Mr. Long, the Colonial Secretary, announced in a speech on
Wednesday that the War Cabinet had approved of "a clearly worked out scheme for the adoption of Preference within the Empire," which had been drafted by a Committee over which he had presided. The Committee, he added, proposed to secure raw materials, in the first instance, for the Empire. Much will depend on the details of the scheme, but the adoption of the policy, in the new conditions which the war has brought, seems to us inevitable. We retain our belief in Free Trade as the ideal, but Free Traders must face the facts. Most people, we take it, agree that in the immediate future after peace the less we have to do with Germany the better. The Germans perverted commerce into an instrument of war, and we cannot afford to let them do so again. Again, it is dear that high duties will be required for purposes of revenue. In these circumstances Free Traders may well regard Imperial Prefer- ence as a far better policy than insular Protection of the old kind. Under a system of Preference there will be a steady pressure from one or other part of the Empire for a reduction of duties, whereas under Protection the interests are subject to no external cheek.
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