The annual meetings of the Council of the N.L.F. CONFERENCE National Liberal Federation will be held at AT BRADFORD. Bradford on November 25th and 26th. We print below a list of the Resolutions to be submitted to the meetings, together with a summary of the Report of the Executive Committee. Sir George Lunn is retiring from the Presidential chair, and the President-elect is the Rt. Hon. J. M. Robertson. It is interesting, in this connection, to recall the names of the Presidents of the N.L.F. since its formation:—

"This Council of the National Liberal Federation regards the deplorable state of anarchy in Ireland as a direct consequence of the denial of self-government to the Irish people, and strongly affirms its conviction that further measures of coercion and the continuation of military rule will aggravate rather than remedy the present perilous situation.

"The Council views with dismay the raising of a voluntary armed force in Ulster, as giving official status to Sir Edward Carson's illegal Volunteer Army, and as being the sure precursor of Civil War in Ireland. "The Council denounces alike the murders and outrages committed by a section of extremists in Ireland, and the policy of reprisals which the Government allows to proceed and the Prime Minister has condoned. Convinced that the Government of Ireland Bill now before Parliament contains no hope of an Irish settlement, the Council reaffirms the resolution carried by the Annual Meeting of the Federation in November last, in which it is declared that the just demands of Ireland can only be met by a settlement which approximates as nearly as possible to Dominion Home Rule.

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"The Committee welcomes the numerous indications that this solution is receiving increasing support from all classes and creeds both in Ireland and in Great Britain; and urges the Government immediately to call a representative Conference of all parties in Ireland for the consideration of practical methods of carrying such a policy into effect.”

AN ECONOMIC AND INDUSTRIAL POLICY.

"This Council welcomes the appointment of a special Committee by the Executive of the National Liberal Federation to formulate an Economic and Industrial Policy for the Liberal Party, and notes with satisfaction that similiar Committees have been formed by the Manchester Liberal Federation and by other Liberal Organisations. The Council instructs the Executive Committee of the National Liberal Federation to convene a special meeting of the General Committee, to be held not later than February next, for the consideration of Industrial Policy."

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS.

This Council deeply regrets the continuance of International unrest and the failure of the Governments of the Allies to secure a settled state of peace. The Council deplores the prolonged delay in the fulfilment of Government promises to the people of Mesopotamia and the consequent continuance of military operations in that country, the mismanagement of the Polish Crisis, and the support given to Poland in the early stages of her aggressive action; and the continued failure to establish friendly relations with the people of Russia.

"This Council declares that the Supreme Council should be abolished and that the League of Nations should be brought into immediate activity for the settlement of these and other International Questions, includingthe revision, where necessary, of the Treaty of Versailles."

NATIONAL ECONOMY.

"This Council protests against the continued waste of public money by the Government, and emphatically declares its opinion that the Industries of the country will not be established on a basis of stable prosperity, and the cost of living will not be substantially reduced, so long as our annual national expenditure, particularly on Armaments, remains at its present extravagant figure.

The Council insists that Expenditure depends on Policy, and calls upon the Government to take immediate measures for drastic retrenchment both at home and abroad, and to devise means for the reduction of debt so that relief may be obtained from the present crushing burden of Taxation and the normal course of Trade and Prices may be speedily restored."

Report of the Executive.

The Report of the Executive Committee contains the following passages:

Party Organisation.-" To ensure for our common work the best co-ordination of effort and a minimum of waste and overlapping, the Executive Committee in the past year proposed the formation of a Joint Consultative Committee, consisting of representatives of the

National Liberal Federation,
Liberal Central Association,
Liberal Parliamentary Party,

Women's National Liberal Federation, and the

District Federations.

The suggestion was cordially taken up, and the Joint Committee now holds regular meetings, and has fully justified the hopes which were entertained when it was established."

