London vii Bombay, 4th October, Mr. Balfour, speaking at a Conservative banquet at Edinburgh, paid a tribute to the late Sir William Harcourt.
He repudiated the idea of any bargaining be ween the Nationalists and the Conservatives, He said that he personally was no Protectionist. He thought that tection was not the best policy. He could not with advantage remain the leader of the party if Protection were adopted.
Whether Mr. Chamberlain's estimate of a colonial offer was right or wrong, Mr. Balfour agreed that we had reached a point at which the only way out of the impasse was to have a free conference with the Colonies and India.—Reuter.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.