decide the nature and extent of any action which should be taken by them in this field. The Conference further laid down the primary responsibility of each portion of the Empire represented at the Conference for its own local defence. This, however, did not prevent it from noting the deep interest of Australia, New Zealand, and India in the provision of a naval base at Singapore, the cost of which was to be borne chiefly if not entirely by the British taxpayer. The announcement was made at the Conference of the projected Empire cruise of a squadron of modern battleships. The Dominion Premiers expressed their appreciation of the proposal, and assured the Conference that the ships would be heartily welcomed in their respective countries.

During the autumn the working of the National Health Insurance Act came near to breaking down owing to a conflict between the Board of Health and the medical profession. Acting on representations from the approved societies, the Board of Health issued on October 4 a memorandum in which it proposed, as from January 1, to reduce the fees of panel doctors from 9s. 6d. per patient, at which they had been fixed a couple of years previously, to 8s. 6d. for a three years' agreement, or 8s. for a five years' agreement. This step was rendered necessary by the state of the funds of the approved societies, and was justified on the ground of the fall in the cost of living which had taken place since the fee was last fixed. The doctors were at once up in arms, and the vast majority of them threatened to resign from the panel if the Minister of Health carried out his proposal. After much parleying, the Minister of Health on October 31 proposed that an impartial Royal Commission should be appointed to investigate and report on the whole system established under the National Health Insurance Acts, including medical benefit and the remuneration of the practitioner, also that, if the doctors desired, a special court of inquiry should deal at once with the question of remuneration. The doctors met on November 14 at Westminster, and accepted the offer of a special court of inquiry to report as soon as possible on the proper capitation fee to be paid as from January 1, 1924, on the understanding that both they and the Minister would be bound by the court's recommendation.

CHAPTER V.

PROTECTION DEFEATED.

PARLIAMENT reassembled on November 13 in the shadow of an imminent dissolution. The Prime Minister had practically committed himself to an appeal to the country at an early date, and the only question was whether the election should be held as soon as possible—that is, at the beginning of December-or be postponed till the end of January, so as not to interfere with

The lenate in the Te i laste mi leur ei Takmas pried in supositon me as being passed home by de Cory Gearza 16 Less Trusy fan or Me Macional. Cover caleas the Government scrred i mapiray of zinety-i′′e. de Jucionaid aid areas erally in the Goverment s fulure dort & settement icmai and a receve memcment it some and strongly condemned K Fadvns won n predigitating in slection on what he feclared vas a stam issue. ife wen éharacterised as a "brite the proosk of me Govern mert, announced on the previons fay, or a subsidy of 1. sex sera on ali vracle land, provided the fimers paid not less sean VA & Teak to their men. Mr. Baldvin n is jelence. explained that the election was necessary crier a secure for tre Government & release from Mr. Law's pledge, without which they could not tackle the problem of unemployment. in regard to his fiscal proposals he made the important statement that the Government did not intend in any circumstances to put a tax on wheat, flour, meat (which was to include mutton and bacon,, cheese, butter or eggs. He also repudiated the anggnation of having offered a "bribe" to the farmers. In the witter of foreign policy he had to admit failure, but threw the bame on France, which once more, in the recent negotiations with America, had brought their efforts to naught. It might, hes ash, bas difficult to maintain indefinitely attempts to work together with Allies who made it so hard, and the spirit necessary for no operation and entente could not be preserved if the present situation were allowed to continue much longer.

The King's speech on the Prorogation contained the admissions that the economic conditions in Europe were still causing the Government profound anxiety, and that in spite of the Government's efforts to stimulate trade and alleviate distress, the circumstances of large numbers of people in the country remained deplorable. In regard therefore to the country's main interests at home and abroad, the Government confessed that its record had been one of failure-a fact which its opponents were not slow to point out. The only positive achievements which the King's speech claimed were the treaty with Turkey and the prosecution of negotiations with the United States Government for the suppression of the illicit liquor traffic. Unquestionably the Government's conduct of affairs since Parliament rose for the summer recess had not redounded to its credit, and the prestige which it then enjoyed had been largely if not completely dissipated.

Just before Parliament rose-on November 15-the Select Committee on the Taxation of Betting which had been appointed immediately after the introduction of the Budget in April received a draft report from its chairman, Mr. Cautley, which was in favour of taxing betting. After considering the draft, however, the Committee decided by a majority of four to strike out that part of the report which declared that a tax on betting was desirable, and it was generally felt that with this the whole proposal had died a natural death.

Even before Parliament dissolved preparations for the new election had been commenced with feverish haste. The election itself was regarded by all parties as at best a necessary evil. The Unionists were jeopardising by it their tenure of power; the Labour Party, it was believed, had not recovered from the financial exhaustion caused by the last election and was seriously short of funds; and the Liberals could hardly hope as yet, even if united, to make up the ground they had lost on that occasion. Still, if there was to be a fight, a better issue could not have been desired by Liberals than that with which Mr. Baldwin had gratuitously presented them. On any other issue_they might have remained disunited; but in the cause of Free Trade they found no difficulty in sinking their differences and forming once more a single party. On the morning of November 13 a conference was held at which Mr. Asquith, Mr. Lloyd George, Sir John Simon and Sir Alfred Mond were present, and arrangements were made for a joint and united campaign of all Liberals, and for co-operation and co-ordination both at headquarters and in the constituencies. It was agreed that in the coming election in no circumstances should a candidate of one of the two Liberal wings be opposed by a candidate from the other. All candidates were to be adopted and described as Liberals, and supported by the whole strength of the party, without regard to past differIt was already certain that Liberal candidates would go to the poll in such numbers as to make united Liberalism a practical alternative to the existing Government.

ences.

