31 DECEMBER 1910, Page 2

In a letter to Friday's Times Lord Ridley, the chairman

of the Tariff Reform League, attempts to answer Lord George Hamilton's letter. Lord Ridley says that he is not afraid of the Referendum, but declares that the whole question needs to be discussed. He goes on to deny that the Unionist successes in Lancashire and Cheshire were due to the Referendum. To him the most indisputable feature of the Election was the ineffectiveness of the Unionist Free-trade vote :—" The Albert Hall enthusiasts and the Spectator shouted that the Election was won when they heard that the Referendum was to apply to Tariff Reform When will our party realise that the Unionist Free-trade vote is a pure myth ? "