J.M.
Robertson) when, on February 7, 1912, in a speech at Lincoln, he said--
"There was, however, just one thing that must remain one for three
kingdoms, and that was the fiscal system, Customs and Excise. _It
was a federal union we want, a federal state._ If they were to do
as some of his unreflecting Home Rule friends, Irish and English,
have done, and demand that Ireland should not only have power to
lay taxes but to fix Customs and Excise then they had no State left
at all."
Another obvious objection to such a course is that it necessitates the
erection of a Customs barrier between Ireland and Great Britain. Tariff
Reformers are ready to admit that the present fiscal system is at least
as injurious to Ireland as to other portions of the United Kingdom. The
power to impose Customs duties on British goods--and the proportion of
British total imports is so large that if this power were limited to
foreign goods it would be financially valueless--would no doubt provide
the Irish Exchequer with considerable funds and might be used to develop
her prosperity.
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