A ROYAL COMMISSION ON THE FISCAL PROBLEM.
[To TILE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."]
SIR,—I agree with you that before risking our commercial supremacy by adopting any Protective schemes, the whole
matter should be inquired into by an impartial Royal Com- mission. There is, however, one serious obstacle in the way of such an examination of the Fiscal problem,—the opposition of Mr. Balfour. The Manchester Unionist Free-traders com- municated with Mr. Balfour on this very point last year. In the only definite letter Mr. Balfour ever wrote on the Fiscal question he declared himself absolutely against the appoint- ment of a Commission. It was the knowledge of this fact, coupled with the other facts that Mr. Garvin, a Home-ruler, apparently dictates the policy of the Unionist Party, and that candidates in favour of Home-rule and Disestablishment, like Mr. Samuel Storey, were supported by the official Unionist organisation, which made most of the Lancashire Unionist Free-traders vote and work for the only Free-trade candidates in the field. The action of the Daily Mail and other organs directly the result of the Election was evident in bidding for the Home-rule vote convinces me that in this matter neither party is to be trusted. With the Fiscal question out of the way, the feeling against Socialistic legisla- tion would have enabled Unionism to gain a majority of the seats in industrial Lancashire.—I am, Sir, &c., A MANCHESTER UNIONIST.
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