THE FREE TRADE SHAM EXPOSED i8i 

 tive and Liberal Governments, inasmuch as both have 

 fully played upon it to suit their own purposes. If the 

 Conservatives want a few millions, they add a penny or 

 so to the tea tax, for example. If the Liberals are short of 

 money, they abstain from taking off that which their pre- 

 decessors, the Conservatives, put on ; or they put on that 

 which their political opponents took off. 



The Conservatives wanted money during the South 

 African War of 1902, and, among other things, they 



Taxe« on 



raised the duty on tea to sixpence per pound. In the fol- Food 

 lowing year, 1903, there was a fresh imposition, raising 

 the duty to eightpence. On July i, 1905, a reduction of 

 twopence took place. 



The Liberals soon afterwards were drifted into power 

 on the top of the anti-Chinese and Nonconformist Edu- 

 cation wave, and they took off one penny only of this 

 tax, because they required money to carry out certain 

 schemes to which they were pledged. 



Sugar is another string to this free trade fiddle. You 

 can no more do without sugar than you can do without 

 bread, and yet your free trade Government have no 

 scruples about taxing sugar — every pound of which has to 

 come from outside sources — to the tune of £6,177,953 

 annually. 



Then we come to coal, from which the present Govern- 

 ment derives £2,183,973 annually in export duties. This 

 little impost was put on by a Conservative Government 

 to defray some of their own expenses for the war, but 

 why is it kept on by a Government which professes to 

 detest war and abhors anything which interferes with 

 free trade? Why? 



