The Westminster Gazette of Monday summarises an in- teresting pamphlet
on the new fiscal policy by Mr. J. C. Walsh, who visited this country last summer on behalf of the Montreal Herald, went the round of the chief industrial centres, and interviewed a number of merchants, manufac- turers, and politicians. In the main Mr. Walsh was struck by the ignorance generally betrayed of the economic con- ditions, industrial development, and political aspirations of Canada. He found the average M.P. "not much concerned with the Colonial end of the debate, except as a whip to be used against the anti-patriotism of the anti-Chamberlainites." Broadly speaking, he found the exporters were for Free-trade and the manufacturers for the home market for Protection, and mentions the assertion of a Sheffield manufacturer that the Protectionists were those who had let their plant get antiquated and found themselves dropping behind. In an interview with Mr. Arthur Lee, M.P., to whom he was introduced by Mr. Chamberlain's private secretary as "the private Member best qualified to expound the Chamberlain view," Mr. Lee indulged in a forecast of two General Elections in eighteen months. At the first Mr. Chamberlain expects to be defeated, but he looks forward to the patching up of a weak Liberal Cabinet, its speedy collapse, and his own return to power.
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