On Tuesday in the Commons the discussion of the finance
of the Home Rule Bill was continued, though there was really no discussion worthy the name owing to the repeated fall of the guillotine. We can only select a point or two from these utterly unreal proceedings. Mr. Samuel replied to arguments that Protection would be introduced in Ireland that if the Opposition had their way the Irish Parliament would be unable to vary taxes at all and would not be able to raise the necessary revenue. Mr. Hewins proposed that the Irish Parliament should be prevented from granting bounties either on production or export. Mr. Bonar Law in a powerful speech asserted that a system of bounties was the worst form of Protection, because it always led to corruption. Yet bounties would certainly be possible under the Bill. The Government were destroying Free Trade by closure. We believe this to be absolutely true. The Government carried their own promised amendment prohibiting the Irish Parlia- ment from varying customs duties except by way of addition. It is an astounding thing that after all Free Trade should go by the board through a Home Rule Bill. Of course this so-called Free Trade Government have no defence or excuse whatever. But under the guillotine there is no need for them to declare in favour of any coherent or abiding principles. They simply temporize and pooh-pooh the arguments of opponents and dismayed friends alike until in due course the automatic fall of the guillotine saves them from all further trouble.
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