FIRST LABOUR BUDGET.

Hokitika Guardian, 28 June 1924, Page 4

FIRST LABOUR BUDGET.

AIR SNOWDEN’S ADROIT MANOEUVRES. A SETBACK FOR THE BOLSHIES. (Bv an Old Stager). LONDON, May 1. The House of Commons reassembled this week after the Easter holidays in a state of great congestion and suppressed excitement. Things have undergone a sea change at Westminster since those happy halcyon days when our party polities was confined to an eminently respectable game of ins-nnd-emts played by eminently reputable gentlemen who called themselves Liberals and Conservatives. Jn those old, forgotten, far-off days, there was really no hustle. And after a decent vacation elderly ami middle-aged M.P.’s toddled hack to Westminster at decorous ease, perfectly assured that no self-respecting Government would fail to temper the wind t" the shorn lamb. Those days are past. And this week

members stampeded back in a hurry, not to waste two or three sittings in dallvino with matters of no importance, but to hear Mr Philip Snowden | unfold right away the details ol the ' first Labour Budget. • Hence all the congestion and e:c- ---‘ citement on the very first day of ro- ' sinned Parliamentary activity. Alow and aloft not a spare seal was to he had by the foolish political virgin who

;tr rived a few minutes late. The atmosphere was one of oppressive gloom For weeks tlie newspapers laid been 101 lof dark foreboding*- The lobby eorrespondenls mistrnsteil the pale east of Mr Philip Snowden's proletarian countenance. The fellow looked too nineh like lhmton to he misted with a budget. After the u*unl lediotts preliminaries, like the strumming of the orchestra before the curtain lines up, enter the Chancellor of the Kxchcqucr. In the days oj his youth when lie was a Civil Service clerk. Mr Philip Snowden met with a serious Inevele accident, which has crippled him for the rest of his life, lie ltohhletl into the House on a eruteh stiek. llis colleagues made room tor him on the Treasury Pencil, and helped him to place his oflicial dispatch box on the table. All the millionaires present eyed that formidable receptacle with all the fascination op South American dictators watching an explosive bomb. Some of them could almost hear it ticking. At length Mr Snowden struggled to his feet, took his stance at the Treasury table, and removed the lid of the infernal machine. Strong men on the Tory honchos mopped their blows. Kxlutant Communists sitting bohiir.l tlu» Treasury bench lulled their lips. The dramatic situation was frightfully i n tense. Mr Snowden scorned the sartorial artifices ol the Treasury tradition. On budget day even the great (Mudstone, carefully valeted by his devoted wife, used to appear in a special vest, ..and with the hi-tori' - Millar properly cinphasi-ed. -Mr Asquith was himslef mil prool against such an occasion. It was the one day when he discarded ilioso baggy K.C. trouseis that are the despair ol successive editors of the "lailors and Cutter'’ for hraiid-new wedding breks solemnly creased. Small Iry like Mr -M.’Keiuia. Messrs Austen and Novill ('immherhiiii, and Sir liohert | Horne, frankly appeared in t lie huhili- ! incuts of the bridegroom. Mr Philip j Snowden faced his audience, which in- ! eluded six ex-1 haneellors ol the h.x- ---! chequer in his usual grey I weed lounge I suit and well-worn tie. lint even Mr . Snowden is probably human. I here was iust a slight llusli of pleasureahle excitement and personal prowess oil . those strong sallow features. I lie spoke clearly, in a rather higli- ; pitched \oice, marshalled his laets i beautifully, and proceeded in ordered sequence, lie ((impressed his speech \\ it bin . three halt-hours. 1* or the Ill's!

halt-hour he plated tile i.ni and-mouser gaiue with tin: millionaire', lie devoted that time entirely lo a placid review or the national finances, reeling «;|f >eii>alioiud millions calmly, as though he had all hi- lit*' been tutor !i> .Mr Pi.-rpain Morgan. The next luil l'lunir was even more exquisitely torluiiug. Mr Snowden approached the question ol taxation, lull speculatively, in the vein of phiiospliic conjecture ‘ and acatl'‘inic doubt. Alone ol all that vast assembly Mr Snowden was piivilcgcd to have at hand the means ol physical refreshment. A glass of . water, of blameless line, stood at bis elbow. He forgot all about it. I here were Dives across the Hour who would have given golden sovereigns lor a drop of uat jr. Mr Snowden was not even parched. At long last the Labour Chancellor of the Exchequer, alter glancing at tin* House ol Commons deck, noroeivod that the third hallhour of iiis speech had arrived. \\ ith ‘ swift, unfaltering decision, ha came to the realities. The payers ol supertax felt tli:‘.i their moment had conic, elf. And now there began lo dawn the astounding explanation id a mis- , chievous little smile that kept chasing i itself across the features of Socialism's Lord High Executioner. The terrible 1 bomb was a dud. Thera wasn’t going i to he any explosion not this year, i At the moment Mr Snowden and Ids party had other lisli to try. Adroitly taking a roseate vc-w of the coiinlry’s financial situation, and a thoroughly optimistic one of its prospects, Mr Snowden proceeded to scatter a largess of benefactions. He had something for everybody. For the practical housewives lie had a free breakfast table, halving the ten and sugar duties and relaxing the imposts oil a variety of other popular foods. For the masNsos of the community lie had l redoeeil amusement taxes and cheaper 1 cinemas. For the thrifty householders and small tenants he had the abolition lof the inhabited house duty. For the } anxious business man ho had cheaper telephone calls and the repeal of the ! Corporation tax. For the noble army ’ of motoritsts he had facilities affording ' prospects of reduced license duty. And j finally, for the tremulous millionaires, lie had the unexpected boon of not one I extra penny of additional taxation of any kind whatsoever. When this momentous fact dawned on the understanding of the House, there really I wtis' one of those occasions when you might hear a pin drop, i What did it mean I- The answer was I promptly supplied in the Glasgow verI naeiilar. The formidable .Mr KirkI wood exclaimed ecstatically: “Let's lute the General Election the non!” Precisely. Mr Snowden has presented his political opponents with a very awkward dilemma. He has introduced a Budget oil which no rational election agent would dream of allowing liis clients to contest a general •‘lection. How Mr Snowden, after his lavish largess out of a purely conjectural surplus, is going Jo finance his I Government's ambitious tmemploy-j meat, housing, and educational schemes,- is a problem of the future. The only effective counter to Mr Snowden’s Budget is the sinister one of keeping the Labour Party long enough in office to throw the onus of meeting the handsome prospective deficit on their own Chancellor of the Exchequer. The prospect is not a pleasing one. either front the party politicians' or the multi-millionaires’ point of view. Because there is not much doubt how that prim humorist, Mr Snowden, would adjust matters, if in fact he actually survived to introduce a second Budget, and additional taxation proved then necessary. Meanwhile, Mr

Asquith was constrained to bestow his apostolic benediction on the Labour •Budget, and at the moment the demise of Mr Ramsay MacDonald's Ministry has been unavoidably postponed. One amusing episode, outside Parliament, is worth mentioning. The Bolshevik delegates now in London from Moscow attended the opening of the 'Wembley Exhibition, and, after the stories current in Russia about a red revolution in this country, experienced a decided temperamental setback. Tin glamour and the enthusiasm of tin spectacular Royal opening of the Bri tish Empire Exhibition has given those gentlemen furiously-to think.