NOTES OF THE DAY .

Dominion, Volume 18, Issue 195, 13 May 1924, Page 6

NOTES OF THE DAY .

No doubt his Liberal and Labour opponents will take in bad part Mr. Stanley Baldwin’s warning that Britain may repeat in the twentieth century the mistake by which, in the reign of George 111, she lost her North American colonies. It may be hoped that the idea of allowing the States of the Empire to drift apart for want of a sound mutual understanding is repugnant to all parties—at all events to all except a few Bolsheviks —in every British country. Mr. Baldwin, however, cannot justly be accused of scaremongering. It is plainly a condition of the continued unity of the Empire that its various countries should mutually shape their policy to that end. . Under its present political leadership, Britain is not satisfying this vital condition, and though it may be hoped that British policy will be altered before any irreparable mischief has been done, it is only right to recognise frankly the consequences that would be. invited if the mistaken policy of the moment were to be continued indefinitely.

On several occasions of late the Prime Minister has made reference to the possibility of an early dissolution of Parliament to be followed by a general election. Mr. Massey presumably has in mind the difficulties which may confront the Government in tho existing state cf parties should obstruction tactics' be adopted by the Liberal and Labour sections of the Opposition. Judged by their professions none of the parties desire to force a general election on the country, possibly because it is recognised that such a step would not be popular. At the same time, it is obvious from the preparations that are afoot, that the party leaders incline to the view that an election is not an unlikely contingency. The Labour Party has been actively campaigning, the Liberals are at work, and the Reform Party is strengthening its organisation throughout the Dominion. In the circumstances the. outlook for the coining session is not a particularly bright one. There are quite a lot of important questions to be dealt with, several of them being of some urgency, but if members are going to make it an electioneering session, party feeling is bound to run high, and Mr. Massey’s anticipation of tho possibility of an appeal to the country being necessary may be realised.

A dramatic surprise is sprung in the reported outcome of the French general election. It is stated to-day, and confirmed by a later message, that M. Poincare’s party, the Bloc National, has been defeated' and that the Left Bloc, headed by M. Briand and others, is now in a majority. As the news stands, M. Poincare’s resignation appears to be inevitable. It is now obvious that the correspondents and other observers who confidently predicted a victory for M. Poincare had failed completely to get into touch with genuine French opinion. Before the present campaign opened, however, some authorities had declared that M. Poincare would be supported by his countrymen only as long as it was believed that his reparations policy would produce results, and no longer. The reported result of the election no doubt means that the French people have lost faith in their Premier’s reparations policy, and particularly that they object to the position in which ho placed France of being the only country concerned that raised objections to the acceptance of the reparations plan proposed by tho Dawes Committee. As far as can be judged at present, power has now reverted in France to statesmen who rely on somewhat less extreme methods than those to which M. Poincare is addicted. M. Briand, for instance, went so far, not long ago, as to advocate a peace of reconciliation with Germany. M. Loucheur, as Minister or Reconstruction in a former Government, negotiated with the late Dr. Rathenau an agreement relating to the payment of reparations in kind. It goes without saying that any Government that takes office in France will bo expected to do its utmost to obtain reparations from Germany. The Government now in prospect may be more successful in this respect than the Poincare Government, and also may find less difficulty in co-operaxing with the Allies.