ing as to the principle of low taxes on foreign wheat and other foodstuffs so as to give a preference to colonial im- ports. But the question of going to another election at all on a programme including food-taxes was now raised again on what started purely as a side issue. It was thought.by the lead- ers of the party that the time had come when an explicit dec- laration should be made that Mr. Balfour's proposal, before the general election of Dec. 1910, to submit the first Tariff Reform Budget after the Unionists returned to office to a refer- endum, was no longer the party policy; and Lord Lansdowne accordingly made a statement to that effect at the Albert Hall on Nov. 14 1912. No sooner had it been made than an agitation arose in certain Unionist quarters, especially in Lanes., where it was contended that harm would be done to their electoral prospects by dropping the proposal; and the cry was taken up in circles where the food-taxes had always been dis- liked, with the result that pressure was put on Mr. Bonar Law to make a definite pronouncement on the whole scheme of Imperial Preference. This he did at Ashton-under-Lyne on Dec. 16, but without the effect that was presumably intended. A large part of Mr. Bonar Law's speech was devoted to com- bating the claims of the Radical party that they were the Mr. Law's peculiar friends of the working classes; on the con- Ashton trary he insisted that the party now in power were Speech. occupied mainly in work of destruction, and that the real social needs of the community could only be met by a Unionist government. He repudiated the allegation that Tariff Reform was simply old-fashioned Protectionism. It was not proposed to bolster up industries which were not naturally suited to the country, or to enable manufacturers to secure an artificial monopoly. Tariff Reform involved the imposition of duties smaller than in any other country, and its object was to give British workmen a preference in the home market over their foreign competitors. Similarly, the object of Imperial Preference was to unite the Empire on lines of trade, and to secure for the United Kingdom the lar- gest possible advantage in the British oversea markets. It was in connexion simply with colonial preference that food duties were included in the Unionist programme, and he adhered to that policy in spite of all the misrepresentations to which it lent itself. But here he announced a new departure:
" If our countrymen entrust us with power, we do not intend to impose food duties. What we intend to do is to call a conference of the colonies to consider the whole question of preferential trade, and the question whether or not food duties will be imposed will not arise until those negotiations are completed. . . . Unless the colonies regard them as essential for preference the food duties will not be imposed. All that we ask is that our countrymen should give us authority to enter into that negotiation. If the colonies do think them necessary, then I for one do not believe that the people of this country would not be ready to make that readjustment which is necessary to effect the purpose."
As regards the referendum, Mr. Law repeated Lord Lans- downe's declaration, and justified it on the ground that a pledge to submit the result of the negotiations with the colonies to a referendum would not be fair to the colonies.
Next morning this speech had a " mixed " reception both in the Unionist press and in the party. In some quarters strong Unionist objection was taken to making the taxation of the internal United Kingdom appear in any shape to depend on Dissen- ^ ne decision of the colonies; the responsibility must be with the electors of the United Kingdom. In Lanes, and Yorks., and also in Ireland and Scotland, some important Unionist papers openly mutinied against the aban- donment of the referendum. Uncertainty as to what Mr. Law really meant an unusual thing in his case led to a revival, in the clubs and in the House of Commons, as well as in the press, of the same sort of expression of hostile sectional views that had made Mr. Balfour's leadership so difficult between 1903 and 1906. There were " alarums and excursions " for several days. As consideration became cooler, it was recognized, however, that nobody wanted to do anything that was not in the interest of a united party. Mr. F E. Smith,
speaking at Dudley on Dec. 20, declared that the whole Unionist front bench in the House of Commons adopted the views ex- pressed by Mr. Law, and that he had never meant that the decision as to food duties would be left to the colonies; all that he meant was that the decision must depend on what the colonies wanted. Mr. Austen Chamberlain also wrote a letter to a correspondent on Dec. 23, agreeing with Mr. Bonar Law. 1
While this lively interlude was providing sport for the Free Trade party, the penultimate act of another drama, of more direct import to Liberalism, was also drawing to its The Doc- close. On Dec. 19 the result of the poll was pub- tors ana lished which had been taken among the medical pro- the '- fession, as to whether they would accept Mr. Lloyd George's latest terms for ordinary medical service under the Insurance Act. Out of a total vote of 13,731, 11,309 were for rejection. On Dec. 20 the representative meeting of the British Medical Association was held, and by 182 votes to 2r a resolution was passed rejecting the Government proposal and advising the profession to decline service under the Act. In the previous Feb. practically the whole profession at all events 27,400 doctors had signed an undertaking to stand together by the policy to be decided upon by the British Medical Association, and if they held to their pledge this meant a com- plete breakdown in the provisions of the National Insurance Act for medical benefit, which were to become operative on Jan. 15 1913. On the other hand, a scheme for an alternative policy was coupled with this flat refusal of Mr. Lloyd George's own proposals. It was recommended that the profession should express its willingness to treat insured persons, under arrange- ments to be made between local committees of doctors and the insured or their representatives (i.e. the approved societies) for a minimum capitation rate of 8s. 6d., inclusive of drugs, or a minimum fee of 25. 6d. a visit, on condition that each insured person should have free choice of doctor and that the doctor should consent to act. Under this plan the doctors would not be dictated to by the lay insurance committees, but the financial terms would be practically the same that Mr. Lloyd George had last offered. It was promptly announced that the Govern- ment could not fall in with this proposal, which would involve handing over public money without public control; and the question now was whether there would be sufficient breaking- away from the pledges given to the British Medical Association for the insurance committees to be able to secure their panels of doctors in accordance with the regulations under the Act. Only about half of the 27,000 doctors who had ranged them- selves with the Association in Feb. had actually taken the trouble to go to the poll in Dec., and though this was generally believed not to indicate in itself any corresponding failure in the solidarity of the profession, there were now signs of a good deal of independent action in certain localities, and notably in Scotland. Already in Nov. a few doctors who thought it a public duty to fall in with the Government scheme had started a new organization in opposition to the British Medical Associa- tion, called the National Insurance Practitioners Association; and its influence, backed by Government support, was being exerted in the same direction. On Jan. 2 1912 Mr. Lloyd George, addressing the Advisory Committee, took a sanguine view of this situation, and declared that some 8,000 doctors were available. Nevertheless the strike now proclaimed against the Insurance Act by the recognized leaders of the medical profession was a very awkward fact for the Liberal party.
The year thus ended with the promise of a full crop of domes- tic political difficulties to be harvested in 1913. (H. CH.)
II. FROM JAN. 1913 TO JULY 1914
The political difficulties bequeathed by 1912 to 1913 were still unsolved 19 months later, at the outbreak of the World War in Aug. 1914. The medical opposition to the National Insur-
1 Eventually, as the result of a memorial from the bulk of the Unionist M.P.'s, Mr. Bonar Law, on Jan. 14 1913. stated in a letter that he and Lord Lansdowne, while remaining leaders of the party, were willing to agree that food duties should not be imposed without the approval of the electorate at a subsequent general election.
