A meeting held by the West Surrey Branch of the
British Constitution Association at Guildford on Friday, January 29th, was addressed by Lord Balfour of Burleigh, the president of the Association, and by Mr. Harold Cox. Lord Ball our in the course of his speech dwelt upon "majority tyranny." "We were in danger of being ruled by the tyranny of some chance majority of the moment, and the moderate man never seemed to get a look in." The subject of Mr. Harold Con's address was unemployment. Mr. Cox gave another anti. Socialist address at the Authors' Club on Monday. "Many of the excellences which the Socialist attributed to the work of the State would not on investigation show such a good fate as appeared at first sight The most glaring case was the telegraphs, taken over by the State in 1869. They Were promised by Tory and Liberal Ministers alike that, if the country Would only buy up all the telegraph companies, which were then paying 6 per cent., there would be a net profit to the State so great that in fifteen or twenty years the debt would be paid off and the State would be in possession of a magnificent bat revenue in relief of taxation. The first year there was indeed a small profit. The second year it was reduced almost to vanishing-point, and there had been a loss ever since. The aggregate net loss to this country through the purchase of the telegraphs by the State was no less than 230,000,000. The annual loss at present was well over 21,000,000." Yet in spite of this plain warning, it is now proposed that we should spend some 2450,000,000 on afforestation in the belief that at the end of eighty years we shall make a huge profit.
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