Evening Post. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 18, 1933. "UNSHAKEN NATIONAL UNITY"

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 14, 18 January 1933, Page 8

Evening Post. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 18, 1933. "UNSHAKEN NATIONAL UNITY"

At the first glance it is surprising to read that, the British Cabinet's first meeting during the present year will be held to-morrow. The domestic difficulties of Great Britain, though stolidly and even .cheerfully borne, are .not far behind those .of !other great nations. Her foreign responsibilities in;all parts of the. world are far graver than those of any other nation. Yet while the Cabinet of our own little country, with a national basis almost as I broad proportionately as that of Britain, and screened completely from any foreign responsibilities by ' her ' diplomacy and her power, had to return from its holiday nearly a fortnight ago and has been holding meetings at short intervals ever since,1 to-mor-row's meeting of the British Cabinet will be the first of the New Year. To infer from this contrast that the Forbes-Coates Cabinet appreciates its responsibilities and that the MacDonald Cabinet does hot, would, of course, be absurd. The seeming paradox admits of the simple solution that the functions,.of a Cabinet are not limited to the time when it is in session, that the very magnitude and variety of British responsibilities in foreign policy make the holding of frequent and regular Cabinet meetings no easy matter, and that the difficulties may be prohibitive just when an. acute crisis renders it otherwise most desirable.

During the past year Lausanne and Geneva have demanded the at- | tendance of Mr. Mac Donald himself for work'which nobody else in the world could have done, and at times when there was the usual glut of work at his office, and when, if jhe doctors could have had their way, he would have been in bed. But the man upon whose personal presence Geneva, and in a smaller degree Paris, have made incessant demands during the last twelve months, and especially during the last six, is the Foreign Secretary. At Geneva Disarmament continues to drag its slow length along with next to nothing to show for it, and more than three months after the receipt of the Lytton Commission Report the Council of the League of Nations and its subcommittees are still baffled by the Manchurian problem, which, while they hesitate, may be devel6ped by Japan into a war of the first magnitude. Though less persuasive than Mr.; Mac Donald, Sir John Simon is one of the main hopes of peace and he cannot be easily spared from Geneva. But he is to be released'for the Cabinet meeting and his place "as | the head of the British delegation at Geneva will be temporarily, filled by his Under-Secretary, Captain Eden, who by his handling of the Persian oil problem and by his recent statement on disarmament has made an excellent impression. The Foreign Minister ru'mself expects to return to Geneva in time for the meeting to be held there next week. c At such a time as this the responsibilities of Mr. Mac Donald for the general superintendence of policy, domestic and foreign, with a special share of personal attention to the negotiations for the World Economic Conference, and also for the control of the business of Parliament, would surely be more than enough for the strongest, of men. But, as everybody knows, Mr. Mac Donald is far from the strongest of men, and it is distressing to think of the risks that he and the nation and the Empire are running through his absorption in one nerve-racking labour after another when what he imperatively needs, and what would give his strength and efficiency a new lease of life is a complete rest. It would indeed be impossible for Mr. Mac Donald to carry on at all without the loyal and chivalrous support of the man who may be called the anchor-man of the Cabinet, the manvwho could have made himself Prime Minister a year ago if he had chosen, and who for the asking could bo Prime Minister to-morrow, the man who does not care who is on top as long as the work gets done^—Mr. Baldwin. It is Mr. Baldwin who holds the National- Cabinet together, and great as is the work that it has already done, and that it may yet be expected to do, its strength would be much greater and its prospects much brighter if the rank and file of the Conservative Party could be relied upon to keep the country above party and principles above persons as loyally as their leader is certain to do.

If Mr. Mac Donald's holiday is lo be postponed one measure of partial relief that suggests itself is a reduction of his Parliamentary burdens. When Mr. Lloyd George was Prime Minister as the head of a Coalition Cabinet his labours were lightened by deputing to Mr. Bonar Law the leadership of the House of Commons. The relation of Mr. MacDonald to Mr. Baldwin is so like that of Mr. Lloyd George to Mr. Law as to suggest a similar solution. Yet

a few weeks ago when ill-health and an extended week-end and a country engagement kept Mr". Mac Donald from his place in the House during a single unimportant debate, Mr. Lloyd George attacked him as though he had been guilty of high treason! The example of Mr. Lloyd George as Prime Minister is better deserving the attention of Mr. Mac Donald and his colleagues than this unfortunate attack. Why should not a Prime Minister who is almost crushed by unprecedented burdens and has a perfectly loyal and competent second in command ease the Parliamen-tary,-strain as Mr. Lloyd George eased it in 1918?

' What Britain's National Government has done for the Empire, both in actual achievement and by way of example, is, indeed, a matter for profound gratitude, and the need is still as great as ever. As we pointed out yesterday, the striking article in the "Round Table" on the World Economic Conference declares at the outset that at bottom the causes of the world crisis are "not economic, not even monetary, but political." It is also on a political note that the article concludes:—

The immediate future will in any caso bo very largely determined by the policy of this country. . . .It is for this reason that a strong Government ana a united and steadfast attitude on the part of all sections of the population, are of the utmost importance. Our national crisis is' by no means over. A great financial centre such as we are is peculiarly open- to attack. In a world bereft of confidence its strength becomes weakness. Its only defence is to exhibit to' the world an unshaken national unity.

For New Zealand as for Britain the moral is the same. "An unshaken national unity" is the one supreme need.