Lord • Beaverbrook having been patted on the back, proceeded
to pat Lord Rothermere on the back and declared that it was Lord Rothermere who carried the Conservative Party to triumph in 1924. Lord Beaver- brook went very far beyond what he could prove when he accused of lying those who say that the " Empire Free Trade " movement involves the taxation of food. Obviously to create an Imperial Free Trade unit, or Zollverein, foreign food imported into this country must be taxed. Lord Beaverbrook assumes that prices will not be raised by such taxation because the Empire will be able to provide enough cheap food. That might be possible in course of time, but at present we import about 60 per cent. of foreign food. Men and women near the poverty line will not consent to have prices raised even temporarily in the hope that they will fall later. And Lord Beaverbrook and Lord Rothermere always leave out of the question the effect upon international rela- tions of a freshly invented tariff war.
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