WORLD AFFAIRS.

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

WORLD AFFAIRS.

A WEEKLY REVIEW,

(By BYSTANDER.)

Since my last notes appeared, the new political situation has been developing steadily at Home. Mr. Mac Donald and Mr. Thomas can muster about half-a-dozen followers out of the old Labour Party, but the combined Government forces will certainly have a solid majority over the Opposition. Perhaps the most depressing feature of this curious transformation scene is the attitude taken up by Labour toward the national crisis. Mr. Henderson still insists that "the London bankers are 'the villains of the piece'"; the President of the Trades Union Congress declares, that the alleged crisis is largely fictitious, and that it has been deliberately engineered by "political and financial influences of a sinister character working behind the scenes"; and now the redoubtable Commander Kenworthy has come to the front with the assertion that the crisis is due to the malign activities of "financial houses and French 'and American bankers," and consoles his comrades with the assurance that "the Labour Party is fighting a small oligarchy of financiers." Men who will accept this puerile twaddle as political wisdom will believe anything. But the most unfortunate part of it is that, while Mr. Mac Donald has only a dozen followers left, Mr. Henderson has ahout 280, who apparently believe with him that' "the bankers have done it all." In the light of all this, what is the value of the political education and the political experience that Labour has gained during the past twenty years?'

What of the Dole?

As everybody realises by this time, the split in the Labour Party has arisen over differences of. opinion about the dole. The "Review of Reviews" for May last referred to this system in rather scathing terms. "Beginning as a legitimate and worthy measure to ensure the maintenance of workers temporarily displaced from their occupations, it has developed into a huge national charity committed to the support of over a million and a half of people at an annual cost to the State of £45,000,000." The burden of this expenditure is, of course, intolerable, but as M. Siegfried, one of the' acutest of our Continental critics, has pointed out, the gravest feature of the condition is not so much the intensity of unemployment in Britain as its permanence. As Siegfried has said elsewhere, the danger is that the British people may resign themselves to let the dole frankly become "State assistance Avithout contributions from the beneficiaries," and recent events seem tending in that direction. But in spite of the enormous expense and the palpable dangers that the system entails, it was Siegfried's opinion, formed after careful observation six months ago, that "110 politician would dare to attack openly the policy of the dole; he would simply lose his scat." The truth of this estimate of the situation is borne out. by the collapse of the Labour Government at the bare suggestion that the dole might be reduced. Mr. Thomas has courageously defended himself against the heinous charge of advocating a 10 per cent cut in unemployment pay, and he has warned the workers that the 10 per cent cut to-day may save 50 per cent later on. But they decline to believe him, and follow Mr. Henderson with "alarums and excursions, drums and trumpets." A Vigorous Resurrection. On September 7, the day after the Federal Deposit Bank of Brisbane had suspended payment, the New South Wales Government Savings Bank reopened its doors. Great enthusiasm was displayed by a large crowd of onlookers and depositors, and by the end of the day nearly 9000 new accounts had been opened in the city, suburban and country branches. Both the President of the Bank, Mr. O'Malley Wood, and the Premier, Mr. J. T. Lang, have described this new inauguration of the Bank as most encouraging and satisfactory; but very little credit is due to its present political sponsors. The Sydney Savings Bank, like the Brisbane Federal Deposit Bank, closed not really through insolvency or lack of tangible assets, but because for the time being the general public had lost confidence in local finance and in local or Federal politics. The strenuous effort made by the Federal Government to recover lost ground, and the assurance now provided that the financial arrangements of the Commonwealth will be conducted on more rational lines for the future, have 1 already borne fruit in the partial recovery evidenced in the successful reopening of the Sydney Bank, and the beneficent influence of even this slight revival of public confidence in Sydney will no doubt speedily be felt not only throughout New South Wales, but through the length and breadth of the Australian Continent. A Chilian Revolution. Yesterday week it was announced that the entire Chilian Navy had revolted against the Government, and that the rebels seemed likely to maintain their footing. The mutineers began by demanding increased pay, and, gaining courage with success, they presented a complete revolutionary programme, including the trial of the former President Ibanez, a levy on wealth and capital, the seizure of large estates and other demands of a like nature. General Ibanez was overthrown in July, and the pew revolutionary Cabinet was the fourth government to establish itself in office at Valparaiso since then. But the Chilian National Assembly rose to the occasion, declared'a state of siege,' organised a considerable army and attacked the rebels. Yesterday it was reported that the revolutionary forces had been crushed by land and sea; to-day u is asserted that the last emberp of revolt are being extinguished, and generally speaking we may be sure that the people of Chile are not yet favourably disposed toward Bolshevism. For there is evidence to prove that this revolution was. organised and fomented by Soviet emissaries, and. that strong efforts are being made to popularise Bolshevism throughout the Latin' republics in South and 1 Central America. In Mexico the Bolsheviks have had some measure of success, but in Chile though the struggle has been a fierce one, the supporters of "the established order" have more than held their own. But this abortive little rising is another link in the chain of evidence which connects the world-wide industrial and social unrest of the day with Moscow. • r That "Anschluss." When are we to hear the last of the projected Customs Union between Germany and Austria? Theoretically, finality was reached last week when the Court of International Justice pronounced this proposed "Zollverein" to be incompatible with the terms of peace and with the Geneva Protocol. Of course, the trouble behind it all is. the certainty that such an economic union is intended to be a prelude to a close political union, which would inevitably develop from it. But behind this, in turn, lies the further question whether Austria and Germany, both having practically a Teutonic population, have not a right to political union in accordance with the doctrine of Nationalism preached so often and so eloquently by the Allies during the war. My own conviction js that the principle of Nationality should prevail, and that the. Allies were right during the war and are wrong, to-day. But if they do not wish to. have an "Anschluss" or political union between Germany and Austria, they certainly cannot afford to permit a Zollverein,. for the first follows by an irresistible logical necessity from the second.