The Guardian (And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times.) WEDNESDAY, DEC. 19th, 1923 BRITAIN’S POLITICAL CRISIS.

Hokitika Guardian, 19 December 1923, Page 2

The Guardian (And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times.) WEDNESDAY, DEC. 19th, 1923 BRITAIN’S POLITICAL CRISIS.

Tm: Baldwin Cabinet lias decided to face .Parliament which meets on January Bth.. and that this decision has been reached, is an indication that satisfactory arrangements were concluded with tr.e Liboials in the interview .Mr Baldwin had 1 with Mr Asquith. This lnaj not he very pleasing to .Mr Ramsay MacDonald and his party, but at the moment it seems most desirable that there should be a period of political quietness in Britain. Assuming that the Liberals have agreed to afford the Government some support it may bo taken for granted that the compact involves some- conditions calculated to ho htiietieia! to the Liberal Party. The Baldwin Government suffered severely at the elections and five ministers failed to secure the favourable verdict of the electors, and it is obvious that there must be a reconstruction of the Government. It is not unlikely that the Liberals have stipulated for inclusion in the Government men like Mr Austen Chamberlain, Lord Balfour, and Lord Birkenhead, who are all tried Parliamentarians and calculated to give some stability to tho Government. A coalition between parties is not at all likely. Tho position of Mr Baldwin himself .may have to !>o taken into consideration. His leadership has lieen faulty in the extreme, and by forcing an election when lie- did, he brought about a dangerous political situation and plunged the country into political chaos. The compact, if such exists between the Conservatives and Liberals, mas result in some radical, if not sensational developments. If there is no such compact then it seems that a fresh blunder is being committed Tn continuing in office. Political life as we know it to-day in almost every country is devoid of principle. Cliicano and trickery seems to lie the stock-in-trade of the average politician. Policy appears to have no place in any progpumnie. it is now simply a ease of

waving the I'liion Jack ar.d bellowing patriotism or Haunting the lied Flag ami yelling class consciousness and cliuss war. 'Jo secure power and pay is the chief aim of most politicians, and it is tile party that counts and not the people. Politics have become a sordid demoralising game, with pelf on the pedestal. The degradation of the politician and of Parliament reached its lowest depths in Italy calling forth a Mussolini as dictator and in Spain a military junta to control the affairs of the nation. The political corruption in the two countries named had reached a point where it could not he tolerated am longer, and the dictators have been accepted a.s pioviding a possible chance of honest Government. It is not conceivable that any British community would submit to any dictatorship, hut that it thought only because as a people wc fancy that we are independent. The l.ahour Party hold a very different view of British character. The policy of the Labour party in Britain as here, is the establishment of a. Socialistic Slate in which the bosses lor the time ■being will dictate to the community the class of work it shall engage in, t l -' amount to lie produced, the wages in he paid and various other things th:ii the people may do and may not do,