MR LLOYD GEORGE.

Hokitika Guardian, 24 March 1923, Page 3

MR LLOYD GEORGE.

VIEWS ON WAR MEMOIRS. BRITAIN'S DEMOCRACY. DANG Eli OF THE FUTURE. The following and ali of Mr Lloyd George articles, are copyright by United Press m America and all countries. -copyright in Australasia by the Australian Press Copyright in Britain bv the Daily Chronicle. ' (Reproduction in full or part prohibited i. (IR-reivc| tin- day at 8.30 a.m.l LONDON- March 21. Mr l.tnyd George -ay- that democracy in tin- seme of the government of a great Stale by the absolute unlettered authority of the majority of its citizens ~t ,|! ranks ail'd conditions, is a modern experiment. How many people realise that Britain became a democracy ler the first time in Lilt. Until then, the majority of the adult population had m> voice in the making or administering of the laws that ruled their lives. The United State-. Franco and Italy, adopted universal suffrage for many a year and so have the British Dominions. hut Britain, the pioneer of representative institutions, until recently shrank from the experiment oi adult suffrage. Before the Reform Act of |poo ~f the total electorate of this country only three per cent of the population had tlm distribution of power. Among this small percentage it was so arranged that mi more than one per cent was effective. A generation of turmoil, almost culminating in revolution forced through a measure increasing the electorate to 1.5 per cent, but to call this percentage a dentoeraey was ridius. Another gem-ratio ' growing agitation eir-ated. 1 hi- also ended m violence and l lien Disraeli, one of the boldest and most vent tiresome ef British statesmen doubled the electorate. Disraeli's audacious plunge horrified some of his aristocratic supporters and shocked many AAliigs. Boh llowe had already foretold the calamities that would follow Gladstone's more cautious proposals. Seven years Inter saw the election of the first lory to Parliament since 18-11.

So much for the prophecies of the men who always tear evil must flow from justice. Fifteen years after Disraeli’s measures (Mudstone added another seven per cent to the electorate these proposals were so vehemently contested that the.t nearly precipitated a constitutional crisis of the first magnitude. Ultimately they were carried, and this franchise remained until the war.

The electorate which accepted the German challenge in 1911 and wits therefore responsible for involving tho country in the most costly and most sanguinary war it ever waged represented one sixth of the population and about a third of the adults, The Conscription Act converted this country to the injustice of this state of things. Millions of men were forced to risk their lives for a policy in which they had no share in fashioning. Millions of women faced the anxieties and and tortures worse than death, in the pursuit of the same policy, yet no woman was allowed to express any opinion in the selection of her rulers.

It wits felt to lie so unjust that in the exaltation of tho war, which lilted men to a higher plane of equity this obvious wrong was redressed, lienee the greatest enactment, of all enlranchi.sement acts, that of 1917. for the first time converted the British system ol Government into a democracy. How lias it worked? It is too early to *ponk of its results. You will find from the result of the recent election mono than half of the new electorate are not attached to any political patty. It is free, floating about without any anchor or rudder, ready to lie towed bv the first party that succeeds in roiling it. Millions of new electors are too indifferent or too undecided to take sides at the polling booths. In the election in .liimmiy I9U), 92 per cent of the voters polled: at the I9IS election (II per cent. Ibis might he explained bv the inevitable politico! apathy which, ' follow s the war. Old partv" organisations had l alien into complete disrepair, hence Hie tailure to induce six million new voters to t a , (. sufficient interest in their new privileges to exercise them. Ihe next lour years was a period of growing political activity. The new party was espet-iall v energetic. The chief organiser, Mr Arthur Henderson.. is one of the most gifted party organisers of this generation, and his achievement was the outstanding feature in the political organisation of this country. The old parties also had time to repair their ma«hinery. The only party with no organisation worth speaking about was the National Liberals. Ihe others were ready for the struggle. Nevertheless nearly five million voters were not sufficiently interested to record their votes.

How does the record compare with democracy in other lands? France is 1,0 hotter on the whole. 1 understand it is worse. Voting in ihe United States fluctuates and does not differ from Britain. The Germans polled 89 per cent at last election. Italy is much lower, hut otto day an issue will arise which will wake up the most lithargic. AA hat will it. he AY hat view will they take when it comes. They may rally to defend property menaced by rapacious creeds ; they may rush to the protection of their homes, threatened by avaricious wealth. Even those who have already voted are liable to sudden, devastating changes of opinion as witness Meehan, AA’illesden and Ed go It ill by-elect ions. Among the many disquieting factors there is one which ought to he dealt with before another election. I nder the present, system a minority of electors may usurp dominion over the fortunes of the Kingdom for fully five years. America has brought its vast electorate under what seems perfect discipline but through much tribulation including a furnace of terrible eivi' war. Italy was impelled to correct the working of democratic institutions by a display of force. Britain tnay mobilise and drill its electoral forces with less .trouble but she has a Socialist Party which lias grown by millions within less than a decade and is still growing. Us most eloquent member is proposing in the Commons a solemn measure for the abolition of private property. Deputies chosen by four and a quarter millions, will vote for it, and if four tears hence they add another t million and a-hnlf to their poll, they j evil I he in a position to place that mo- ' tioii on tho statute book.