The Federation and Its Finances.- "The time has arrived to make a plain statement and a direct appeal as regards the money which must be forthcoming if this Federation is to do the work expected of it. We are told on high authority that bricks cannot be made without straw. It is at least as certain that organisation and propaganda cannot be carried on without funds. The Federation is essentially a democratic machine. It belongs to the rank and file, and is directed and controlled by the rank and file. Those who compose it ought to, and must, furnish the money wherewith to pay for the work which they require us to perform. War, and the inevitable consequences of war, have so depleted our regular income, and so increased the cost of educational propaganda, that much useful work which the Committee would wish to undertake cannot be carried out with our present resources.

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Every affiliated Liberal Association ought to send to us such annual contributions as its means allow, and every delegate appointed to our meetings ought to make such a contribution as his, or her, circumstances permit. Instead of an income of less than £5,000 a year, we should have at least £10,000 if we are to carry out the trust committed to us.

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The essential thing is that affiliated Associations and delegates alike should realise that the National Liberal Federation is theirs, and no one else's, and that it is their bounden duty to maintain it in a state of efficiency.

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The Committee make an appeal to all the readers of this report, and will reinforce it at Bradford, where they will inaugurate a movement for raising an income commensurate with the task which waits to be undertaken.'

Industrial Policy." At the Leamington meeting (in May) a resolution was proposed by the Manchester Liberal Federation instructing the Executive to draft a Liberal Industrial Policy, for submission to a future meeting of the National Liberal Federation. The resolution had been accepted by the Executive and was unanimously adopted by the General Committee. The Executive Committee of the Federation has made considerable progress in fulfilling the terms of this resolution. A general conference on the subject was held on July 1st, when an Industrial Policy Committee was constituted. Three sub-committees have met many times and are approaching the completion of their work. In view of the great importance of the subject, however, the sub-committees have appealed to the Executive of the Federation for a further short period of time before presenting their report, and there will, therefore, be no resolutions on industrial policy on the agenda of the annual meeting at Bradford. It is proposed that a special meeting of the Federation shall be held early in the new year, for the specific purpose of dealing with industrial policy, when a whole day will be allotted to the discussion."

National Finance." The legislative and administrative work of the Government during the past twelve months has been a disappointment to all classes in the community. In its first year of office-the year 1919 -the new Coalition Ministry might conceivably have claimed indulgence on the score of the general confusion which remained as a legacy of the war. But a second year has passed, and still no progress has been made towards the solution of the many serious problems that press upon us. The country is burdened by an intolerable weight of debt; taxation has reached an unprecedented figure without carrying with it the satisfaction of reducing our liabilities; the cost of living is still high-higher than it was at any time during the war; industrial production and trade

with foreign countries show no signs of substantial revival; on the contrary, trade is falling, manufacture is being retarded, and unemploy ment has already assumed threatening proportions.

"We do not charge the Government of the country-either the present Government or any other-with entire responsibility for the fluctuations of trade, prices, and employment. But we do affirm that the existing confusion and uncertainty, and the still graver evils with which we are threatened, might have been greatly modified if the Government had adopted a sound policy of national finance. Our chief criticism of the Government's finance may be stated in three brief propositions: (1) They have not made even a serious attempt to enforce public economy, but are still wasting the national resources by unnecessary extravagance at home and by aggressive military adventures abroad. (2) As a consequence of this extravagance, the Government is compelled to take in annual taxation a sum which is at least equal to the entire savings of the country, thereby embarrassing commerce and industry; and the whole of this enormous levy upon the people is swallowed up in meeting current expenses. (3) The Government has so far completely failed to devise any scheme for the reduction of the War Debt.'

Foreign Affairs." We feel bound to record our strong disapproval of the anti-Liberal policy which the Government has pursued in foreign affairs. It is a matter of deep regret that there should be an army of 80,000 soldiers in Mesopotamia, and that the estimated cost of this expedition should be thirty millions sterling for the present year. It is necessary for the Government to make an end of these military occupations; and, in Mesopotamia, to fulfil its promises to the people, so that the country can administer itself and provide for the costs of The blunders made by the administration from its own resources. Government in the early stages of the Polish aggression, and their continued failure to make peace with Russia and establish trading relations with the Russian people, are further examples of the incapacity (or, it may be, the unwillingness) of the Coalition Ministry to conduct our foreign relations in a peaceable, liberal, and enlightened spirit.

