Bay of Plenty Times. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 22, 1923 THE POSITION OF LABOUR IN ENGLAND.

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LII, Issue 8476, 22 December 1923, Page 2

Bay of Plenty Times. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 22, 1923 THE POSITION OF LABOUR IN ENGLAND.

Now that the elections in Britain are over, it seems to be certain that not only has the Protectionist issue been turned down by the electors, but that the Labour Party has considerably improved its position, having polled 187 seats at the latest returns as compared with 142 at the 1922 elections. The party has thus gained on both the other parties, apd, as was the case previous to the election, is the official Opposition in the English Parliament, and as such, the leader of the

parly would be sent for by the King in the event of the present Government resigning. It is of course impossible that Labour should be able to hold office as the strength of the parties stands in England at present, unless a coalition could be arranged with the Liberal Party, which does not seem to be probable. JThe need for stable government at this period may result in some arrangement being come to, whereby Mr Baldwin may carry on, conditional on no contentious measures being introduced. In any case the political situation in England is likely to be very unsettled for some lime, and a fresh election will be held ere (many months have passed. There is the fact to be kept in view that the gains of the Labour Party in the last two general elections have aroused universal interest, and, in England itself, an amount of consternation, which has caused the Times to say that half the Cabinets which have been mooted as likely to eventuate are based on the fear of what Labour may do if it reaches to the Treasury benches. As the Times rightly comments, there is reason *o fear, as apart from the fact that labour has none of the great traditions of government that the other two parties in England possess, its leaders are more susceptible to the influences of the worst elements of the community, in addition to which, i the party pins its faith largely to | the efficiency of a capital levy I and anti-militarism as the two i measures best calculated, the one ; as a basis of the economic and j industrial restoration of the I country, and the other as a means of ensuring the peace of the world. With the knowledge that the present state of man’s • ethical advancement does not warrant the promulgation of the tenets of anti-militarism, or of any mea sures that would serve to weaken the ability of the country to conduct an efficient defence if j attacked, and regarding a capital levy as confiscation, we cani not wonder that sober-minded people fear the possibility of labour government. It will be observed that the Socialist extremists all over the world are jubi- | lant at the success ot the English | Labour party, and the Russian Soviet, in expressing its welcome to the comrades in England, fears that they are not sufficiently class- conscious, which means that they are not sufficiently enamoured of the Red flag as the i Soviet would have them *be, and as Mr Wheatley, one of the newly elected Labour extremists members for Glasgow says his constituents are. One of the worst features, as concerning New Zealand, of the results of the late election, is the telegram sent to Mr Ramsay MacDonald, the leader of the Labour party at Home, by Mr Henry, Holland, asking the former to use his influence to obtain the release from prison of Gandhi, the notorious Indian non-co-operative agitator, whose sentence was the result of speeches which were calculated to bring about the subversion of British rule in India, and thereby to weaken our prestige throughout the East. Mr Holland's hope that the re-

suit of the English elections w favourably influence the positi

of Labour in New Zealand at the next elections, especially if held shortly, may possibly be realised, but the prospects of men of Mr Holland's extreme opinions ever attaining to executive power in this country are, we opin \ but small, and his trank declarations lately hive shown his party in such a light as to reveal the true inwardness of their policy to an extent that will serve to harden the determination ot all reasonable men to resist them. Lord Birkenhead is reported as saying that the need of resisting the tide of Socialism was never greater in England thin L is i now, and the same may be said of this country. What the future may hold for English politics we shall learn when the time conies, and it may be that a period of Labour Government would have a salutary effect, by educating the people in the evils of domination by men of ill-formed j opinions.