Mr. Lloyd-George was equally plain spoken. "He had hoped," he said, "it might have been possible for those present, acknowledging the limitations imposed on them by the convictions they respectively held on fiscal issues, to see whether it might not be possible to find other means of attaining the object in view. The Colonies regard a tax on our foods as necessary both for raising revenue and also for the protection of their own industries. Mr. Deakin acknowledged that the late election in Australia was fought on the issue of protection and preference. It was open for the representatives of the Imperial Government to have ignored the mandate given to Mr. Deakin and to have endeavoured to commit their colleagues here to a policy of free trade within the Empire, to which those colleagues would not assent without being false to the trust reposed in them by their own people. Sir William Lyne the other day had urged the commercial union of the whole Empire, quoting the consolidation of the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Federation of South Africa and Australia. In these cases all tolls and tariffs were removed. {56} "Had a free-trade resolution been pressed by His Majesty’s Government and refused, it might have been said by the Press that the Colonies had refused to listen to the appeal of the Mother Country to be put on equal terms with her children, and later that the door had been slammed in the old mother’s face by her ungrateful progeny. His Majesty’s Government had not taken this course, recognizing the unfairness of ignoring local conditions and exigencies. They were not here to attempt to manoeuvre each other into false positions, but to discharge the practical business of the Empire. They were in perfect accord as to the objects they could strive to promote. His Majesty’s Government were in favour of any scheme for the development of inter-imperial trade which did not inflict sacrifices on any individual community so as to create a sense of grievance deep enough to introduce the elements of discontent and discord, and thus impair the true unity of the Empire. …