BRITISH GENERAL ELECTION

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 87, 7 January 1919, Page 8

BRITISH GENERAL ELECTION

AND IMPERIAL ISSUES. • | Sir,—Much jubilation has taken place over tho recent general election in Britain. This has to be expected as the | crowd is ever ready to range itself on , the side of the big battalions; but look- , ing beneath the surface of- the niengve > , details which have been supplied to us, there is much food for thought. 'I he remark is general: "What a good job As- , quith has been defeated." This seems to be the sweet morsel of the whole election, judging,by the amount of rolling it. receives in the mouths of many. But why this satisfaction over the ex-Pre-mier's downfall? It seems tniit in- Uio minds of a great many people he had many grievous faults, none the least being that lie was 'prepared to draw out of the war of was only prepared to go o;i with it half-heartedly. But the public cannot bo altogether blamed either. Particulars of the doings in the Homeland are of the most meagre description. No one reiving solely on New Zealand Press reports could be expected to bo well-informed in regard to Empire matters. It- is true .that nearly all the daily papers do their best to supplement their cable news with more detailed reports which come by mail; but.interest in the subjects often passes before these details appear, and people therefore have to subsist on the scrappy and. scanty fare served up in the cablegrams. . . / Take the results of this election as an example. Onlv the paltriest summary has been given to us and in some , the news,is contradictory, e.g., in tne ' same paper it is reported that Sum Fen had a success in Londonderry City, ana in another column the figures are given for the same constituency showing a win for the Unionist. And, further gains and. wins ai-e used as synonoraous tor is. • As the subjects of a world-wide Enipue we are asked to think imperially. IWw can that be - expected of us if the matters we nre to think about are withheld from us, or only given to us in srXisful? The results of the general election in January, 1910, were given to us in full, but for some reason or another the results of the election held bite in the same year and . the(present one have been given to us.in the torn of a summary. It must be vemembered that in New Zealand there is a large portion of the-populationt whichh»s; a very keen interest in all, the results, because of the fact that its numbers ale drawn, from nearly every coiußitnencyin the three kingdoms. It is .hard, to say . what motive actuated the person — sible for sending as some of the ests received. Thus: "Sir A. H. Buigojne (Coalitiou) was elected for h.ensing.ou North, and Sir Harry Brittanfor AcIrt-" Why they should bo singled out for'snch distinction is a conundrum, unless it be that the gentleman who sent tht news sees in them the makings of perhaps the Prime } mister and ho Leader of the Opposition in the British Parliament of fifty years hence, and s anxious to have them introduced to the world in plenty of time. ■ The irony of the situation to-day >s that the election is on a par with that of MM, when Mr. Lloyd George,.was, «. violent in his denunciation of the Uniontat Party in using the war as a means of extending their term of office. As a nolitical move perhaps the Unionist Party were justified in appealing to the gantry, buVthey paid for it later, when, in 1906, thev werean precisely the ? ame postion as the Liberal Party. to-day, the mere shadow of a party, and chief 1 "among the defeats of that electaon were Mr. Bonar Law and .Mr. Baliour, wo men, either of .whom, had they been lost to Parliamentary Me, would have been a decided loss to the Empire. So that-Mr. Asquith's experience of defeat does not stand out as being extraordinary, seeing that the experience has befallen others who held high office, ,n the State, and even the great Gladstone himself-suffered the same fate.. Mr, Balfour's position Even after a seat had been found for; hint. i» own party threw him over as,its leader, ■bT.tf«3l that he has played a gbnou nart in the diplomacy of the Empire as Foreign Minister in the present Coalition Ministry, being one of its acknow edged successes This may serve to pro*e that a "ise statesman may not always be a Tho«o who succeeded him would -na\e been worse than.. fools hadihey not pro- . much f.u?t, which in course of time may B °r&ation is - interesting The Coalition appealed, to ry on two or three pleas.only—the cluet ueing 'ft inflicting "of condign punishment on the instigators of the war, Home Rule for Ireland, with some restriction regarding North-East Ulster was,nso mentioned and Imperial preference. \\ <- nreftold in regaril to the last-named that there is to be no tax on food or taw materials We are not told how .pre- , Scan be adopted .when no means to show a preference exists, it is/ true hat the Dominions can ei.ee-for goods-manufactured in Gloat Britain but this preference cannot he reciprocated if food arid, raw > matennl. which make up the Dominions' exports, are not to be taxed. This form of preference may be a good, electioneering cry, but at the same time it seems to be no- • th &yw«°^Lu a w.old the spectacle of a Government composed of Umonist, Home Rulers granting, that :.»"*•»* measure of self-government'. which they as a party h«ve st..i.nchly ouposed. since 1886. But. the measure !.as, •lost its, savour for Ireland, owing Jot he-fact., -that hope deferred maketh sick A worse problem now -contiomX us ' The Sinn Feiners are in the ascendant, f heir 'tactics can novmpre fended than those of Sir, Ldwnrd Corson and his followers, who openly-pro-claimed that they intended to res st with force of arms the; granting of Government to Ireland-in; 191+.;. 'It i« an awkward dilemma. The Uistermen cannot condemn a crime that they boasted they intended to commit. It is to be hoped . that the genius of: Lloyd George and his colleagues will nnd a solution to this.sorry business. V; The case of the Boe-s provides us with interesting evidence. ■ Home Rule was 1 granted to the Boers in 150G, four years after we had been fighting against them in what has been described by Mr. Lloyd George as a most unjust war,.yet we ; cuild rely on them to assist' us materially in the war! providing \us with two ' geniuses in the persons of Botha and Smuts. ' ,'.,'' ' Surely, then, we can trust our own i kith and kin. and the war should.have taught us to be more charitably-.dispos-ed towards those whose religion is differ- '■ ent to ours. It is a common thing tt hear people denouncing Labour for kici;ing against Capitalism.' yet the same people are to be found with their sleeves rolled up spoiling for fight on the religious question, in many, many cases, all vestiges of religion being absent, and bigotry present in all its ugliness: If there were' reallv any substance in the quarrel with Catholic Ireland surely the actions of the Uistermen and their sympathisers would have to stand fonie scrutiny. For example, the blood ot Protestants has been poured out. freely in' defence ot Catholic France,' Catholic Belgium, and Catholic Italy, and that gainst a nntion which is largely Protestant in its composition. Lloyd George's master-stroke of policy when he became Premier was the unifying of the Allied command, which has by universal consent been responsible for the sudden overthrow of the Germans. Yet Marshal loch, wo are told, is a devout Catholic. We put at the disposal of this Catholic soldier our whole army, numbering more than the entire population of Ireland, and he did not betray us; but.by his genius he extricated the world from an impasse which few hoped so soon to see fulfilled. Surely, then, we can trust our own people in a matter which is small and paltry compared with that mentioned. Let the spirit of tho Coalition which hns imbued our leaders •during the war with such happy results descend upon the . people at large, and may it work in them that, broiherliness which characterised our soldiers on the battlefield, and may Protestant and Catholic, working side by side, lend tall their energies to the lifting up of the Empire into the highest

and noblest forms •of life to that right eousness which alone exalteth a nation. —I am, etc., LOWER HUTT. January G.