 Pulsford spoke for five hours in the debate on the 1902 Customs Tariff Bill, although he later supported time limits for speeches.Missing out on a frontbench portfolio when the Free Traders were briefly in government from 1904 to 1905, he was absent from parliament for most of 1907.Described by the "Tribune" as "the best living authority on Australia's tariff question", his pamphlet to the Cobden Club in 1907 attracted a favourable reception.