Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. THURSDAY, AUGUST 5, 1937. BRITAIN'S FOREIGN POLICY.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 57, Issue 252, 5 August 1937, Page 4

Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. THURSDAY, AUGUST 5, 1937. BRITAIN'S FOREIGN POLICY.

Mr Chamberlain’s Government ;s dealing with foreign affairs much more promptly and more directly than was the case during the Baldwin regime. This statement by the cable agent in London bears out the forecast that was made when the change in the premiership took place. High as Mr Baldwin ranks among those who have occupied the chief post in the Governments of Britain he had his defects. He was too typical an Englishman, perhaps, to take a sustained and detailed interest in foreign affairs. He made no obvious contribution to the cause of European settlement which was one of the main objectives of his last term of office; on one memorable occasion a sudden reversal of British foreign policy dismayed the .public before there was any sign that the significance of the change had been grasped either by the Cabinet as a whole or by its head. One Roman trait that characterises Mr Chamberlain, but was not the strongest feature of his predecessor, is executive ability of a very high order. He dislikes vagueness and lazi-' ness in action as much as he dislikes them in thought and he is the son of his great father in his capacity for getting things done” when once he has made up his mind that they are necessary. Though his interest has never lain in the field of international affairs the approach to the solution of international problems has to-day to be made more and more in that financial and economic sphere with which he is not entirely unfamiliar. Thus Mr Eden will find him neither indifferent nor unsympathetic. Discussing the subject of foreign policy recently “The Times” said there is little doubt as to what the country is now beginning consciously to want. It is a clearer line of action —a line of action more independent and less one-sided in its European sympathies than it has been in recent years and devoted to the single aim of moderating international differences and exorcising the danger of rising armaments. Mr Chamberlain’s early actions as Prime Minister give rise to the expectation that this requirement will be met. His future success will be in proportion as he realises that expectation. It is significant that while United States observers expect more firmness in Britain s foreign relations, the new pegime has been welcomed on the Continent.