MR. BALDWIN’S PROBLEM

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 212, 4 June 1929, Page 11

MR. BALDWIN’S PROBLEM

WILL HE RESIGN OR MEET PARLIAMENT?

WELTER OF CONJECTURE LABOUR PARTY PREPARING TO TAKE OFFICE MR. MACDONALD’S CHOICE OF PRINCIPAL MINISTERS There is a welter of conjecture as to what action Mr.' Baldwin will take in face of the inconclusive result of the. British elections. The London “Times” declares that , the outstanding fact is that the Labour Party will form the next Government. It adds that the arguments for,and against an immediate resignation are closely balanced, but says there can be no question of seeking Liberal support to prolong the life of the Govebnment.

The Labour Party apparently is already preparing to # assume office, and the national executive is to meet during the week to shape a policy. The “Daily Express” goes so far as to announce the main appointments which it declares that Mr. MacDonald has framed.

Mr. Baldwin has spent the week-end at Chequers, and has given no sign as to what he intends to do.

(United Press Association.—By Electric Telegraph.—Copyright.) Australian Press Association.

London, June 2. In serene isolation at Chequers, Mr. Baldwin at the week-end kept interviewers at bay, but this has by no means stifled the welter of conjecture as to what advice he will give Cabinet at the meeting to-morrow. During Saturday and again to-day Mr. Baldwin had a long conference with the party manager, Mr. J. C. C. Davidson, who, like his leader, can play the part of the sphinx So no lead came from Chequers.

Gossip at Westminster and the clubs shows a good deal of support for Sir Austen Chamberlain’s hope that Mr. Baldwin will face,the House and put the onus on the Liberals, but others are urgin'? Mr. Baldwin to resign immediately and so deprive Labour of the sympathy that would come from the cry of “a defeated party clinging to office.” These advocates find new significance in a passage in Mr. Baldwin's last pre-election broadcast, in which he said: “The country will choose between Mr. Lloyd George, Mr. MacDonald, and me. I will accept the verdict" The sentence at the time was merely regarded as an expression of the obvious, but it is now interpreted as meaning that Mr. Baldwin had made up his mind to resign if the party was beaten. t . ftp Strength of Liberal Party. Mr. Lloyd George had a stream of party visitors to his country home. It is remarked that his party is slightly stronger numerically but infinitely stronger in personalities. In fact, he has rather an embarrassment of capable lieutenants, all leaders in affairs. It will take their resource and skill to shape a policy prior to June 25. Some quarters are inclined to see in Mr. MacDonald's gestures a baft for Liberal co-operation in letting him tackle unemployment.. Mr. Snowden says that Mr. Lloyd George “pinched” Labour’s scheme for reducing .unemployment. Whether this is true or not, Mr. MacDonald has since ascribed the defeat of the Conservatives to their failure to grapple the greatest humanitarian issue. He says that if a Labour Ministry takes the front bench, it will shoulder the task immediately. Whether or not this is a political straw showing the way of the wind is a mere conjecture. Having disposed of the affair of the ballot-box, the country seems next intent on having its relaxation bn Derby Day, till when nothing may happen politically. In the meantime the “Morning Post” has a final editorial tilt, entitled “Enemies in Disguise,” in which it assails the Beaverbrook and Rothermere Press for rail-sitting election tactics, especially the latter’s slogan: “Keep out the Socialists”— with the only result .that the new Souse is dominated by the Socialists.

AN HISTORIC FIGURE DR. MARION PHILLIPS (United Service.) London, June 2. A uniquely historic figure is Dr. Marion Phillips, the first Australianborn woman to enter the House of Commons. She attributed a large part of Labour’s success to womanhood suffrage. Her' mother was born in Wellington, New Zealand, and taken to Australia when a year old. [Dr. Marion Phillips, who was born in Melbourne, and was educated at Melbourne University and the University of London, D.Sc. (Econ.), has taken a prominent part in trades union work for 'the last twenty years. She is editor of the ‘‘Labour Woman,” a monthly journal of the Labour Party.]

