Thomas Allnutt Brassey

“ As to the possibilities for the future, at a moderate estimate, there are 125,000,000 acres of arable land in the Canadian North-West. Fifteen million acres under wheat would be sufficient to produce all the wheat required in the United Kingdom. If the proposed preference is as effective as the information I gathered in the North-West led me to suppose it would be, I venture to prophesy that within ten years Canada could supply all the wheat we require in the United Kingdom from outside sources. ”

“ Now, however, the navies of not only France, but Russia, Germany, and the United States are increasing year by year, and if we are to maintain the command of the seas we must have a strong Navy. Further expenditure may be necessary on the Navy; while the burden on the taxpayer in this country has almost reached its limit. Increased help will be needed from the Colonies, or otherwise we shall lose the command of the seas, upon which our prosperity and very existence as an Empire depends. ”

“ Chamberlain's assertion that unless Policy we were prepared to establish preferential tariffs the future of the Empire would be jeopardised as an assertion we are asked to accept and act on without a shadow of proof or a scintilla of evidence. I will give you my own reason for making the same assertion as Mr. Chamberlain. There has been for the last two or three years a very large influx of farmers from the United States into the north-west of Canada. ”

“ Chamberlain's policy had been in force for the last twenty years, would have been twenty millions. That is the opinion of a very competent man of the material advantage to the Colonies of the establishment of a policy of Imperial preference. The material advantage to us is that every emigrant to the Colonies buys as many pounds' worth of British goods per head as an emigrant to the United States does shillings' worth, and thus provides more employment for British workpeople. It is clear that Mr. Chamberlain's policy will tend to build up the Empire. ”

“ I gathered from those whom I met that the American farmers—the farmers from the United States who settled in Canada—became satisfied with Canadian institutions, and were loyal to Canada, but there was no reason why they should be loyal to the connection with this country. With the British settlers and their descendants the tie of sentiment is strong. ”

“ The policy of Imperial preferences was instituted by Canada in 1897, and the example of Canada had been followed by South Africa and New Zealand, and it is idle to assert that the Colonies are against the proposal. It is obvious to every one who knows anything of the Colonies and of their products that it is impossible to give the Colonies a preference unless we are prepared to put a duty upon food stuffs and raw materials. ”

“ While I think the unity of the Empire will certainly be promoted by the adoption of a policy of preferential trade within the Empire, I have come to the conclusion that we cannot hope to permanently hold Canada by the sentimental tie alone. ”

“ But it can be said with certainty that the Canadian farmer will receive 2s. more for his wheat than his competitor across the border, that he will make a profit larger by that amount than that which his competitor is making, and that he will be able to farm at a profit when his competitor is farming at a loss. The obvious and certain effect of the preference will be to tend to divert the stream of emigration from the United States, the Argentine Republic, and foreign countries to Canada, as well as to other British Colonies. ”

“ The British farmer will therefore be able to purchase the best of American agricultural machinery in Canada, and if he purchases it from Canada obviously he will pay no more than he does at the present time. ”

“ I have been afraid that that influx might lead to a demand for reciprocity with the United States, and if reciprocity were once established, political union with the United States would soon follow. But there is an even greater justification for this opinion. Canada was the first of our Colonies to institute the policy of preferential trade. In the year 1897 Canada gave to British products in the Canadian markets a preference of twenty-five per cent., subsequently increased to thirty-three per cent. ”

“ The real difficulty of the farmer is the question of price, and it is doubtful whether any remedy will be effectual which does not protect the British farmer from the dumped agricultural produce of the foreigner. ”

“ Chamberlain's policy from the agricultural point of view is that the British farmer would have to pay more for his machinery. Most of the agricultural machinery imported into the United Kingdom comes from Canada or the United States. Some of the best-known firms of implement makers on the American continent are established in Canada. I visited the other day the Massey-Harris works at Toronto. I heard also while in Toronto that one of the largest firms of implement makers in the United States were establishing factories in Hamilton, Ontario, in order to get within the Canadian tariff. ”

“ Fielding, the well-known Canadian Minister of Finance, said that if the British Government and people did not show any appreciation of the value of the preference, then, so far as the British Government and people were concerned, they could not complain if the Canadians saw fit to modify or change their preferential tariff. ”

“ Brookfield used to advocate this policy that it was idle to advocate Protection for the agricultural industry while the manufacturing industries were prosperous, but it is within the past ten years that manufacturing industries have begun to show signs of decay, and that we are beginning to see our home market invaded by the produce of foreign Protectionist countries. ”

“ But if these facts be taken in conjunction with the other facts I have mentioned—the stationary character of our exports, the great increase in the balance of imports over exports, and the fact that a large proportion of our population are living on the verge of hunger—it seems to me impossible to resist the conclusion, which is supported by the census returns, that year by year an increasing proportion of the people of this country are living idly on accumulated wealth, and that fewer are annually earning their living in agriculture or any other industry. ”

“ There are under wheat to-day some 3,000,000 acres out of a total of 4,800,000 acres under cultivation. It is estimated that the surplus available for export from Manitoba is some 40,000,000 bushels. The requirements of the United Kingdom by imports amount to 200,000,000 bushels. Therefore Canada—Manitoba and the North-West—is producing to-day about one-fifth of the wheat the United Kingdom requires. ”

“ Chamberlain declares that he is not prepared to put a duty on raw materials, and, therefore, if the policy of Imperial Preferences is to be carried out, we are bound to put a duty on imported food stuffs. ”

“ The duty on other articles of agricultural produce will be of more value, but perhaps the most benefit to the agriculturist will arise from the imposition of a higher duty on flour than on wheat, which will have the effect of restoring the milling business to this country, and so securing a supply of cheap offal. ”

“ There is now an opportunity for agriculturists to press their claims upon the Government, and unless Members of Parliament who represent agricultural constituencies make their voices heard in the discussion, the farmers and labourers will find themselves left out in the cold as on previous occasions. ”

“ The hop industry has been most seriously affected. There are 5600 fewer acres under hops in Sussex than there were twenty years ago. I can speak from personal experience as manager of my father's estate in the neighbourhood of Battle, that whereas when I was a boy there was a hop garden on every farm, there is now not a single hop garden on the Normanhurst estate. ”

“ Sir Robert Giffen's eminence as an economist or a statistician I should be the last to dispute, but on the question under discussion I think that the authority of the man on the spot, with his special knowledge, is entitled to the greater weight. ”

“ I have as a landowner granted facilities for small holdings or allotments where there has been a demand for them, but I do not think much is to be hoped for from an extension of the Allotments and Small Holdings Acts until there is a greater demand for land. ”

“ I took that step because, in the first place, I believed the resolution on the war which was going to be put at the annual gathering of the Federation would have an injurious effect on the prospects of peace, which were never brighter than at that moment ”

“ It means that enormously fewer men are employed in the cultivation of the land. At least two-thirds of the sum I have mentioned would be spent in actual wages to labourers, and if the figures will bear examination, and I am satisfied that they will, they mean that between 7000 and 8000 fewer men are employed in agriculture in Sussex than twenty years ago. ”

“ Chamberlain's Commission, but I should like to say that I am not at all satisfied with the representation of agriculture on the whole Commission. It is, in my judgment, most inadequately represented, but we can only hope that the agricultural sub-committee will be enabled to get together a body of evidence which will seriously impress, not only the Government, but the people of the country.
Mr. Chamberlain's proposals.As regards the value of Mr. Chamberlain's proposals to the farmer. A 2s. duty on foreign wheat no practical farmer believes would be of much value. ”