LABOUR'S POLICY

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 49, Issue 198, 7 June 1929, Page 5

LABOUR'S POLICY

UNEMPLOYMENT PROBLEM.

ORGANISATION WORK BEGUN.

M THOMAS'S PROPOSALS. (Received This Day, 11.30 a.m.) LONDON, June 6. After paying a yisit to-day to No. %10 Downing; Street, Mr J. Ramsay MacDonald, the new Prime Minister, declared: "I went to Dining Street to set moving the organisation of work connected with the first real handling of the unemployment problem.- That work has already begun. It is recalled that Mr J. H. Thomas, in some of his election campaign speeches, outlined definite plans of his own for dealing with unemployment, and forecasts agree that he will be ■entrusted with the problem. Railway organisation and development is one of them. Mr Thomas believes that a revival of the Trade Facilities Act would enable the railway companies to undertake schemes for electrical equipment and other methods of modernisation which they are precluded from embarking upon at present owing to their inability to raise loans on suf- ' ficiently advantageous terms. He has indicated, also, the necessity for a ring of new railways around London to overcome the delay, inconvenience, and cost of carting goods across London from one depot to another. The scheme which Mr Thomas has put forward is that of. making more adequate provision for State pensions for men at the age of 60 or 65, so as to remove them altogether from industry and thus provide work for young men at present unemployed. His plan is that the saving on unemployment reEef would go a long way toward meeting the cost of larger pensions. • • It is anticipated that the first meeting of the new Cabinet will be held on Monday. Mr MacDonald will then take the opportunity of spending a much-needed holiday of very short du- . ration before the new Parliament meets. He will visit Lossiemouth, his home in Scotland. British Official "Wireless.

MINISTRY OF UNEMPLOYMENT.

MR THOMAS'S PROBABLE DUTY. (Unit«Ml Press Association —Copyrights (Received This Day, 9.5 a.m.) LONDON, June 6. "With the certainty that .the King will be ready on Saturday to hand the new Ministers their seals of office, there is more definite talk of their al- ( location. There are the strongest grounds for saying that Mr J. H. Thomas will be given the post of Lord Privy Seal, so that he will be able to concentrate on the "Ministry of Unemployment," for which he has several schemes of his own devising, notably railway betterment. There is no definite hint yet who will go to the Dominions Office. Mr Arthur Henderson seems marked out for the Foreign Secretaryship. Australian Press Association.

"DICTATOR WOULD BE BETTER."

DEAN INGE'S MISGIVINGS. (Received This Day. 10.55 a.m.) LONDON, June 6. "Politics is an expensive and futile game. We would all 'be better off under a capable dictator," writes Dean Inge in an article on the elections in a. Church of England newspaper. "Mr Snowden will probably complete the ruin of landed gentry, and bleed the upper middle-classes white, a but the amount of loot is likely to be disappointing. The habit of no longer looking' to Parliament for constructive measures has been confirmed by the inertia and futility of Mr Baldwin's Government." —Australian Press Association, United Service.

SOME RELAXATION.

EX-MINISTER'S PURSUITS. LONDON, June 6. It is popularly supposed that Ministers dislike surrendering office, but the "Daily Mail's" political writer says that Mr Baldwin and his colleagues tipper to be considerably relieved, notably Sir Austen Chamberlain, who yesterday wafe busy weeding his rock ;arden at Twitts Ghyll, his . Sussex wme. Mr Baldwin, who is going to play Senilis again, has purchased a friend's acquet secondhand. Mr Winston Churchill has spent the ast two days clearing the mud from a stream which runs through the garden it his Westerham (Kent) home. He s now free to enter the City, and will ihortly be offered bank and insurance jompany directorships. He has also igned contracts- for journalistic work. Be has undertaken, up to date, to do k history of his ancestor, the great >uke of Marlborough.—United Serrice.

