Mr. Winston Churchill and Lord Hugh Cecil, joined by two
other M.P.'s, Mr. Guthrie and Mr. Hatch, held a very successful Free-trade meeting at Birmingham on Wednesday, Mr. Moore-Bayley, the president of the Central Birming- ham Conservative Association, being in the chair. In the course of his speech Mr. Winston Churchill declared that he did not believe that trade in England was bad. The returns for the current year indicated a considerably improved export trade. If our domestic relations were not happy, it was to social reform, not to fiscal reform, that we must look,— a remark which is the true answer to those who impugn Free- trade because we have slums and poverty. Lord Hugh Cecil pointed out very strongly that the history of the last fifty years showed that our connection with the Colonies had been growing closer and closer, and this without any Protection. All that the Free-traders asked was that we should go on our present path instead of throwing down an apple of discord which would produce nothing but discontent from one end of the Empire to the other. The resolution proposed was passed by a considerable majority, and on the whole the meeting was a decided success. The courage of Mr. Moore-Bayley in taking the chair in spite of the annoyance of the Birmingham Protectionists deserves the warmest praise.
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