Review of En'jeu-s, iU/13. 



LEADING ARTICLES. 



179 



that have combined since 1905 to secure 

 its maintenance and if possible to ex- 

 tend it and to widen the market for 

 British manufacturers in the Dommion. 

 The niterests hostile to Preference are 

 solely those of the manufacturers. Con- 

 sumers generally are heartily in favour 

 of it ; but the only organised forces 

 that have made any hght for it are the 

 farmers of Ontario and the grain- 

 growers of the three western provinces. 

 The grain-growers will become a much 

 stronger factor in Dominion politics 

 after the redistribution of electoral 

 power that is now due following the 

 census of 1910. The prairie provinces, 

 which now have twenty-seven members 

 in the House of Commons, will have at 

 least forty-two after the redistribution, 

 and, however much the manufacturers 

 may press for further curtailment of 

 preference and for increases in the 

 duties in the general list, an}' Govern- 

 ment, Conservative or Liberal, must pay 

 heed to the growing demand of the 

 West for lower duties in the general 

 tariff and for the increase of the British 

 preference to hfty per cent. Canada 

 for half a century has been much influ- 

 ence'd b>' the tariff legislation of the 

 United States. It may now be assumed 

 that duties in the American tariff have 

 reached their climax. The tendency is 

 now in the direction of lower duties ; 

 and an\- general reduction in the duties 

 in the American tariff, such as is ex- 

 pected at the coming revision, will re- 

 act on Canada and strengthen the de- 

 mand for freer trade with the United 

 States and for further reductions in the 

 duties on imports from Great Britain. 



GREAT BRITAIN AND THE 

 NEXT WAR. 



In the Fortnightly Revieiv Sir Arthur 

 Conan Doyle gives' his views regarding 

 the German menace. He states that if 

 he now believes a German attack to be 

 possible, and it may be imminent, it is 

 because he has been studying " Germany 

 and the Next War," l)y General von 

 Bernhardi. 



THE ADVANTAGES OF A TUNNEL. 



After picturing what would follow a 

 raid, he says a Channel Tunnel is essen- 

 tial to Great Britain's safety: — 



"I will not dwell here upon the com- 

 mercial or financial advantages of such 

 a tunnel. Where the trade of two great 

 nations concentrates upon one narrow 

 tube, it is obvious that whatever corpo- 

 ration controls that tube has a valuable 

 investment, if the costs of construction 

 have not been prohibitive. These costs 

 have been placed as low as hve million 

 pounds by Mr. Rose Smith, who repre- 

 sents a practical company engaged in 

 such work. If it were twice, thrice, or 

 four times that sum it should be art 

 undertaking which should promise 

 great profits, and for that reason should 

 be constructed by the nation, or nations, 

 for their common national advantage. 

 It is too vital a thing for any private 

 company to control. 



" But consider its bearing upon a 

 German war. All the dangers which I 

 have depicted are eliminated. We tap 

 (z'ia Marseilles and the tunnel) the 

 whole food suppl}' of the Mediter- 

 ranean and the Black Sea. Our Expe- 

 ditionary Force makes its transit, and 

 has its supplies, independent of weather 

 or naval chances. Should anything so 

 unlikely as a raid occur, and the forces 

 in the country seem unable to cope with 

 it, a Franco-British reinforcement can 

 be rushed through from the Continent. 

 The Germans have made great works 

 like the Kiel Canal in anticipation of 

 war. Our answer must be the Channel 

 Tunnel, linking us closer to our ally." 

 COULD IT BE EFFECTUELY GUARDED. 



Boring machiner)- has been so im- 

 proved that what would have taken 

 thirty years to accomplish can now be 

 done in three. 



" In a matter so vital as our hold 

 upon the Dover end of the tunnel we 

 could not be too stringent in our pre- 

 cautions. The tunnel should open out 

 at a point where guns command it, the 

 mouth of it should be within the lines 

 of an entrenched camp, and a consider- 

 able garrison should be kept perma- 

 ncntl\- within call. The latter condi- 

 tion already exists in Dover, but the 

 numliers might well be increased. As 

 an additional precaution, a passage 

 should be driven alongside the tunnel, 

 from which it could, if possible, be de- 

 stroved. 



