will be. to a large extent, lost by the closed door of Pro teetion. A chain, of tariffs to "cement the friendship of our kindred beyond the sea" is a ellain which, after a few years' wear, will snap: and like the Stantp.Duties, which lost us America, it will, lead to the flotsaill and jetsam of the British Empire. Let me sum the points dealt with. (1) Tariff Reform, then, does not concern three-fourths of the population of this coun- try, and of the one-fourth with which it does concern, it will not give more employment to the workingrclasses or more wages. (2) Their proposals to tax necessities are not as productive as the taxation of luxuries and land increment. (3) It will change the incidence of the tax, and put the burden on the shoulders of the m asses. (4) It will yield a powerful adverse influence upon the electoral system. (5) It will increase the cost of living whilst it would decrease the volume of trade, parti- cularly the shipping industry. (6) It will create tariff wrangles between in- terdependent interests, such as the suppliers of raw materials and the finished articles. (7) It will create tariff wars between us and foreign countries. (8) It will check the development, of ihe natural resources and industries of the Colo- nies. Let us now proceed to trace the destination of the benefits of Tariff Reform. Tariff Reformers have but two themes—Agri- culture and Manufacture. The centre of agri- culture is in the House of Lords, the centre of manufacture is in the Midlands. TlleexreTienco of Austria-Hungary throws a curious light, on the destination of the bene- fits of a tariff. Austria-Hungary is almost self-supporting in the production of corn. The I duty on corn in. Austria is lis. 5d. per quar- ter. The total consumption of corn in 1903 was 28 million quarters. The foreign imports were small—200,000 quarters: the home pro- duction was 27,800.000 quarters. The revenue derive) through foreign imports was only £ 110,000. but because of the duty the Austrian people had to pay lis. 5d. per quarter more for home-grown corn, amounting to C.1.4,000.000 and that huge Slllll went to the coffers of the Austrian landlords and agriculturists, which. I under a Free Trade system, they could not obtain, As regards manufacture, the imports of manufactured goods in Ions (the latest avail- j able figures) into the United States was,' I without duty, £ 121,000,000. The amount of duty on those goods was 33 millions, that is, more than one-fourth of the value of the goods. The value of goods made and sold in AnVrica Corresponding to the articles im- ported was, roughly, 138 millions. Had there been free, open competition into the States, the American consumers would pay £ 30,000,000 less for their home-made goods, which is the increase in price corresponding to the tariff I imposed; and this amount, went to swell manufacturers' profits, which they could not obtain except under a protective system. Tariff Reform creates two authorities for collecting revenue. The one authority is the Custom House, which collects duties on I imported goods; the other authority is divided into several groups of associated interests or trusts, who collect the increase in the price of golds corresponding to the amount of tariff, direct from the people. Tariff Reform is a check upon the demo- cratic progress of the country. Tariff Reform, if adopted, will be the begin- ning of the downfall of the commercial supre- macy of the country,, and, in eouTscof years, the disintegration of the British Empire.

I,1 THE ELECTIONS.I -0-

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