The Dominion SATURDAY, MARCH 10, 1923. MR. BONAR LAW’S DIFFICULTIES

Dominion, Volume 16, Issue 148, 10 March 1923, Page 4

The Dominion SATURDAY, MARCH 10, 1923. MR. BONAR LAW’S DIFFICULTIES

When Mr. Bonar Law yielded to the requests of his political friends and agreed to resume the Leadership of the Conservative I ai y he did so with a reservation. His health had been bad; he had overtaxed himself during the war period; and he felt that though nine 1 restored he was liable to again break down under the strain of office. So it was with some reluctance that he again took over his old position of Leader of the party, and it was on the understanding that he might be forced to drop out again if he found the strain too great. The success of his party at the polls brought Mr. Law the 1 remicrship, and with it tho worries and responsibilities attendant on the country passing through a period of exceptional difficulty. Since the present Government came into office towards the close of last year it has been brought face to face with a series of critical events that have taxed its powers to the utmost. It ha.s had to meet domestic troubles of a far-reaching nature, and in the field of foreign affairs it has bad grave problems to cope with. The Turkish crisis, a legacy from the Lloyd George Government, has been modified, but a settlement has yet to be reached. The I’rench action in the Ruhr has been extended, and the situation there has grown in gravity, and no one can tell what the final outcome will be. In Egypt and in India tlie Government has had less pressing problems to meet, but problems which in normal times would be regarded as imposing a heavy tax on the statesmanship of the nation. In all directions in foreign affairs save one Mr. Bonar Law and his Government are still struggling under a heavy burden of responsibility, and with little to show in the way of results for their efforts. The one bright spot —the one encouraging achievement in their troubled experience—has been the settlement with the ( United States >.f the terms of the repayment of Britain’s war debt to America. That the financial agreement reached with tho United States was a fine stroke of statesmanship is now coming to be generally recognised. It not merely disarmed the criticism of a hostile section in the United States, but it strengthened Britain’s prestige in America ru ■. throughout tho world to an enormous extent. It drew the Unite J States and Britain closer together in world policy than any other step possibly could have done, because it cleared away certain mists of doubt and suspicion which clouded the intercourse between the two nations whenever the question of the economic readjustment of Europe camo forward for consideration. To-day Britain and America probably are closer in sympathy and understanding regarding European affairs than they have ever been before. For this the credit lies largely with Mr. Bonar Law and his Cabinet. But the difficulties which confront the British Prime Minister abroad are equalled in some respects by his troubles at home. Whichever way he turns he finds them facing him. The chief of all perhaps are the bad times and unemployment. Out of these arise so many others. It must be confessed that Mr. Bonar Law has not the smooth tongue of the time-serving politician nor the gift of vague promisemaking, which is a useful if ignoble means of averting or postponing trouble. Ho is very outspoken, very downright, and at times almost brutally frank. When he cannot see his way to grant a request he usually says so plainly and finally. In recent times Mr. Bonar Law has felt it necessary to say “No” very frequently and possibly a little too bluntly. He refused to consider demands of the miners for better pay; he declined to accede to the full demands in regard to provision for unemployed insurance. He gave his reasons, and even his critics admit that there was a good deal to bo said for them; ,but his blunt refusals did not add to his popularity nor to the popularity of his Government. So it is that we find the Government now losing seat after seat when Ministers who were defeated at tho general election seek to regain their places in Parliament by contesting by-elections. .Three Ministers in succession have been defeated within the past few days in selected constituencies, and it must be plain io everyone that a large body of public sentiment has been antagonised. Mr. Bonar Law is not a man to shirk difficulties. He has proved this beyond all question. But the situation which confronts him ana his Government at the present time is one which in his weakened state of health may prove a tax too great for him to bear. It is possible, however, that Mr. Chamberlain and those others of the Conservative Party who withdrew when Mr. Lloyd George was thrown over by the Coalition may return to the assistance of their old colleague. This is tho more likely, perhaps, on account of Mr. Lloyd George’s recent overtures to his old Liberal associates, which should free Mr. Chamberlain from any ties which his sense of loyalty to the late Prime Minister might have imposed.