[To ma EDITOR or rim 4 "6Prcr_wrost."] Silk—In your issue of
the 18th nit. Sir C. M. Watson gives as a reason for supporting the present Government that "if Protection is once introduced it will be impossible ever to shake it off again." Does he think it will be less difficult to withdraw the concession of Home-rule? With so many different issues submitted to the country, it is surely by this very test of the possibility of repairing mistakes that their comparative importance can best be determined. Thus if Home-rule be granted, our national security thenceforth depends on the goodwill of the Irish Party; if the Navy be neglected, it depends on the maintenance of friendly relations with Germany. In both cases the safety of the Empire passes out of our own keeping into the hands of others. Next, probably, judged by this test, comes the question of woman suffrage, because of the difficulty of withdrawing the right to vote from several millions of women, if once granted to them; but all other issues are in a different category. A nation must pay for its mistakes, but at a certain cost our errors might be repaired; it would even, for in-glance, be possible to re-establish a Second Chamber if abolished.—I am,
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