A—s

306

Tenth Day. 2 May 1907.

the special feature of the British Empire has been that it has combined, and has succeeded in combining to a degree unknown in any other combination in history, a loyal and affectionate attachment between the centre and the parts of the Empire, and between the various parts themselves, with complete practical local independence. That is the secret, if we may call it a secret, which we have contributed to the history of Empire. For the first time in the history of the world we have managed to reconcile what hitherto has been found irreconciliable in every political combination, namely, the completest development of local liberty and independence without impairing, nay, rather with an enhancement of a sense of corporate unity and attachment between the parts and the whole. I f that is true, gentlemen, of our Empire as a whole, of its structure, and of its foundations, nowhere is it truer, I think, than in this department of fiscal policy. It is by giving, as the Mother Country has done, complete fiscal autonomy to her Colonies—l will not say only by that, but it is partly by that, and largely hv that —that we have succeeded in arriving at a working Imperial arrangement. We had our warnings. We tried the opposite policy in the 18th century. We tried to impose our fiscal system, or at any rate to impose taxation which was dictated from here, and not from there, on our self-governing Colonies on the other side of the Atlantic, and we all know the result. We lost them. British statesmen, to whatever political party they belong, have never forgotten that lesson, and (lining the whole of the Empire building and Empire developing which went on during the 19th century, when every one of the great Colonies whom T see represented round this table one after another received the grant of selfgovernment, our statesmen of all parties were wise enough to recognise that unless they gave to those communities complete fiscal independence, they were giving them a boon which, in the long run, was not worth having, and instead of laying the foundations of a solid and durable Empire, they were simply sowing the seeds of future discord and possible dismemberment. The Colonies, every one of them—your presence here to-day, and the statements and arguments we have heard during the last few days are sufficient to prove it—have used that fiscal autonomy in its fullest possible sense. They have adopted, practically all of them, a system which goes by the name of Protection. It is not for us to criticise that. We do not pretend to criticise it. Anybody who thinks that the British Government or any party in this country is foolish enough, and shortsighted enough, and I was going to say impertinent enough, to preach Free Trade to other countries, and particularly to our Colonies and Dependencies, either as an academic doctrine or a counsel of perfection, or what you please, entirely misunderstands the situation here. lam going to explain, in a moment, why it is that we consider the maintenance of Free Trade essential in this country to our own special interests. But do not let anybody here go away with the idea that we are seeking in any way as propagandists or missionaries, or still less, as an Imperial power, to press the doctrine of Free Trade on the members of our own Empire. We are not; and the proof of that is, as I said, that the various Colonies have used their fiscal independence, which was rightly and wisely granted, to build up tariff walls, not only against foreign countries, but against the Mother Country also. At this moment in the Commonwealth of Australia itself, British goods cannot get in upon any more favourable terms than goods which come from any other Power. I say again, we do not complain of that. We do not ask you to alter that. You must he guided in a matter of that kind by what you believe to be the interests of your own fellow citizens in the communities to which you belong, and if you conceive, as you do conceive, that in the long run, the social and economic arguments in favour of fostering the growth and development of your native industries by means of protective tariffs proves to be the policy most consistent with the special conditions, and with the

Preferential Trade. (Mr. Asquith.)