BRITISH POLITICS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 133, 27 May 1908, Page 2

BRITISH POLITICS.

BRITISH LABOR PARTY. London, May 2j. Uailotting by the Miners' Federation favors allilialion with the Labor Representation Committee. This means the addition of thirteen members of the House of Commons to that party sccWOMEN'S SUFFRAGE QUESTION. London, May 25. The Spectator newspaper bitterly opposes the proposed concession of votes to women, arguing that ''a woman is not a man." In other words, Nature lias placed in man's hands thy ultima ratio of physical force.

BUDGIST DEBATE. BLEEDING THE RICH. Received 2Uth, 11.45 p.m. London, May 2G. Discussing the Budget, Mr. Austin Chamberlain taunted the Government with unsound finance in establishing pe sions without knowing where ibe additional ten millions, required in liWtf for pensions, battleships, and education would come from. The abandonment of a contributory scheme of pensions was a direct discouragement to thrift. The restriction affecting married couples was harsh and unjustifiable.

Mr. Snowden advocated tho re-distri-bution of wealth. Money for pensions oilier than social reforms could be obtained by thu imposition of a graduated tax on incomes above .C3OOO a year also from increased death duties.

Mr. Lloyd-George, Chancellor of the Exchequer, ridiculed the exhaustion of froe-trade finance. When the time came to find six millions required for pensions it would be found. The resources of civ ilisation were not exhausted. The Government hoped lo travel further in the direction of the reduction of armaments. Mr. Lloyd-George thought that Mr. Snowden's suggestions for bleeding tin- rich men, while it might be valuable in respect to some future Chancellor of tho Exchequer, was still not too much to ask of a portion of the community that hardly know how to dispose of its vast wealth. In his opinion, it should contribute more towards the lot of the poor. It was deplorable that so much was spent in providing machinery to destroy human life. This was all due to mad competition, for which Britain was as responsible as any other country. The resolution-the re-imposition of the income tax—was carried bv 230 to 81.