BRITISH POLITICS

Hokitika Guardian, 30 September 1932, Page 5

BRITISH POLITICS

MEMBERS RESIGN THE REASONS THEREFORE. (British Ofliciil Wireless.) RUGBY, September 28.. The resignation of three members of the Cabinet, Lord Snowden ) ST H. 1 Samuel, and Sir A. Sinclair, was announced after the meeting of G a binet this morning. . 1 To-day’.s,. Cabinet was the first full 1 meeting j-sinoe the Ottawa Conference, and was called to consider the legislation arising out of th 6 agreements ■reached there. , 1 NEW MINISTERS. , RUGBY, September 28. < This evening it was announced that s the King had accepted the resignations, and approved the following ap- ’ pointments:— ( Sir John Gilmour (Conservative), who «' hag been Minister of Agriculture since 1931, to be Secretary of State for s Home Affairs, vice Sir H. Samuel. Major Elliot (Conservative), Financial Secretary to the Treasury since 1931, to be Minister of Agriculture, vic e 'Sir J, Gilmour. Sir Godfrey Collins (Liberal Rational Member of Parliament) to be Secretary for Scotland,, vice Sir J. Sinclair. j No .successor to Lord Snowden was l announced, but the newspapers ex- t pect that the duties of -thin'office will i be combined with those of another Minister’s. t i government statements. 1 1 RUGBY, September 28. i The Prime Minister, on behalf of himself and his National Labour col- < • leagues? Hi the Goveßiment ((Lord Sankey and Mr J. H. Thomas) made the following statement: —“We put our hands to a very «big job twelve months ago. We knew what it meant. The work is not finished and cannot be finished until on*, way or another, there is a reparations and debts settlement. There is also the World Economic Conference, and we will go. on 1 i thesg things are ’ done. The < nation still needs a non-Party Govern- • ment and purely party considerations ' would weaken our national influence in the worTd, and be a blow at move- J ments ridw at work .towards world recovery.” t '. the heaviest blow. LONDON, September 29. The “News-Chronicle’’ applauds Lord i Snowden’s letter to Mr (MacDonald, as a “masterpiece Of trenchant invect'Ve, and as ; “the heaviest ‘blow struck at : Ottawa.” Tile Sartuelifces, it says, are i now ffe e to advocate courageous Liberal solutions of the national problems. SUPPORT FOR CABINET. i RUGBY, September 28. “We aren’t quitters. We shall stay and support Mr MacDonald,” said Mi Runciman prior to a dinner of Simon supporters, at which he explained the Ottawa agreements. The elder Liberal statesmen, the Marquees of Crewe, Marquess of Reading and Viscount Grey, in a letter from the party headquarters say those who share Sir Samuel’s views on the I'ytawia Conference, must regard the resignations as inevitable, but the signatories hope it will be shown this difference of opinion does not mean joining the Opposition to overthrow the Government, which would shake the financial credit of the country and produce greater distress than ever a mistaken fiscal policy can do. It is important also, that in India, European and International affairs, generally the Government should hav e national support. The signatories understand that except as regards fiscal policy, there has 'been no difference on th 6 main issues inside the Cabinet, and it is hoped this degree of harmony may be found possible outside the Cabinet. PRESS COMMENT.' LONDON, September 29. “The Times” has <a leading article entitled “Untimely Secession.” It regrets the Ministers’ resignation's. The paper says: “The appointment of successors proves that the breach easily reparable. The resignees never were jndispensible. Ihe change leaves the Government truly as national as ever, and it is able to prove that the resignations were unjustifiable by. an increased care in (the pursuit of a national policy. The terrible dangers which' the SamualUes ?ee m the Ottawa decisions are not detected by the remaining Ministers. Th e C a bi net need not waste time in vain regrets when It has to carry the country through an exceptionally hard winter. The Ministers can only set their teeth and face their responsibilities with unabated courage.” The “Daily Mail” describes the resignations as a blow to national unity rnd emphasises the need of unity in dealing with critical foreign affairs, the Indian problem and th e Irish problem, also the world economic conference. FRENCH OPINION. PARIS, 'September '29. , Newspaper regard the British resignations as unlikely to cau’e any [ chang e in Cabinet’s general, or foreign policy.