CHAP. vi] TRADE RELATIONS AND CURRENCY 1183 
The Canadian preference first accorded in 1897, when its 
appearance was celebrated by one of Mr. Rudyard Kipling’s 
best poems, was increased at the next revision of the tariff, 
and stands still very high in favour of Great Britain! It is 
conceded entirely as a free gift in recompense for the part 
played by the Imperial power in the Empire, and it is given 
without conditions, though alike in 1902 and 1907 at the 
Colonial Conferences Canada offered further preference in 
return for a preference in British markets. It has recently 
been recognized by the Royal Commission, which has sug- 
gested the basis for a reciprocity arrangement between 
Canada and the West Indies, that any advantage extended to 
these Colonies by Canada shall be accorded gratis to the 
Mother Country. This, it will be seen, is in accordance with 
the principles laid down in regard to these negotiations as 
regards foreign Powers by Lord Ripon in 1894, but it was 
not the principle adopted in the Act of 1873, which allowed 
the Colonies of Australia to shut out the Mother Country 
from any inter-colonial preference. 
§ 2. CURRENCY 
The intervention of the Crown in currency matters can 
be disposed of briefly. Coinage is a royal prerogative, and 
currency figures prominently among the earlier cases of 
disallowance. In 1843 a New Brunswick Act was disallowed 
because the rates of value of the coins were not specified 
correctly? In 1845 a refusal was sent to a proposal by the 
Legislature of Prince Edward Island that it should be allowed 
to issue £10,000 in Treasury notes, redeemable in fifteen 
years, and a contemporaneous request to be allowed to 
suspend the repayment of Treasury notes was also refused.? 
In 1851 a Canadian Act of 1850 (c. 8) in respect of currency, 
which the Governor-General had assented to, was disallowed 
on the ground that it ought to have been reserved under 
the royal instructions, that it purported to confer upon the 
' Cf. Ewart, op. cit. pp. 255-73 ; Willison, op. cit. ii. 279-312; Sir W. 
Laurier in Canadian House of Commons, March 7, 1911, 
* Parl. Pap., H. C. 529, 1864, p. 34. * Ibid., p. 40. 
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