Papers of Lord and Lady Pethick-Lawrence

Since the Government is attempting to undermine the ‘citadel’ of free trade, now is an appropriate time to re-examine the grounds for trusting in it. Five points occur to him: (i) ‘Free Traders will be unwise if they say without qualification when a new duty is imposed that the price of the article will go up.’ (ii) Free trade must be carefully distinguished from laissez-faire and unlimited individual competition. (iii) ‘The attack on Imperial Preference should not be based on the erroneous statement that the preference given to our traders in Australia is worthless.’ (iv) ‘The doctrine of the balance of exports and imports is only true when invisible exports and imports are taken into account.’ (v) If free trade is to command support beyond a single political party, free traders must not be indifferent to labour conditions. Refers to the opposition he met with when making these points before an audience of free traders recently.