21 NOVEMBER 1908, Page 19

Speaking at a meeting at Preston on Wednesday, held under

the auspices of the Free-Trade League, Lord Cromer dealt with the questions of Tariff Reform and unemploy- ment. "He was absolutely sure that Tariff Reform offered no solution whatever of that very difficult problem. If a Protective system were recognised, he argued that, so far from there being more employment, so far from there being, as we were told, work for all, there would be a great deal less employment than there was before. He knew that some Tariff Reformers went so far as to say that imports were not paid by exports. He thought they might say that arguments of that kind were mediaeval, if not antediluvian."