The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, The Echo and The Sun. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 1931. THE ISSUE IN BRITAIN.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 214, 10 September 1931, Page 6

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, The Echo and The Sun.

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 1931. THE ISSUE IN BRITAIN.

For the cause that lacka assistance, For the wrong that needs resistance, For the future in the distance, And the good that «ce can ic.

The new political battle in the Commons has begun, and the strength and determination of the forces opposed to the Government is depressing to all those Avho do not believe that the financiers are the villains of the drama. To say that the Labour Party has been split by the crisis is not accurate, for more than 90 per cent of the party's strength in the House ranged solidly and bitterly against the Government. Rather may the party be described as a ship that has lost part of its equipment or complement. The saddest feature of the first debate in the House is that it shows how little the rank and file of Labour has learnt about the practical side of politics in its two terms of office. It has been said that, because finance is difficult to understand and democracy is so fond of thinking of government in terms of spending, financial policy is the severest test of democracy, and now Mr. Arthur Henderson and the Trade Union Congress are underlining the comment. They are thinking purely in terms of class, instead of nationally. One expected Mr. James Maxton, a revolutionary who is, by the way, most popular with, all parties, to oppose the Government's economies, but that "Uncle Arthur," as mild a Socialist as ever sipped the fiery spirit of Karl Marx, should do so is profoundly disappointing. One remembers how clearly he saw the issues in the war, and how loyally he worked for the salvation of his country. It is a different enemy that is now at the gate, but Mr. Henderson does not realise the peril. The Prime Minister's opening statement was clear and courageous, the expression of an honest man's convictions in the face of a grave crisis, and an appeal to the patriotism of the nation. Mr. Mac Donald referred specifically to the dangers that threaten Britain as a country dependent upon a complicated system of. credit and exchange, and the centre of world finance; confusion, he said, might produce consequences "too awful to contemplate," and the social services in respect to which- the Labour Party is joining battle might shrink to almost nothing. Unfortunately, it is just this delicacy and complexity of finance, and the importance of British credit, that the rank and file of the Labour Party do not understand. In such eases, the simplicity of the Socialist faith, which teaches that financiers are parasites and robbers, is fatal. The Government, however, is determined to balance the Budget, and to this end it is adopting a procedure that has no parallel in time of peace. An actual Budget will be introduced to-day, but the Government is taking power to do what it considers necessary, by Order-iri-Council, which means that it will be able to act without Parliamentary authority. This step has been taken to avoid the delays that would certainly be caused if every proposal was submitted to the House in its present temper, but the nature of the procedure is proof of the gravity of the situation.