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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