343

A.—s

Tenth Day. 2 May 1907.

Preferential Trade. KSir W. Lyne.)

manufactured machinery, some coming from the United States and some from Canada. I asked the managing director of this Clyde works how many agricultural ploughs he had sold that year, and he said : " I do not know how many "; I said : " Have you sold any ?" and he said, " Yes, one "; and that year I suppose there were thousands, almost tens of thousands, which came into our farming districts. I said to him : "As long as you do " what you are doing you will be ruined, and you will not get the trade. What " sort of plough do you make ?" and he answered : " A single-furrow plough." T told him that the farmer scarcely ever used less than a three or four-furrow plough, and they are catered for by the ingenious American. Now, this is the typical part of it —I was refering to a man being a Free Trader because his grandfather was, and this man's answer to me was : " Well, I cannot help it, what is good for old Great Britain is good enough for me." That was his answer, and his works closed shortly afterwards The man is alive still, but he is a Protectionist now. ' I recognise that this position is an awkward one for the Imperial Government. I should feei it awkward if I were in their place, but at the same time it is not insurmountable. I recognise that a general election has taken place, and it is said that Free Trade was one of the principal questions before the electors (whether it is so or not Ido not know). What we are proposing, however, is not a question of Free Trade; it is a question, as described by one of those I have* just quoted from, to be dealt with under special circumstances and not interfering with the principle of Free Trade, therefore it might reasonably be considered under that heading, and not interfere with the question of Free Trade or Protection. If the Ministry are afraid of that, or if they do not want to do anything to interfere with what they conceive to be the decision of the electors, we in our country are often told that a good way to get over that difficulty is by way of referendum; they could easily remove it from party obligations, and it is important I think to be dealt with in that way if it cannot be dealt with in any other-- put it to the electors of this community free from any other question, free from the Education Act, free from any combination of any kind, and ask the British people whether they are in favour of drawing closer together the outlying parts of the Empire, the offshoots from themselves, their flesh and blood coming from Great Britain, and give us some consideration in a preference, even, we will say, in food and drink. I was surprised at the answer this morning to the interjection made about wine. What on earth there is to prevent the Government and the British people from allowing some consideration to us in regard to our wine Ido not know. I forget at this moment what the tariff in France is, but in my own electorate a large proportion of the wine that is produced there goes to France—it does not come here—and it is then mixed up with the French light wine and sent to Great Britain. We would like to treat directly in our wines with Great Britain, and there can be no question of dearer food. There are other things; but I refer to that only. Mr. LLOYD GEORGE : You have got the cheapest rate on your wine, I may point out. Sir WILLIAM LYNE : It used to be 6s. Mr. LLOYD GEORGE : T went into it a little while ago in the case of Portugal and Spain, and I found that Australian wine came in under the lower rate. lam not sure about the Cape. Sir WILLIAM LYNE : I want you to consider us a part and parcel of the Empire, and not to treat us regarding our trade as though we were