New Britain herald., 1916-01-11

speech, and it is childish to suggest
 that the paper was suppressed because
 ministers vanity was offended. Ih1s
 paper Tor months had been trying 10
 SUIT up dlSaffection in 8 district more
 important for the equipment Of the
 army and navy than any in the king
 dom The paper was extraordinarily
 clever and therefore the more danger
 ous It's account of my meeting was
 fabrication from beginning to end"
 Incident Unfortunate.
 Several members characterized the
 incident as unfortunate. The discus 1 sion was still under way when the 1 house adjourned.
 Premier Asquith announced that he
 will allow two days for debate on the l second reading of the compulsion bill, 1 beginning tomorrow.
 Runciman's Speech.
 Walter Runciman, president of the 1 board of trade, won tremendous ap- { plause by a speech in which he de- ! clared that the entente allies must l take steps to see that Germany is un- able to carry on a trade war against l them after peace is signed.
 ] There are signs,' he said, that i at last Germany is beginning to fk T l the economic pressure of our block ! ade. Her food supplies are becoming l depleted while ours are increasing. 1 Although our exports have fallen and ] our imports risen, there is no doubt ! that the economic strength of Great Britain is so well founded that we can stand the strain far better than l the central powers.
 l Stocks Given Out. Bread riots in Berlin, and in ] nearly every other big German city. 1 do not occur without good reasons. 1 We have deprived the enemy of many necessities of warfare and possibly 1 some of the necessities of life. Her 1 stocks of raw materials are giving ] out. Economic pressure, possibly 1 better than any other means, will uI- 1 timately persuade Germany of the 1 fruitlessness of continuing the struggle
 we can stand the strain longer than Germany" continued MT. Run- l ciman. And if we husband our re- sources the disaster that will fall up l on her will be almost irreparable. We must make it clear, however, that when peace comes we will not per l init the outbreak of the economic war which Germany would wage against l ourselves and our allies.'
 Dismiss Free Trade. 1 Discussing the suggestion of free trade within the British empire, MT. Runciman remarked that the domin- tions of Great Britain were not likely 1 to alter their methods or their at titude toward the mother country. | Io4n n1 N 1 raise their revenue and to foster their
 industries in their own way. and he
 was afraid the idea of free trade
 within the empire must be dismissed
 "I feel the same way of the pro-
 posed Zollverein to include all the l allies, but if such an arrangement l proves essential to end the war suc-
 cessfully, we shall have it, for there 1 is no arrangeme that the allies
 are not prepared to make to thai
 end"
 Recuperate After War.
 ] He declared that the British em-
 pire would recuperate after the wal
 faster than any other country. "Ther
 it will be our duty" he added, "tc
 aid, as far as we can, France, RJS
 sia, Italy and our other allies. I woult
 even add Germany at the bottom o, l the list, for no man would wish tt see period of prolonged poverty 1T Germany.
 l But we have the right to demand that, in the recuperation of Germany l nothing be done which will make Italy, France, Russia or Great Britain suffer
 "oreover, I am not prepared to wait for the end of the war to take steps to deal with this matter. It has been all along the policy of the Brit ish board of trade to capture Ger man trade while the war is still on. l Tn the case of South America, we have, since the war began, developed a trade which I hope will continue long after the cessation of hostilities. Have Worked Wonders. British traders, despite the handi- cap of the war. have worked won ders in trade development. We have completely broken down the German monopo1ies in optical glass, dyes, elec- trical apparatus and certain chemi- calls, and these monopolies will not again be renewed. The policy of the board of trade is that there shall be no essential article, either for the arts of peace or war, that we cannot produce within either Great Britain or the empire.
 I fully appreciate that one of the first necessities is the improvement of our research methods and the technical education of the rising gen. eration. There is also need for i'm provements in banking; need for helping young, growing firms; need for putting the matter of patents and cOvpriphtS on A different hasists