§ SIR EDGAR VINCENT (Exeter)To ask the First Lord of the Treasury if the question of the transit of Canadian corn through America, and of American corn through Canada, in connection with the proposed preferential tariff, will be included in the fiscal inquiry; and if detailed information concerning the facts of the trade will be presented to this House.
§ SIR EDGAR VINCENTTo ask the First Lord of the Treasury if the question of transport, both in the colonies and between them and Great Britain, and its bearing upon possible tariff arrangements will be included in the fiscal inquiry which is now proceeding.
(Answered by Mr. A. J. Balfour.) With regard to these Questions in the name of my hon. friend, it would, I think, be inexpedient, on the one hand, to lay down any limits beyond which the inquiry ought not to go, and, on the other, formally to include within it everything which could be described as germane to the subject. If the first course were adopted it might be found that most important topics were excluded; if the second the range of investigation might become almost unmanageable.