The Opposition The Labour organizations have also held meetings. We
have written a leading article upon the coming tenure of the honourable title of " His Majesty's Opposition." The meetings were held, so to speak, under the shadow of the session of the Trades Union Congress at Bristol next week. They followed the lines of a Manifesto which was issued on Thursday, August 27th. Here the proposal for a tariff to raise revenue has''been conspicuously omitted. There remains the proposal " to mobilize the country's foreign investments," a crazy 'scheme at the moment when the object of raising money, as was done in the War by mobilizing American securities to pay for American goods, is subordinate to the primary purpose of keeping up our credit- abroad. The second financial proposal is to suspend the Sinking Fund. This again could hardly improve our credit. Thirdly, it is proposed to tax fixed interest bearing securities and other unearned income. This is aimed at the poor rentier. He will suffer,' no doubt, but it must be remembered that to talk of him as battening on a safe 5 per cent. is absurd. If his securities continue to pay in these times, he has been paying income tax and perhaps super-tax on them, probably contributing at least 2 of his 5 per cent, to the Exchequer. • * * *
