Mr. Walter Long, who spoke at the great Unionist meeting
at the Free Trade Hall in Manchester on Tuesday night, said that during the last few weeks a great deed had been done for the Empire. But the battle of Empire had not been fought in the Mother Country; the foundations of the future Imperial policy had been laid in Canada. While we regret that Tariff Reform was thrust into the forefront of his speech, we wel- come Mr. Long's sound doctrine on Home Rule and the Insurance Bill. He altogether repudiated Mr. Lloyd George's suggestion that they were not entitled to criticise or oppose his proposals. The answer of the Chancellor of the Ex- chequer to attacks on his Bill was, " We propose to give 9d. for 5d.' Well, he was a sportsman, and since his youth he had attended race meetings. The one man they met on a racecourse to whom he had never entrusted his money was the man who said, Give me your 5d. and I will return you 9d.' " Mr. F. E. Smith, M.P., who also spoke, declared that the Labour Party nowadays did not stand for the right to work but for the right to prevent work.
Previous page
