25 NOVEMBER 1905, Page 2

Mr. John Morley, who was the principal speaker at a

Liberal meeting at Walthamstow on Monday evening, took up with great effect the point made in our leading article last week—Mr. Balfour's veiled but unmistakable claim for protection for the great industries, a claim, in fact, for the protection of the Trust system—and put a series of seven very pointed questions which he suggested that the Premier might answer on the other half of his sheet of notepaper. Does he mean, asked Mr. Morley, that it is the largest concerns that most need Protection ? Again, if he really believes in the intrinsic superiority of Pro- tection, what becomes of his statement that he is for Retaliation as a weapon for procuring general Free-trade ? Lastly, is his policy to construct a tariff of Protection for the strong—the big Combines—so that they may choke out small producers and small industries and raise the price to all consumers ?