On Monday the Prime Minister received a deputation of the
Unionist Members of Parliament who have been urging an extension of safeguarding. He declared plainly that the Government could not possibly go back on their decision to refuse a safeguarding duty on iron and steel. Mr. Baldwin, of course, felt that having made anti-Protectionist promises in 1925 he must abide by them handsomely ; the strictness of his scruples seems the more admirable when we reflect that he must really have been in sympathy with the deputation. The strong revival of a. Protectionist demand within the Unionist Party is a fact which must be noted. Believing as we do in Free Trade as a sound general principle, we regret the present signs, and can only hope that memories of what the Party suffered from a Protectionist programme in the past will not fade.
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