Among those who found their way back to the Liberal fold at this juncture was Mr. Winston Churchill, who had just set all England talking on the revelations contained in the second volume of his brilliant work on the War. His latest political utterances had left his party colour uncertain, but he now at the eleventh hour threw himself whole-heartedly into the Free Trade ranks. On November 16 he addressed a crowded meeting in defence of that policy at the Free Trade Hall in Manchester, and followed this up the next day by delivering at the Reform Club in that city a vigorous attack on the Government, at the same time declaring himself a loyal supporter of Mr. Asquith. He received a number of invitations to contest constituencies in the Liberal interest, and his choice finally fell on West Leicester, a division which had once been represented by Mr. Ramsay Macdonald, and in which the Labour majority at the last election, against a split Liberal vote, had been over 4,000. The Labour candidate on this occasion was Mr. Pethick Lawrence, one of the financial experts of the Labour Party, and a principal exponent of the Capital Levy scheme.

In the Unionist camp, on the other hand, Mr. Baldwin's new policy gave rise to severe searchings of heart, and for a time it looked as though defections would be numerous.

Unionist members immediately followed the example of the Glasgow Herald, and refused to give their support to the Government in the forthcoming campaign. Prominent among these was Sir Allan Smith, the member for South Croydon and chairman of the Industrial Group in the House of Commons. It was feared that there would be a split in the Government itself, but this was avoided. The only member who declared himself an uncompromising Free Trader and resigned accordingly was Lieut.-Colonel Buckley, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Department for Overseas Trade. Other Free Trade Ministers managed to swallow Mr. Baldwin's proposals with more or less weighty reservations. The first of these was Lord Derby, who commenced to preach Tariff Reform as "a temporary expedient to meet abnormal circumstances." His example was soon followed by the other most pronounced Free Traders in the Cabinet, Lord Salisbury and Lord Robert Cecil, the latter of whom was just at this juncture raised to the peerage.

To Lord Derby as a Lancashire magnate fell the onerous and delicate task of preserving the allegiance of the Unionist Free Traders who were so numerous and influential in that county. He was exceedingly anxious to have the assistance in this endeavour of Lord Birkenhead, also a Lancashire man and probably the most brilliant speaker in the Unionist party. Lord Birkenhead was unwilling to act except in conjunction with Mr. Austen Chamberlain; and when approached by the Prime Minister with a request to put their services at the disposal of the party, these gentlemen made it a condition of

complying that both should be admitted to the Cabinet, as Ministers without portfolio, if necessary. Mr. Baldwin was willing, but the inclusion of Lord Birkenhead in the Cabinet was strongly opposed by some of his colleagues, and the idea had to be dropped. It was at first feared that in consequence of this rebuff Lord Birkenhead would remain aloof, but in the end party loyalty gained the upper hand of personal considerations, and he took an active and strenuous part in Lord Derby's campaign in Lancashire.

The Prime Minister's address to his constituents at Bewdley in Worcestershire, issued on November 17, contained the first really complete and connected exposition of his policy, which hitherto had been communicated to the public in driblets. He began by calling attention to the gravity of the unemployment problem and its causes, among the chief of which he reckoned the bounty given to the importation of foreign goods by depreciated currencies and by the reduced standard of living in many European countries. Convinced as he himself was that only by a fundamental change in the fiscal system of the country could a remedy be found, and that no partial measures, such as the extension of the Safeguarding of Industries Act, could meet the situation, he was in honour bound to ask the people to release him from Mr. Bonar Law's pledge; this was the only reason which made the election necessary. What he proposed to do, should the nation approve, was to impose duties on imported manufactured goods with the object of raising revenue, of assisting industries suffering from unfair foreign competition, of securing a weapon with which to bargain with foreign countries, and of giving preference to the Empire. It was not his intention, however, to impose duties on the staple foodstuffs. To assist agriculture he proposed to give a bounty of 11. per acre of all arable land; and with this would go earnest efforts to develop the Empire by assisting emigration and co-operating in economic schemes. For the present emergency and pending the introduction of their more extended proposals, the Government would make every effort to increase the volume of work for the people, whether at its own cost or by its influence with large employers. Finally while regarding the solution of the unemployment problem as the key to every social reform, Mr. Baldwin expressed his conviction that they should also aim at the reorganisation of the various schemes of insurance against old age, ill-health, and unemployment.

At the same time the Labour Party issued a manifesto setting forth its programme. As a remedy for unemployment it rejected tarriffs, which it declared fostered profiteering, and advocated a comprehensive scheme of national work; while for the encouragement of agriculture instead of a subsidy it proposed the providing of credit facilities for farmers and small holders and similar measures. For the raising of fresh revenue it relied not on tariffs but on a capital levy, to be imposed once