On Tuesday, in the House of Commons, Mr. Baldwin moved
resolutions designed to procure the ratification of the Imperial Preferences recommended by the Imperial Conference. The Government speakers had no difficulty in asserting the elementary truth (which nobody can seriously dispute) that the recommendations of the Imperial Conference can have no force till they are ratified by Parliament, and that the Dominion Premiers, who are not ignoramuses, understood that perfectly well. The assertion of this fact, however, by no means disposes of the other fact, that there is a danger of the Imperial Conference being undermined altogether if the Dominions should take the view that it is not worth while to send their Premiers over here, at great inconvenience and expense, to record merely pious opinions. For our part, we have hoped that it might be possible for the recom- mended preferences to be accepted, even by a good many Free Traders. We have no belief in their economic efficacy, but on the assumption that they would cost us something—that they would be a hindrance rather than a help—we should be very willing to pay the price in order to satisfy the opinion of the majority overseas.
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