BRITISH POLITICS.

Hokitika Guardian, 16 October 1924, Page 2

BRITISH POLITICS.

iDBTBALIAN AND N.Z. CABLE ASSOCIATION. FLECTION EPISODES. LONDON, October It. Mr MacDonald, in bis election .spccc-h referring to the Conservative-Liberal agreement* not to run candidates against each other, said: “The other side seems to he funking. We have so frightened them tlr.it they are laying their heads together, lest we scrape in between them. It is not good oldlashioned polities. The more united they are against us, however, the (greater w ill lie our victory. I hey are lighting under, the banner of the white feather. Labour, when it entered office found, owing to the Tory mishandling. that the ill-feeling between the Dominions and the Mother Country was very considerable, and the position might have been critical if the Dominiops had not been properly ((insulted.” He said that, in making the Treaty of Lausanne, he had the greatest difficulty iii getiug the Dominions finally to consent so that the Treaty might he ratified. The National I'nimi of Rnilwaymen’s Executive have siiliscrilied Col XXI to tlio Labour Party’s election fund. The Liberal Party’s campaign was opened by Mr Asquith, Mr Lloyd George, and Sir John Simon in the Queen’s Hall.

Mr Asquith said the pretext for the election was the llimsiesl and most insincere on which any responsible Minister for a century had presumed to invoke the prerogative ol the Crown. The truth was that Mr MacDonald and his colleagues were suffering from a had attack of morbid self ostium. The real cause of the precipitate appeal to the country was not the •* Workers’ Weekly ” ease, hut the Russian Treaty, which was a unique example ol political recklessness and incapacity, and of the utmost infantile simplicity. - The Conservatives in Aheravnn electorate have declared not to run any candidate, hut unofficially to support the Liberal nominee against the Prime Minister, Mr MacDonald.

Mr Baldwin opens the Conservative Party’s London campaign this afternoon in the Queen’s Hall. The demand for tickets is such that the hall could he filled three times over. Mr Raidwin has the advantage of having had an examination of the speeches of Mi MacDonald, Mr Asquith, and Air Lloyd George.

Increasing interest is being manifested in the attitude of the Conservative and Liberal parties towards each other. It is ppteworthy that Mr Waldren, the Conservative candidate tor Shoreditch, in a letter notifying ,Sir Harold 'Hecki.,, the' Liberal candidate, that he is withdrawing, has made it a condition that Sir ]l w licckit t. .if elected, would do all in his power to nvoid'the formation of a* Socialist adm.iustnUion. Sir 11. Kcckjtl replied that it would not he with his support that the Socialists again would take ollice. Air Waldron withdrew on the grounds that the local position wps one which conceivably might jeopardise the return of a Constitutionalist. and therefore, with the consent of his friends, he was willing to sacrifice his personal wishes in the

matter. / The Conservatives’ ellorts continue to he directed towards a reduction of the triangular oentests in which seventy of the Labourites were successful at last election. Viscount Younger, the former head ol the Conservative Party’s urgansiation, is again assisting. He sa id: “1 nut confident that, if the Conservatives and Liberals cooperate in certain roustitutiencies, it will tend to the advantage of both, and certainly to that ol the C ousel - valives, i am quite certain that we shall return very much stronger. 1 think there are many seats we afo bound to w i". hut no (—• , ~'•• • • ought to be lulled into a lak e 'em c

ol security.” Tho% Liberal papers emphasise the point that Air Asquith s and Air Lloyd George’s speeches were constructive, offering an nltci native to either the Conservatives or to Labour. The “Daily Chronicle*’ says that the Liberal* Party should he a great middle party. It ought, without delay, to recover a Parliamentary position proportionate to the wide influences I'm which it stands.

The first reported disorderly meeting occurred in Premierhmd. 'Whitechapel, last night, when Sir John Simon was obliged to curtail his address. A section of the audience sang the “Bed Flag,” and cheered the Labourite candidate,. Afr Go'siing. , ~il icports agree that Air.AlncDonnld has had a most enthusiastic reception at Newcastle-im-Tyno. where . he arrived in the evening, and spoke to a

vast audience. The “Daily. Telegraph” says wherever Mr AlacDmiakl. has stopped on his motor journey from Edinburgh to Newcastle, he has been cordially greeted by great crowds, while at every village or every isolated group of houses during the drive, the people came out to cheer M r AlacDonakl. Thus far the Premier lias covered two hundred miles and he has .spoken at over twenty meetings, besides giving wayside addresses.

There is a Labour candidate already in the field af Richmond, in Surrey where Sir Newton Moore .‘.formerly of Westralia) has been adopted by the Conservatives. A Liberal immineb lias

not. vet been chosen. In view of the attacks on Labour’s unemployment policy the newspapers have given prominence to the latest figures showing 1 ,2.'d .fit 10 were unemployed on October G, an increase of 10,2*1, compared with September ‘Jflth ; hut a decrease of 70,1)23 compared with December 31, 11)23.' The “ Daily Herald” says that the real decrease since tlie present Government took office is greater,^because in consequence of the Government s action, more are being put on the unemployment registers, and more had remained continuously on or oil. finally more claims have been allowed by tlie Government.

SOUTH AYRSHIRE SEAT. I.OXDIJK. Sept. 1. JSir Charles Fergussoifl the newlyappointed Governor-General of New Zealand, has long been working hard among .the) electors of South AvrJiire. for which lie was to lie the Unionist candidate, at the next General Election.

Undoubtedly his removal to the Do million, adds to the safeness of one Labour seat no other than that of All .James Brown. Lord High Coinmissionei to the General Assembly of the Clmi'cl] of Scotland. Macdonald on the Clyde. LONDON. Oct. I.L A feature of the 1 J^thour Party’s campaign is'Air AlacDonald’s motor car scurry through the industrial belt of Scotland, where the Prime .Minister is not very well known. His car is decorated with the Ala'Doiiald tartan, and with sprigs of white heather. A second car. with an amplifying apparatus follows. Both cars are continuallv being held up by crowds on the roadside, demanding a speech. This request is generally granted, though Mr MacDonald's voice already is showing signs of the strain.

LABOUR CANDIDATES. LONDON, Oct. LI. The Labour candidates are increasing hourly. It is now expected that ‘>6o Labourites will be nominated. Tins

number will be 'more than tlie total nominated by any other party.

LLOYD GEORGE. LONDON, Oct. 14.. One thousand were shut out from the* Queen’s .Hall, when Air Lloyd George spoke. He was himself unable to rcat*n the entrance owing to tho crowd. He only appeared on the platform after the Chairman and other speakers had assembled. Air Lloyd George made a stirring electioneering speech, lie raised the biggest laughof the meeting w hen he siad: “Even the brazen tongue of the broadcaster could not repeat Afr AlneDonald’s speech last night. Since the Labour Government came in. unemployment has gone up. the cost of living has gone np. mid the number of hottses being built has . gihio down, hut the cost has gone up. So far as lam concerned. Labour shall no mote have my support. Th o .Government’s unemployment proposals are an imposture. Labour has crossed the btfrder line of prudence, which is the difference between providing against the starvation of families out of work, and the temptation to people not to work. Labour has no more originality than a Chinese tailor who copies the very patches on a garment. AH Snowden has ideas hut he got them from a Liberal pamphlet. CONSERVATIVE ‘WITHDRAWAL. LONDON. Oct. 10. The Conservatives in the Carnavon Boroughs have, decided not to run, a candidate against Air TJov.I George. Mr Tom Alann contests East Nottingham against the Liberal and Conservative.