BRITAIN'S NEEDS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 202, 27 August 1931, Page 7

BRITAIN'S NEEDS.

AN APPEAL TO REASON

jtlr. Mac Donald's Frank Radio

Broadcast.

SUPPORT OF LABOUR ASKED.

United PA.—Electric Telegraph—Copyright)

(Received 9.30 a.m.) LONDON, August 26.

Mr. Ramsay Mac Donald has sent a letter to all the Labour members of Parliament expressing his deepest re oret at the division in their ranks an d asking them to consider the situation .'without' prejudice before deciding which way they will take. He stated that he had watched for weeks past the situation, which had increased in difficulty. He had consulted every shade of opinion and felt that if the financial stability of Britain was endangered and a run was made on their financial resources the consequences would be too terrible to envisage.

This had made a temporary retrenchment inevitable. It was impossible to disreoTird the approaching calamity without escaping the responsibility of it. tierefor&j when all was over, the party « v»<M be left untrammelled.

"We beg. during these trying hours, a dispassionate consideration of hard issues," stated the Prime Ministpr.

The Prime Minister, in his first broadcast since the crisis, said that there had been a good deal, of damaging propaganda, and foreigners, not knowing Britain's financial strength, listened to ghost stories and became nervous. It was quite untrue to say that foreigners • deliberately tried to harm Britain.' They were ready to help her a<min, but needed to be reassured about her position. It was useless to say they ought not.-to have been as anxious as they were. .-•-■;

It was essential that world confidence in Britain's-credit should be restored. Tae collapse of the pound sterling would have been 'fatal, since Britain above all other countries depended on credit to buy food. The pound sterling was also the iTeatest medium in commerce and trade. A large part of the world rested its confidence in the pound sterling. If this was destroyed everyone, particularly the workers, would suffer. ' Decisive Action Needed. Things, were happening in international finance .which were speedily leading towards a crisis. Swift, decisive action was demanded, and this the new Government proposed to take. There was no disagreement- in the Labour Cabinet on the point that fairly drastic economies were necessary. What troubled,his former associates most was cutting, dawn the unemployment benefits. The Government could not appeal to everyone to help and exclude those who cost the-State.£loo,ooo,ooo a year..

Mr. Mac Donald emphatically- denied that there was any bankers'. "ramp" -or conspiracy-against the- Labour Government. The Bank of England-throughout had not-shown- the least -bias. The crisis was purely financial.

The only thing which' could put British' credit in a position of" security' was a scheme of economies.

The new Government was a Government of individuals, formed to do a particular'work. Those who had taken risks would receive either punishment or reward at the general election which would follow;'"

In the meantime, he appealed to everyone, rich, and poor, employed and unemployed, to face the difficulties,, as the country always had done, with the heart and determination to overcome them.

Mr. J. H. Thomas, In a message to the '•"Bailway Review," states:. "I have considered it my duty, in the national interest,, to join the emergency Government. ' T realise that my action will be misrepresented or misunderstood, but I believe the step will not only react in 'immediate and ultimate benefit to the workers, but was necessary in the interests of the nation."