In the House of Commons on Thursday a debate took
place on the Loans Bill, in which Sir Michael Hicks-Beach most wisely refused to commit himself, though strongly pressed to do so, in regard to the amount of the loan which will ultimately fall on the TransvaaL Some people seemed to think that the mines could bear the whole cost of the war, others that nothing whatever could be got out of the Transvaal. " I take my position between those two views," said Sir Michael Hicks-Beach. But he was not going to pledge the Government or himself to any particular course with regard to the question. The main principles governing the problem were two : (1) that in order that the Transvaal might really flourish it should not be fiscally oppressed; (2) that the expenses of the Transvaal must be met before you can get any contribution towards the war. Sir Michael Hicks-Beach in the course of his speech declared, and with absolute truth, that " this outcry that the cost of the war ought more largely to have been raised by taxation and less by loan, from Members who have opposed the taxes proposed, is a dishonest outcry."
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