Land Problems and National Welfare 



consume in increasingly large amounts. 



If, then, the above figures prove that a tariff 

 exists at the present moment, a tariff of the 

 most unscientific kind, uncontrolled by Govern- 

 ment ; the next question is how and to what 

 extent this tariff of the middleman can be 

 lowered, and a portion of it, at all events, trans- 

 ferred to the Government. It is a question of 

 immense difficulty, and it does not appear to 

 me that the imposition of a 5% or 10% tariff all 

 round in any way meets the case, especially if 

 the expression " all round " does not include all 

 foodstuff — yet this is the proclaimed policy of 

 Tariff Reformers* ; a policy which I believe was 

 originally formulated by the present Lord 

 Tennyson and one or two other colonial 

 governors, and finally accepted by Mr. Cham- 

 berlain. Mr. Chamberlain has, by the way, 

 been attacked by Free Traders for not having 

 in the earHer stages of the Tariff Reform 

 campaign a cut-and-dried policy : this to my 

 mind is far from being a reproach — so important 

 a pohcy ought to be formed by slow degrees. 



The unofficial Tariff Reform Commission did 

 good work, but a Royal Commission will be 

 necessary ; not to enquire into the question of 

 whether or no Tariff Reform should come, but 

 solely with a view to deciding how it should 



• Save of course such foodstuff as cannot be produced within the 

 United Kingdom. 



204 



