IMPERIAL PROBLEMS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 17688, 28 July 1919, Page 5

IMPERIAL PROBLEMS

SPEECH BY MR ASQUITH. SERIOUS QUESTIONS FOR PARLIAMENT. Press Aenociation—By Telegraph-Copyright. LONDON, July 26. (Received July 27, at 11.5 p.m.) Speaking at Edgeware, Mr Asquith expressed serious misgivings regarding our policy m Russia. Ho said the future government of Russia should be made by the Russians alone. The latest official pronouncement regarding Ireland was most disquieting and discouraging. The economic conditions of the world and of Britain had never been more menacing. We had faulty administration. There were excessive prices, inflated currency, and extravagant profits in favoured trades, and transport facilities were deficient and dislocated rhese legacies of the war demanded prompt and drastic handling. There was no common policy for the co-ordination of powers under a central and responsible Government. The public expenditure was rising. There had never been so many place men in the House of Commons since the days of Queen Anne, and no House of Commons had ever, within six months of an election, possessed in a lesser degree the nation's confidence and respect. We needed a real representative Parliament. We would never make a real advance towards industrial peace until we were able with full Cabinet authority, to deal with the situation as a whole. Referring to the reactionary spirit underlyiug the Triple Labour Alliance's ballot Mr Asquith said he meant direct action He warned his hearers that parliamentary institutions here and elsewhere were undergoing a severe trial, and they would not emerge with success unless they developed to meet the present needs. Meanwhile, there must be no delay in restoring to the House of Commons permanent and independent authority over the whole machinery of government. Never before was a Liberal Party more needed, with its> principles of freedom, equality, and diffusion of justice for all men.—A. and N Z Cable,