The Dominion TUESDAY, JUNE 17, 1919. THE OUTLOOK IN GREAT BRITAIN

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 225, 17 June 1919, Page 4

The Dominion TUESDAY, JUNE 17, 1919. THE OUTLOOK IN GREAT BRITAIN

A great deal has been said about the necessity of early peace in the interests of nations and countries redeemed from bondage which meantime aro called upon to make Ijead as best they can, with a makeshift organisation, against Bolshevism ancl dangerous forces of intrigue. It is plain enough, howover, that the need of peace as an essential step towards setting the forces of reconstruction into full and unimpeded operation is nowhere inorc pressing than in Great Britain. The war has left the British nation in its Homeland, even more, perhaps, than in thfl oversea Dominions, astir with giant impulses that make for progress and reform. But it hasi at the same time heavily drained the moral and material resources of the nation, and occasioned or intensified conditions of sooial unrest which, if they wero ineptly handled, would bo apt to culminate in catastrophe. The task of reconstruction which confronts the Government and people of Great Britain is in any case colossal, antt every day that lengthens the midway stage between war and peace accentuates the problems to be solved. Obviously, while it continues, Mr. Lloyd George's duties abroad, coupled with the necessity of maintaining a modified blockade and of .being ready to take emergency .measures against Germany, heavily handicap the_ British • Government in dealing with internal policy issues which, on their merits and in their urgency, demand prompt and bold treatment. .

As permitting relatively imhampcred concentration upon internal problems, the definite conclusion of peace will be an enormous boon to Britain, but that it will introduce an era of easy progress and readjustment is' not to . be hoped' or expected. The conclusion seems, indeed, to be inevitable that the reconstruction era will make even more exacting demands.upon the nation and its political leaders than were met in winning the war. Now more than ever tho .supreme need of the nation is fearless and enterprising leadership, and it is only as they bear upon this need that the political portents of tho moment are \vorth_ considering. In late' events there is much to suggest that a.' political crisis is being rapidly approached in Great Britain. Although the Lloyd George Government this ye.ar has dwarfed all precedents in developing its mammoth programme of reconstruction and reform, tho all but total absorption of its leader in the affairs of the Peace Conference and some other factors have undoubtedly to an appreciable extent weakened its hold on the country._ Its critics and opponents point with satisfaction and with rising hopes to the defeat of the Government at by-clcctions, and already are claiming that the voting in these detail contests portends the reversal of the sweeping verdict gained by the Coalition in December. In themselves the results of the by-elections are certainly striking. At West Leyfcon, a. London suburb, there was a turnover of 7687 votes, at tho by-election, against the Coalition, and in the later by-elec-tion at Central Hull the corresponding turnover was 11,288. In each case a Coalition' Unionist was returned at tho general election and a Liberal at the by-election. Me. Asquith declared that his' experience afforded no parallel to the 'result of these by-elections. .These events apart, it is admitted Hnat Mn. Lloyd George is handicapped to some extent by the ■ preponderance of Unionists in his rather heterogeneous following, though, perhaps, less seriously than his opponents declare. It is obvious enough that for the time being the tide has turned to.some extent against the Coalition Government, but those who look, as Mn. Asquith seems to 'do, for simple and continued development on these lines are pos-' sibly reckoning without their host. It has to be remembered that the last election in Great Britain turned essentially on issues of war and peace, and only touched the skirts .of domestic politics. With an eye to concentration on tho crucial issues of the moment, Mn. Lloyd Geokge deliberately narrowed the issues set before the electors. The five essential aims he put forward, it will bo remembered, were: —

(l).To punish the Kaiser. > (2) To mnko Germany pay.. (3) To get the soldiers home, as early ns possible. (4) Fair treatment for returned soldiers anil sailors.

(5) Better housing and social conditions. His most uncompromising opponents, presumably, would not deny that. Mr. Lloyd Geokge has acquitted himself ably at the Peace Conference; they can hardly refuse to admit that his Government has made • astonishing progress with a programme of reform legislation and with practical measures designed to remedy industrial unrest. The Housing Bill, providing for the construction of half a million cottages, another remodelling the public health organisation, and the great Transport Bill, arc all monumental achievements of their class. Other Bills in hand deal with land settlement, afforestation, and the generation of electric power. The wide range ofthc Coalition Government's activities in dealing with Labour problems is a matter of familiar knowledge. It is most conspicuously evident thus far in the promising outcome of the National Industrial Conference which met in April.

The fact that so much has been accomplished by his Government in

the difficult period of transition from war to peace, when he has himself been able to give but momentary and spasmodic attention to domestic affairs, goes far to. confirm a belief that Mr. Lloyd George is of all others the leader best fitted to pilot Great Britain through the formidable difficulties of the reconstruction era. Two main contentions stand out in the criticisms of his opponents. It is urged that he heads a combination of political elements .so diverse that it is bound to split asunder when it comes to deal with problems of reconstruction. The other chief ground of complaint is that he has unduly subordinated Parliament to the Executive. The second of these contentions is,more likely to appeal to politicians of academic and conservative tendency than to electors who are much less concerned about methods than about results. As to the suggestion that the Coalition is bound to fall apart over domestic issues, it seems to be already largely discredited by the scope and radical character of the Government's policy. At all events as a remedy for whatever embarrassments now beset his course, Mr. Llovd George has the resource of another appeal to the country on purely domestic issues. It has'becn said that he is perfectly ready to take this course, and provided he retains the ( magnificent energy and driving power for which the war and transition periods have given so much scope, it is by no means vnlikely that he would again secure ian overwhelming mandate. WhatI ever further' derangement of party lines and. political conventions might be involved would be a minor As matters stand Mr. Lloyd George seems to be the one leader capable of securing that co-operation of all classes which, as he himself said not long ago, was manifested in freeing Europe from !.military -autocracy, and must be relied upon in the not less important task of freeing Britain from poverty, from unemployment, and from industrial unrest. ,