In the House of Commons on Thursday, while the Colonial
Office vote was under discussion, Mr. Chamberlain again dealt with Colonial affairs. After asserting Canada's willingness to go still further in the direction of tariff preference for British goods provided we reciprocated, Mr. Chamberlain turned to South Africa. Though the time had not yet come to dispense with peace-preservation legislation, the Boers were settling down. He attached no great importance to General Botha's letter. With regard to the new diamond ordinance, he ridi- culed the notion that Lord Milner had altered the law in favour of the De Beers Company. The sole object of the Government was to make the best possible bargain for the State. That is, of course, the case. Lord Milner may have made a mistake, but we feel the most absolute confidence that he will have been influenced in the matter by one considers, • tion, and one only,—the desire te do the 'best for the Colony. Turning to Malta, Mr. Chamberlain insisted that the parents must be given a free choice as to whether their children should learn English or Italian. In 1902,85 per cent. of the parents chose English. It is impossible to read a speech from Mr. Chamberlain such as that of Thursday night without recog- nising his unrivalled power as an Imperial administrator, and regretting that, instead of employing gifts so great and so various in the practical work of the Empire, he should be about to plunge into the hopeless task of advocating a fiscal fallacy up and down the United Kingdom, and labouring to cover up its hollowness by the use of that rhetorical and dialectical skill of which be is a master.
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