The annual meeting of the National Union of Conservative Associations
was held at Sheffield earlier in the day. The supporters of Mr. Chamberlain, led by Mr. Chaplin and Sir Howard Vincent, had the advantage in numbers and in noise, and the Free-trade Unionists had considerable difficulty in gaining a hearing. Lord Hugh Cecil created great excite- ment by declaring that if Conservatives went in for Protection he would have nothing to do with such an apostate party, but Mr. Winston Churchill's judicious plea for freedom of discus- Sion was well received. Even so staunch a Tory as Sir F. C. !Basch pronounced vigorously against a tax on corn, and the attempt to commit the Conference to an expression of approval of Mr. Chamberlain's policy before the Premier had spoken was defeated, Mr. Yerburgh pointedly observing that if the delegates divided they would vote in the dark, for they did not then know what the Prime Minister's policy was.
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