8 APRIL 1916, Page 2

We still regret that a small ad valorem duty was

not imposed upon commodities of all kinds entering our ports. That would have acted as a check on imports, and so have relieved freights, and at the same time there would have been an increased revenue. , Another, though not perhaps such an efficient, way of checking imports would bo a tax upon every ton of goods reaching our shores, from °verses. But though-we regret these defects in the Budget, we are free to confess that Mr. McKenna's statement affords irre- futable proof of the financial strength of- the nation. It is a Budget'

of which we have every right to be proud, and one which will not be without its effect on the neutral nations. Only a country with an enormous reserve of strength could show such figures as these.