Mr. Elliot had the unusual experience of a hostile House
when he explained his beef policy on Monday. Agricultural members, of course, did not look a gift horse in the mouth, and extreme protectionists were gratified by the ultimate prospect of a levy or tariff. But members generally were frightened at the totting up of the cost of saving British agriculture, and Mr. Horobin, who has a tenacious mind and a smart tcngue, threatened to class the National Government with the " demoralized burglars " in the late Labour Government. Mr. Elliot's claim was that a temporary subsidy was the alternative to a fierce quarrel with the Dominions and with the -Argentine which the imposition of drastic quotas would provoke, and an alternative also to a drastic diminution of the export trade. There is no doubt he is doing his best to reconcile exports with home production, but in the case of beef, as Mr. Boothby grasped, the real trouble is a tremendous difference in the costs of production between British and imported supplies. Mr. Elliot made the House less reluctant -to support him than when he rose, and was greatly assisted by the 1ai4sez faire attitude of the Labour Party.
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