Te Aroha AND Ohinemuri News SATURDAY, DECEMBER 4, 1909. THE POLITICAL CRISIS IN ENGLAND.

Te Aroha News, Volume XXVII, Issue 4499, 4 December 1909, Page 2

Te Aroha AND Ohinemuri News

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 4,1909.

THE POLITICAL CRISIS IN ENGLAND.

This above all—to thine own self be true, And it must follow as the night the day Thou canst not then be false to any man Shakespeare.

Every part of tlie British Empire terested in whatever of an important character happens in the political, socia , or indust’ial spheres in England. Inc struggle between the House of Lords and The House of Commons is of no ordinary nature, and Its consequences are likely to be very serious. A War of Classes seems to be imminent, and we cannot but express surprise at the efforts which some high personages in Parliament are inakuig to inflame the poor against the rich. That is a most dangerous cx] criment, and we cannot but characterise it as unwise, impolitic, inexpedient and wrong. Our sympathies are with the poor, but the best interests of the latter arc not conserved or promoted by class animosities. To set class against class for political party interests is immoral and politically dangerous. It is one tliii [Z to lift the flood-gntes «md another to control the fliod. (Some of the indiscreet and inttammatoiy speakers in the Home of Commons and on political platforms in England, may think that* if the masses cm be excited adequately for the carrying out of the party programme, they will then be able to allay all excitement; but it is one thing to create a Frankenstein monster and another to control it. Revolutions have sometimes begun in a most unexpected manner through the over-wrought emotions and uncontrolable thoughts of the people. It is quite true that some of Die opposition to the Budget iu England comes from certain land owners whose self interest appears to predominate over the people’s welfare. Some landowners iu England have acted most greedily and unwisely in regard to their vast estates, when a generous consideration of Ihe interests of the community was legitimately called for. Mr LloydGeorgc’s Budget, around the wordy warfare now rages, had for ils main objects the seeming of Social Reform ; the relief of necessaries of life from taxation ; the converting of paupers into State pensioners ; the providing of national insurance against sickness and widowhood ; the reform of the poor laws and insurance against unemployment. All those objects we sympathise with, because the lot of the poor in England has been anything but what it should be in a Christian land boasting such an old civilisation. Rome of those who are opposing the Budget seem to be more anxious to protect their own pockets than to advance the real welfare of the people, and sonic of the Opposition have iu the past paid very inadequate taxes compared with tin ir wealth. Most glaring instances arc being pointed ont in the public press, and considerable indignation has been aroused at the glaring unfairness which still obtains in England.

It has been pointed out, for instance, the Duke of Northumberland owns 200,000 acres out of 1,200,000 acres included in Northumberland County. But the Duke is extremely anxious not to part with any of his land except at his own valuation. There is a serious difference, however, between the value of 15s pier acre, at which tho land is “ declared ” for rating piurposes, and £OOO nor acre, which the Duke has actually demanded and received for some of his land. Not long ago a question was asked in the House of Commons about a school site, for which the Duke of Northumberland, Chairman of the lccal council, received £9OO an acre as owner, though the surrounding country is leased by him at 30s per acre. When Lemington, a working man’s suburb of Newcistle, required a cemeterv, the Duke sold six acres for the purpose at £7OO per acre ; but he absolutely declined to sell the workers land for a public hall, and when they tried to use the Cooperative Hociety Hall he promptly enforced a clause in the sale-contract, which prevents the building being urn 1 for political piurposes. Near Alnwick Castle, the ducal seat, is a little village, where tho workers are crowded into grimy slums for lack of room. lie Duke has refused to relieve the pressure by selling any part of the ‘‘ thousand s of acres of park and pasture lands, stretching mile on mile, locking in the little town.” Who can sympathise with that dog in the niang r spirit ? Who worbl not like to see such men taxed more adequately in the interests of the. pioor 1 .But the contest should bo carried on with due regard to the nation’s permanent welfare, and if the House of Lords is to lie penalised because it insists on the rights of the people to pronounce upon the Budget scheme, then the Commons may d > in haste what they will repent at leisure. It is claimed that the Ooum.ons have embodied iu the Budget some things which are not fiuancitil. hut piolitical matters which are sought to he carried by a side wind instead of. by fair open, anil legitimate argument in Parliament on their merits. On that ground the Lords contend that they would he shirking their manifest duty if they did not enforce an appeal to the peopile. That is the contest, and we shall await the issue with considerable interest. It is a great historical crisis,