Still yet another question arises out of the Budget which has been presented to Parliament during the month by the Finance Minis' ter. As to the Budget itself it does not call for any extended notice. It calls for no extra taxation, for a reduction of duties on imports from Great Britain, it makes some slight reductions in the tariff which are more apparent than real, it shows that the revenue and penditure do not balance, ard that the publio debt has been increased by some $45,000,000. The preference given to Great Britain does not meet with favour im some quarters, as it ig claimed that it will interfere with the progress of some Canadian industries. A good deal of sarcasm is being passed on the Government for not adhering to its pre-election promises of granting at least measures of Free Trade; the Budget is Protectionist all through. It would be a bold politician who tried to do this, for Protection, introduced many years ago by Sir John Macdonald as the National Policy of Canada which led to a long lease of power for the Conservatives, has been followed by both parties, and without doubt will continue to be. As to finances there are many complaints as to Canada not being able to follow the example of the Motherland in having a surplus, being able to reduce taxation, and_at the same time to make some heavy payments in the reduction of debt. But the point which affected the United States in the Budget was that the Finance Minister took the opportunity in his speech to extend an invitation to that country to consider reciprocity with Canada again. This is not to be wondered at, seeing that he was one of the Ministers most responsible for the campaign for this in 1911, which led to his overwhelming defeat, and "thab of the late Sir Wilfrid Laurier, and the Liberal party. It can be said that there is not the slightest chance, at all events at present, of the United States accepting the invitation, according to, the various Authoritative reports reaching Canada. Even if the matter became one of practical politics here, it is most unlikely that Canadians would - adopt recipe ro city. The tendency is more and more to have no entangling alliances," to use a familiar American phrase, but to go ahead, and let Canadians develop their own wonderful and great resources themselves.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.