The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 12, 1925. BRITISH POLITIES.

Hokitika Guardian, 12 August 1925, Page 2

The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 12, 1925. BRITISH POLITIES.

Duspito tlie- large majority of the Conservative party in pov.er at Home. British politi.s are far from Being in a settled condition, it was stated in the cable news on Monday, on the authority of ‘‘Reynolds” newspaper, a well-informed Knglish weekly, that the i ossibilities ot a general election were not remote, as Mr Baldwin contom--1 lated appealing to tiie country on a policy of preference as an effort to restore industrial conditions to a more ■stable state. This is not beyond the bounds of reason. At the last general election, Mr Baldwin gave a hurried cK eision on the subject by stating that preference would he dropped. He has had occasion evidently to revise hiviews, and now he would seek for it as some effort to solve the great industrial problem before the Government. Mr Baldwin is rather ready to act and think afterwards. Fortunately for him he enjoys great public confidence and though he is leader of the Conservatives. he is rather a Liberal Indisposition. The same can l>e said of Mr Winston Churchill one of his chief lieutenants, as also of other members of the Cabinet. Mr Baldwin must he feeling his hands tied by the promise he gave, hut lie has got to respect it. Me has made other promises affecting the good government of the country, notably to see unemployment reduced. But he has not kept that promise, for unemployment has increased. Finding his methods ineffective, he has resource now evidently to a fiscal policy through

tlio Customs. It is a great reversal of the free trade policy of Great Britain, but -as circumstances alter cases, ■so the position must he viewed from the fresh viewpoint. The amount of dumping which went, on in England of foreign manufactured goods when the McKenna duties were to he re-intro-duced was remarkable, by sea and ferryboat, and even by aerial transit many hundreds of goods of all classes were brought into England, and, escaping duty charges were put on the market at prices which defied Home competition All this has happened in a very short time, ft has been a revelation On top of it the Labor party as a very important political section of the community lias come to realise the need for protection in some form or other to permit British manufacturers to compete with Continental linns. The preference proposals no doubt refer to the possibilities of extending trade within the Empire, a step of the first moment, and the natural course to be taken if the far-flung Empire is to be. kept intact with a common community of interest. It is conceivable also that .Mr Baldwin will be seeking a more definite mandate as logards the settlement of industrial difficulties. The country cannot face a strike settlement as cestly as the recent one very often, if ever again. There is far too much involved in every way, and it would bo fatal to the Conservatives if once again they attempted to take the least line of resistance without some effort or attempt at remedial measures. The .Ministry must devise some method, or put forward some policy. Otherwise its maiia "ill depart, and if the Conservatives were to lose the hold they now have, it is doubtful if they could hope to regain it again within a reasonable period of time. In the circumstances therefore it will not he surprising if Mr Baldwin seeks a general election as a way out of the perplexing problems now troubling him.