IMPERIAL POLITICS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2563, 26 July 1909, Page 5

IMPERIAL POLITICS.

MR. ASQUITH AT THE EIGHTY CLUB. THE GOVERNMENT’S ENDEAVORS. United Press Assooivtion—Copyright LONDON, July 23. Mr Asquith, speaking at the Eighty Club, declared that the- Government was eschewing on the one hand any' partial and preferential follies of the reactionary party, and also the wild, impracticable, visionary schemes of those, who would sap the very sources of individual enterprise and initativc.

A BY-ELECTION. ' NARROW GOVERNMENT MAJORITY. The by-election for the" High Peak division of Derbyshire, necessitated by the appointment of Mr Oswald Partington, the sitting member, as a Junior Lord of the Admiralty, resulted : Partington (Liberal) 5600, A. Profumo (Conservative) 5272.

AN IRISH NATIONALIST AMENDMENT. DEFEATED BY NARROW MAJORITY. United Press Association*—Copyright (Received July 25, 5.5 p.m.) LONDQN, July 24. Air. J. Dillon moved an amendment to the Irish Bill authorising the Treasury to raise money for land purchase by the issue of consols. The. Government refused to do so on the ground that it would reduce the credit of the country and the price of consols. The amendment was defeated by 132 to 128, amid Irish and Opposition cries of “Resign.”

THE PREMIER ON THE BUDGET. THE ONLY 'ALTERNATIVE INCREASED CUSTOAIS. At a crowded and enthusiastic meeting in the Cannon .Street Hotel, Air. Asquith characterised the speeches at the hankers’ and merchants meeting of protest against the Budget as full of misconceptions. It was universally admittted, he said, that there was at present an almost unprecedented gap in the exchequers of almost all rich and progressive nations. The critics admittted that the requirements of national defence and social reform necessitated new sources of revenue. ’However hard pressed he might be, a Chancellor of the Exchequer would not be justified in resorting to measures of -o.id am piq ‘uoiquipods uo norpiopxo posed land taxes were tolls on accretions of value in certain classes of land which arose from social causes and not from individual enterprise. The only •alternative was an increased Customs tariff.