The lobbies have been seething with agitation about the new
duties recommended by the Tariff Committee, ' and certain industries in which certain members are interested are loud with prophecies of ruin unless the duties are increased. The House is finding out what it means to have devolved the details of tariff policy to a non-political body. That action was deliberate, and members cannot reasonably complain that the Tariff Committee is taking itself seriously. The agitation only shows how wise is the divorce of tariffs from politics, for one shudders to think what would have happened if Parliament itself controlled the details of tariff schedules. As it is, neither Parliament nor the Govern- ment can reassume the powers delegated to the Com- mittee, and any industry which feels aggrieved must make out its own case by means of a thoroughly repre- sentative delegation before the Committee. The Com- mittee has already indicated that it does not consider Members of Parliament to be such a delegation. Another spark from the tariff anvil has relighted the free trade fires of Liberal Ministers, but the result is merely an extension of the agreement to differ, not the birth of a decision to part. Both these matters will come to a
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