HOME POLITICS.

Taranaki Daily News, 25 January 1922, Page 5

HOME POLITICS.

THE LIBERAL POLICY.

SPEECH BY MR. ASGUITH.

ANGRY WITH THE PREMIER. By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright. Received Jan. 24, 11.30 p.m. London, Jan. 23. Mr. Asquith and Viscount Grey were the chief speakers at a demonstration in the Central Hall, Westminster. Mr. Agquith declared that Viscount Grey for a decade in the precarious and ever-menacing international situation before the war had been responsible for the maintenance of peace in Europe and his return to politics was the restoration of an incalculable national asset. Mr. Asquith said the Coalition had dropped its immediate election plan, because it would split the Coalition into fragments. The Coalition now claimed they had become ruthless economists, though before the war they had indulged in the costliest futile adventures. ‘‘The Liberal principles have not changed,” he added, “and I have not changed, yet the Prime Minister on Saturday thought it seemly to indulge in a number of personal gibes directed at me. They are the sort of stuff which appeared in the leaflets and broad sheets of the less scrupulous Tory candidates at the general election in 1910. These stale jocularities, which my old colleague and fellow fighter brought to life, were received with appreciative laughter by so called Liberal delegates. I am sorry for my old friend, but I am too old, perhaps too disillusioned, to look for gratitude in politics, nor unhappily is it possible to teach some people good taste and good manners.” Viscount Grey said he had returned to public life because since the last election the House of Commons allowed any apparent scandal to remain unopposed, allowed policies, however extravagant, to continue unchecked, allowed inconsistencies, however flagrant, to occur without calling the Government to account, and because we have had a Government which has taken full advantage of the license allowed by the House of Commons. It was absolutely essential to restore wholesome, straightforward politics, and the first need was that the Coalition should be brought to an end. Mr. Lloyd George seemed to think he invented the method of transacting foreign affairs by conferences: that was practised before the war, and would have been practised on the eve of the war if our advice had been taken. -Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn.