NEWS OF THE WEEK.
THURSDAY witnessed the final scene in the break-up of the old Unionist Party, for on that day was published the letter from Mr. Balfour to Mr. Chamberlain in which Mr. Balfour assents to a general tariff and a tax on corn as part of the official programme. It is true that Mr. Balfour does not insist that these are the only ways in which his objects of securing fairer conditions for British trade and a closer commercial union with the Colonies can be accomplished. Possibly there may be other ways, he tells us ; but as he recognises the general tariff and the small tax on corn as methods which may prove necessary to accomplish his ends, and does not attempt to sketch any other ways of doing so, those methods must be said .to hold the field. As to the reservations about the general tariff having no Protective character, we can only say that they leave us quite cold. No modern Protectionist, either here or abroad, ever declares that be wants to raise prices, or that a tariff is nee1d except to save national industries from unfair competition. Protection intended to raise prices has always been scouted by Mr. Chamberlain.