1 THE LABOUR PROGRAMME. I TWO HUNDRED ASPIRE TO ■ OFFICE. I ' LONDON, June 5. I "Hie Sydney "Sun's" political repreHentative attended at Transport House, Hrhere the Labour Party executive Hieeting was held this afternoon. He Harris that Mr MacDonald's Cabinet is Hot finally completed, but will probably He announced on Saturday, when Mr HlacT>onald will submit a full list to His Majesty, immediately after which Hie names will be published. H Tt has been decided to open immeHately a great "Victory and ThanksHving Fund," to which all sections of He Labour movement will be invited H contribute in order to carry on the Huty'e work of strengthening organi-

eation in readiness for the next General Election. Undoubtedly one of Mr MacDonald s great difficulties is that roughly 200 members are seeking office, but he is determined to decide absolutely singlehanded who will be his Ministers. He conversed withr Lord Arnold in his motor-car outside: Lord Arnold is a probable member of the Cabinet. Lord Arnold indicated that decisions had already been taken regarding the new Government's immediate course of action. One of the first steps will be in connection with Anglo-American relations. • _ . . . " The Baldwin Administration's chilly handling of these issues largely caused their defeat," he said. "Discussions will proceed as soon as the new American Ambassador, General Dawes, arrives, regarding the limitation of arms."

Lord Arnoldj while admitting that .Labour was faced with great problems, expressed optimism and his conviction that the change was for the better. It was not proposed to prolong the forthcoming sitting of Parliament, which meets on June 25. The first dutv of the House will be to elect the Speaker, who will be Captain Fitzroy. Then members will be sworn in. which will occupy a week. The Government will not invite Parliament immediately to consider important legislative measures. The fact that Parliament is not equipped for serious business until the second week in July, at the earliest, makes it impossible for the House of Commons to tackle its legislative programme before the summer holidays. No legislation will be required to give effect to Labour's intention to press for "a speedy convocation of a General Disarmament Conference, nor in connection with the re-establishment of diplomatic relations with Russia.

Similarly, much will be done in the domestic sphere, such as housing and education. There is reason to believe that Labour intends to do considerable work in connection with these, and unemployment relief, by the administrative machine.

Labour also intends immediately to deal with widows', orphans'', and old age pensions and unemployment insurance. It is believed that Mr Philip Snowden will greatly revise Mr Winston Churchill's second' Finance ; Bill. He is strongly opposed to Mr Churchill's betting tax arrangement, and also denounces the reduction or liquor licenses. Many doubt whether Mr Churchill's second Finance Bill will ever see the light.—United Service.

A FEW DAYS' REST.

MR MACDONALD'S HOPE.

LONDON, June 5

It is considered probable that Mr Mae Donald's list of Cabinet Ministers will not be prepared for publication until later in the week and that the junior Ministerial posts will not be-fill-ed until next week.

After he has completed these and other necessary arrangements the new Prime Minister hopes to. take a few days' rest prior to the re-assembly of Parliament. He will go to Lossiemouth, his Scottish home. Mr MacDonald was the centre of enthusiastic demonstrations from his supporters when he drove this afternoon to a joint meeting of the executives of the Parliamentary Labour Party and the National Labour Party. —British Official Wireless.

SOVIET PAPER'S COMMENT

HATRED OF BALDWIN REGIME.

(Received This Dav. 9.35 a.m.) LONDON, June 6. The Riga correspondent of "The Times" states: "Now perhaps the world will breathe more freely," is how the Soviet's official newspaper "Izvestia." in a leading article, sums up Mr Baldwin's/decision' to resign. »It says that the masses so hated Mr Baldwin's Government that the result of the election was never in doubt. It was a period of blackest reaction in England that Baldwin's Government relegated' posterity. As one of the most aggressive Governments Britain has ever had it was responsible for the intensive preparations for war now proceeding in capitalist countries. The paper concludes by issuing the warning that change of government is not by any means a permanent change I in the character of British capitalism. i "The temporary improvement," it says, "will be inconsiderable to the workers. The Soviet Union must remember that forces similar to those that composed Mr Baldwin's Government will continue to threaten a new world cataclysm."—The "Times," Cables. \