EMPIRE UNITED.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 251, 23 October 1935, Page 7

EMPIRE UNITED.

SOLIDARITY IN CRISIS. FOREIGN SECRETARY'S STATEMENT. MEMBER SUGGESTS CLOSING SUEZ. United Press Association. —Copyright.—Rec. 12.30 p.m. • LONDON, October 22. The House of Commons was crowded- to hear the statement on the international situation by Sir Samuel Hoare, Foreign Minister. There was a full muster of Ministers on the front bench, with Mr. Baldwin in the centre. Even the Peers' Gallery was full, which is an unusual sight. Representatives of foreign embassies and legations crowded the Distinguished Strangers' Gallery and scarcely concealed their impatience. Sir Samuel Hoare, after paying a tribute to Mr. Arthur Henderson as one deserving well of his country, declared that amidst all the baffling and dispiriting conditions of the present situation the greatest source of comfort and encouragement had been the unbroken solidarity of the British Empire, particularly the unanimity of the Dominions which had reached the same conclusion as Britain in one of the most critical situations facing this generation. Adoption of Sanctions Will Take Time. Major Attlee, Labour leader, said that the party welcomed the rally of public opinion to League principles, but criticised the past conduct of the Government as lacking consistency and vigour. Sir Herbert Samuel said he trusted that what Sir Samuel Hoare had said did not mean that the adoption of sanctions would be suspended for a single day.

Sir Samuel Hoare: I do not contemplate delay, but there must be an interval before application.

• Sir Herbert Samuel said he was glad "to . have that explanation. /

Mr. George Lansbury, reiterating his appeal for a pooling of the world resources, said: "Surely the will of man, which could devise schemes of slaughter, could devise collective schemes for preserving human life by distributing the abundance that mankind produced."

Mr. G. Mander (National Labour, Wolverhampton) said that if troop's were .still going through the Suez Canal while Abyssinians were being slaughtered, surely Britain must take the step which would really end the war, namely, the severing of these communications.