"There is little hope of improvement in international affairs until the League of Nations is established in the position of judicial responsibility and executive power which was desired for it by all nations at the conclusion of the war. The powers of the League have been practically usurped without authority by the Prime Ministers of Great Britain, France, and Italy. This practice has materially postponed the peaceful settlement of the world. It has to be regretfully admitted that the British Government has displayed a deplorable lack of sincerity in its attitude to the League of Nations, and its whole policy and procedure in this vital matter is a gross travesty of the will of the people.”

Ireland. The Liberal Party insists to-day, as it has consistently declared for nearly forty years, that the safe, constitutional, and adequate solution of the Irish problem is Home Rule. It is bitterly to be deplored that Home Rule was not established in Ireland many years ago. Even to-day, in spite of the misunderstanding and disaffection and ill-feeling which prolonged delay has engendered, a generous offer of self-government within the Empire would satisfy the aspirations of the Irish people.

No words can fully express our condemnation of the policy of the present Government in Ireland. The Government has utterly failed to understand the fundamental facts of the case; it has proposed, in its

Government of Ireland Bill, a professed solution which is so inadequate and impracticable as to be open to the charge of flippancy; and it has practised in Ireland forms of Prussian repression and tyranny which could not fail to create and foment rebellion. No one can detest more strongly than we do the abominable outrages committed by a section of extremists in Ireland. But not even these mad excesses afford justification for the hateful policy of reprisals which the Government allows to proceed and the Prime Minister has condoned. We hold the Government responsible for the present perilous nature of the relations between Ireland and Great Britain, and call upon all sober-minded people to strive for an immediate settlement under which Ireland, in common with other British Dominions, shall enjoy self-government within the Empire."

LIBERALISM THE HOPE OF THE FUTURE.

In the conclusion of their Report the Executive Committee make clear that delegates to the forthcoming meeting at Bradford will have an opportunity of expressing themselves by speech and vote on some of the subjects referred to in the Report. The resolutions on the agenda are less numerous than usual, being confined to a selection of the most immediate and urgent questions. This is done in order that more time may be available for discussion. The opinions of the Federation and of the Liberal Party on other subjects," the Executive say, are well known. It will not be imagined, for instance, that Liberals have changed their views on Free Trade, or on Education, or on Temperance, because no resolutions on these subjects appear in this year's agenda. Without occupying the time of the Federation upon a long series of resolutions, we reaffirm here and now the general policy of the Liberal Party as frequently expressed in previous meetings.' But one declaration the Report makes quite fittingly and with emphasis. It is contained in these words:

"We affirm again the fundamental political fact that a Liberal policy is the only method by which the many difficult and delicate national problems of our time can be dealt with safely and successfully. Apart from Liberalism we have not even an assurance of constitutional government. Both the Conservative Party and the Labour Party have betrayed an alarming tendency to settle public affairs by force. The Liberal Party, on the other hand, steadily maintains its traditional confidence in government by discussion, and its belief in the authority of Parliament.

"But there is a still more pressing need for Liberalism as the true safeguard against the threat of Communism. It is easy to exaggerate Socialistic tendencies by the use of such vague terms as Bolshevism. Leading members of the Government have not scrupled to adopt this course, with no apparent object except to create fear and panic. We have no part in this calculated alarmist propaganda. The effect of exaggeration is to conceal dangers that are real. There is, however, an undoubted tendency towards the Socialistic system of State organisation. And the present Coalition Government is impotent as a protection against this movement. It is worse than impotent. It is a provocative influence. There is nothing more likely to precipitate the country