On the same evening Lord Milner spoke at Huddersfield. After
ridiculing the suggestion that popular government was in danger from the House of Lords, he declared that he would not let himself be drawn into a discussion of the Constitu- tional question to the neglect of what was far more urgent,— namely, the question of employment. He first criticised the financial proposals of the present Government. "The Budget is a bad Budget because it taxes rich and poor alike in the most clumsy and inequitable way." The poor people would certainly not have to pay more under a Tariff Reform Budget. It might be necessary to put fresh taxation upon the wealthier classes some day, but "before we dip further into British purses let us see whether we cannot, by way of a change, get just a little contribution out of the foreigner." Lord Milner went on to discuss the various objections that had been raised to Tariff Reform, and declared that " now was the time to free ourselves from the shackles of an antiquated creed, to give fair play to British • industry, and at the same time to open the door which had been banged and barred and bolted against our fellow-countrymen in the Dominions."
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