LATEST CABLE NEWS BRITISH POLITICS.

Hokitika Guardian, 23 January 1924, Page 2

LATEST CABLE NEWS BRITISH POLITICS.

NAVAL CONSTRI'GTiOX PROGRAMME.

SOME REPLIES TO gCF.STTONS

[Reuti’.hs Ti'.i.k*ihams.]

(Received this day at 8 a.m.) LONDON, January P2

In tlie House of Commons, Colonel Amery dealt ill l the Government’s special programme of naval construction with a view to iclieving unemployment in the shipbuilding centres, and it was proposed to lay down immediately eight light cruisers of ten thousand tons, armed, with eight inch puns, three whereof would be built- at the I!aval Cockynids and the remainder submitted to tender. In addition to this the year's program,me won hi include three submarines, one

submarine depot ship, two destroyers, one destroyer depot ship, two gunboats for special service in the Persian Gulf, one aircraft carrier, one minelayer, all of which are urgently needed. The whole programme would employ thirty-two thousand men and in voire the special addition *ol five millions sterling to the Naval Estimates. He was confident that the present opposition would not he indifferent to the needs of naval security and the urgent situation in the shipbuilding yards, hut give the proposals prompt and sympathetic consideration when Parliament reassembled. Referring to the decision to go to the country. Air Baldwin said that he had for himself no regrets, but many for thou' who fell in the light.

Captain Guest intimated that ho would support -the Labour |ainV?mlmeiit in order to condemn protection, i ui. he wanted the other amendment taken in order to give the Liberals an opportunity of recording their autiSocialist )ie"s. Otherwise, he would vote against the closure.

Mr ,1. AL Ken wort by declared that the Conservatives had, during the past five years, disgraced the British name in Ireland, India and Russia.

Replying to Mr Wells, Sir Samuel Hoare said the settlement details of the airship agreement preyed a complicated matter and :'.:_di in an advanced state, were not yet complete, fir arranged for the promoters of the scheme to start the preliminary work at the Calslington Aerodrome, in Bedfordshire as soon as the terms and necessary legal documents were settled. The agreement must he submitted lor Parliament’s approval before it could !.e fully inaugurated.

Replying to further questions Mr Neville Chamberlain said that the An-glo-T’ersian Board had not been officially consulted. The Government did not feel able to take the final decision as it had intended to refer the matter to a Cabinet Committee prior to a dc(jsion. Two Government directors of the Anglo-Persinn Oil Company had been consulted, but be was unable, in the public interest, to disclose exactly what their- advise was. because the question had not been decided and might be decided by some t lovernment in tbo future winch would desire to have the information given them.

Asked who condueted the negotiations on behalf ol the Government, Mi Neville Chamberlain said the proposals were originally submitted to the President of the Board of Trade. Tie himself. as First Lord of the Admiralty and Secretary for Mar also was consulted. an ob.ste.trtc physician. (Received this day r.t 8 a.m.) LONDON. January 22. Mr Baldwin was loudly cheered by the Ministerialists. He termed Mr Asquith as an obstetric physician about to bring a child into the world, saying that if this child is not such as 1 fancy when bom T shall smother it. Mr Baldwin declared that the Liberal Party only got its number at the last election by telling the voters to keep iut the Socialist Party. He reviewed the Government’s achievements, like the settlement of the American debt, the maintenance of the Entente, the Treaty with Turkey, the practical settlement of the Tangier question and the bootlegging differences with the United States, thus leaving relations with the United States bettoi than they have ever lawn. The Government would leave its successors no outstanding problems other titan the reparations question, which was looking more hopeful and unemployment. The responsibility for his policy was his alone. He was not driven into it by someone else, hut the decision to go to tho country was the decision of a united Government. He fijul a clear conscience." Mr MacDonald would not lie able to form a Socialist State on the shifting sands of one fifth of the national vote. The Conservative-. looked further confidently, without apprehension, standing for t.hree basic principles, namely, the maintenance of the institutions ot the Empire, the preservation and development of the Empire and the. improvement of the condition of our people. He asserted that the future iu\ between the Labour party and tile Conservatives.

TIIE LABOUR LOADER. LONDON. January 22. Air Ramsay MacDonald said the House was going to take a step which he believed, with all his heart and ,'cu], would be marked in the history of the country for their good. He appealed to the House that if the amendment was decisively carried then to adopt the address. AYlien the House met the new Government (the remainder of the sentence was drowned by Alinis-

terial and somo Liberal erica of "No”). A Labour Government might create many fears, but what would he still worse would lo an action which would degrade the House by bringing it to a deadlock and produce a- sort of stalemate which would show their incapacity to govern. He claimed that tho chief reason for foreign politics* improving was the prospect of a change cf Government. Otic great continental diplomatist said to him that since you had an election in England, the iec which was getting thicker and thicker around ns i.s beginning to break. -■'-'V

Sir Douglas Hogg wound tip for the Government, and Ah' MacDonald r upon moved the closure which was-” carried without, division. The House thereupon divided and adopted the Labour amendment by 328 to 250.

FINAL SCENES IN COMMONS. LONDON. January 21.

In the House of Commons, the final scene, marking tho advent of the fust Labour Government in Britain, was enacted with unexpected calmness. There was more excitement in many divisions in recent years than that which turned out Alt' Baldwin, and brought a change in British politics not contemplated even a few months ago by the most shrewd observers. The Labourites cheered Air MacDonald Heartily. Some waved handkerchiefs hut the “Red Flag” was not sung, and there was no wild exultation. The prolonged debate and the inevitability of the result is probably the explanation of this comparatively motionless finale.

’I lie only surprise forthcoming was the fewness of the Littorals who voted with the Conservatives, in spite of a heavy whipping-up by a section of the press, aml-’prognosticatioiis of the extinction of the Liberal Party if it handed the Government lo tlie Socialists. The closing hour of the debate was the greatest. The Prince of Wales and the Duke oi York listened from the gallery, which was crowded with Peers. At the other end of the House Airs Baldwin sat watching her husband. Peeresses and the wives of Labour commoners jostled to get a better view. The final speeches brought sharp, nervous cheers anti interjections. Mr MacDonald spoke earnestly, especially when lie declared that none could envy whoever took up the reins of Government from Air Baldwin. Mr Lloyd George, who was absent throughout the evening was one ol the first to vote for the amendment. Sir John Lavery, the Academician, sat sketching for a historic picture. Air Baldwin desired an adjournment until February 12th. hut the Liberals secured a sitting to-day, in order to emphasise that, owing to the strike, Parliament ought not to he adjourned .-i) long.