ABSTRACT
The life of the second National Government extended over four years, from the General Election of 1931 to that of 1935. The conversion of War Loan, which was effected in the summer of 1932, had long been prepared, and would have been carried out by the First National Government. The overthrow of Free Trade and the establishment of Protection had been inevitable since the General Election, in spite of the disingenuous assurance of Mr. Baldwin that this was not an issue in the election. The chief reason why the Government had upheld the vicious quota system at the economic conference was that it had already entered upon a policy for the revival of British agriculture which involved the application of quotas on a large scale. It is in harmony with this general tendency of National legislation that the power of taxation has now been largely withdrawn from Parliament and entrusted to a small Commission of three members.
