BRITISH POLITICS

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 149, 19 March 1920, Page 7

BRITISH POLITICS

ADDEESS BY MAJOR CHAPPLE. I The politicians and tho political par- j ties of Great Britain were the subject | of a lecture by Major (Dr.) W. A. Chappie, ! an cx-incmber of the House of Commons, ' in theY.M.C.A. Hall last night. Major ; Chappie first sketched the political leanings and associations of the parties re- ; presented'in' the: House of Commons, j The aristocracy, the great laud-owners, I tho Church, and the liquor trade alwaya voted Conservative m solid, organised ;' fashion. The great manufacturers work- ; ed with this group because they wanted i Protection. All these Conservatives had j vested interests to proteot. The Liberal' j Party had two vested which were shipping and Nonconformity. The | shipping people were Free-traders, be- ■*, cause Free-trade suited their' business, and i so they stood with the Liberals against ' j Reform. The Nonconformists were , Liberal because they wanted tho discs- j tablishment of the Church of England. J The Labour Party embraced tho great ; ; body of manual .workers, and ..its scope I was"being widened gradually, The manual I workers were beginning to realise that j many other groups of people were al6o | workers. The British Labour Party, like ! the cowespanding parties in New Zea-.' land and elsewhere, contained Socialists j and Revolutionaries. There was the i Irish Party, which contained three | groups—the Nationalists, ' .standing for I constitutional Home Rule; the.Ulsteriles, ; who wanted the Union maintained in- ') tact; and tho Sinn Pernors, who wanted , ccmplete separation from Great Britain. i Major Chappie proceeded to_ outline j the policies of the British political partics. The Conservatives stood for Tariff j

Reform and the Liberals j for Eree-trade, Home Rule, and DisestnbUshment. The Irish problem had got ! ;to be settled. It was rankling at the ■• heart of the British nation to-day, and j it> had to be solved by a measure of j Homo Rule or by the sword. Homo Rule, j was not separation from Britain. It meant simply that Ireland would man- I age certain of its domestic affairs within ] the United Kingdom, iust as a Canadian j province or an Australian State attended >. to certain matters within the Dominion ■ or tho Commonwealth. That was eon- ) stitutional Home Rule. Tho Sinn Fein movement was simply the rotten ripo j fruit of Carsonism. The Ulstermen had blocked the Home Rule Act temporarily by threatening civil war; the Sinn Fein- > ers had adonted the same method in. order to get nome Rule. j Turning to tho Labour Party, Major , Chappie said that men like Ramsay Macdonald and Philip Snowden had been a nuisance during the war, though he did I .not doubt their good intentions. They had wanted peace by negotiation with .; an unbeaten enemy. The labour Party ! was Socialist,.but it contained very many j different types of Socialistic theory. Ho i proceeded to express an opinion that ! State Socialism, enforced by law, was j uot. feasible, for the simple reason that ] people would not produce, for tho benefit ) of others. Socialism bad to come from '] within, and be based on tho Christian j principles of love and sacrifice. ! In conclusion. Maior Chappie sketched '■ 'some of the political personalities of tho j Hoilsc of Commons. He was accorded ' a hearty vote of thanks by the meeting. 1