NEWS OF THE WEEK.
THE dinner given to Lord Cromer on Thursday by the Unionist Free-Trade Club proved an event of the first political importance. Lord Cromer stands easily first among our Empire-builders and working Imperialists, and those who claim for him that he has done more than any man living to maintain and develop the Empire, and to inspire the British people with the spirit by which alone we can continue to hold "dominion over palm and pine," need never fear a denial of that claim. The knowledge, then, that Lord Cromer was going to give his countrymen his views on the greatest political problem of the day, and on its relation to the work in which he has spent his life, caused intense interest among the large audience assembled in his honour. Lord Cromer's line was clear and direct, as always. He announced himself as a whole- hearted Free-trader, and, what is more, declared his belief that the maintenance of Free-trade was essential to the prosperity and development of the Empire.