SPECULATION AS TO DEVELOPMENTS WILL BALDWIN RESIGN OR MEET PARLIAMENT? ARGUMENTS AS TO COURSE OF ACTION (British Official Wireless,) Rugby, June 2. Nine results of the election have now to be declared. The situation created by the election will not be materially affected by these. The declared seats and strength of parties at present is:—Labour 287, Conservative 254, Liberals 57, others 8. The fact that no party has a clear majority creates an interesting situation. The first step in its development rests with Mr. Baldwin. Two courses apparently are open to the Prime Minister, who is considering the situation during the week-end at Chequers, his official country house, 'preparatory to meeting his colleagues. He may reconstruct his Cabinet and proceed to meet Parliament when it assembles on June 25, or he may forthwith resign. Different Viewpoints. There is much speculation as to which course will be followed. On the one hand, it is argued that Parliament should decide whether a change of Government is desired and that the result of the election does not entitle Mr. Baldwin in effect to hand over the government to Labour, which is also in a minority. On the other hand, it is contended by some that the decisJon of the electorate should be accepted and that the Labour Party should be given an opportunity of presenting the King’s Speech with which Parliament will be opened. Those holding this view declare that the 1923 precedent.is not entirely applicable to the present situation, inasmuch as on that occasion the Conservative Party was still the largest and the course of awaiting defeat in the House of Commons on a Labour no-confidence vote was then the obvious one to take. Chamberlain's View.

Sir Austen Chamberlain, in a speech at Birmingham on Friday night, said that it was for the Prime Minister, after taking such advice as he thought proper, to decide his course of action, but he hoped that Mr. Baldwin would face the House of Commons and leave to Mr. Lloyd George and the Liberal Party the responsibility for the situation which they had created. The “Daily Telegraph" and the “Daily Mail” definitely state that the Prime Minister will take this course. He will, it is said, reconstruct his Ministry and present himself before the new House of Commons with a programme of work to be accomplished during the brief session before the summer recess early in August and await action by the Opposition parties.

Position Complicated by King’s Illness. The “Morning Post” says: “The Government’s position is unfortunately complicated by the illness of the King. There is no other consideration to tempt Mr. Baldwin to remain ’in office a moment longer than is indispensable to the preliminaries of the change.” The “Manchester Guardian” urges that the handling during the next few weeks of important constitutional questions should be approached with care and deliberation. It considers that it would be a misfortune if Mr. Baldwin were immediately to resign, and points out that if he decides to carry on until defeated in Parliament there will be a whole month in which to cultivate the temper of the House and to explore the field of possible compromise. The “Daily Herald,” on the other hand, demands that Mr. Baldwin should at once resign so that the leader of the largest party in Parliament may take up his part. Meanwhile the leaders of the Labour and Liberal Parties are considering their position. Labour Party’s Advance. Commenting on the immediate results .of the polling, most newspapers express surprise at the proportion. of the Labour vote. “The Times” says:— “Some of the general advance of that party may be due, no doubt, to the studied moderation of the programme put forward by its leaders, and the return in particular of Mr. Ben Turner, who has shown considerable courage in his protagonisni of industrial peace, is a welcome sign of the times. It is a confirmation of this inference

MR. MACDONALD INTERVIEWED

that the only retiring Communist member was heavily defeated and that Communist candidates polled in every case the merest handful of votes." Need for Electoral Reform. The “Daily Chronicle,” after admitting that Labour’s advance cannot be gainsaid, says that the one thing that emerges clearly is the need for electoral reform if a system of three parties is to be worked without injustice at the polls. The Liberals, with over five million votes, are once more grossly under-represented, while of the other parties the Conservatives come first in votes and second in seats. On all hands it is agreed that the first experience of adult franchise has not been disappointing—the votes cast having apparently averaged nearly 80 per cent of the total electorate.

DECLARATION OF “THE TIMES”

LABOUR WILL FORM NEXT GOVERNMENT NOT TO BE ROBBED OF ' FRUITS OF VICTORY (Rec. June 3, 9 p.m.) London, June .3. “The Times” says.: “The outstanding fact of the election is that the Labour Party will form the next Government by virtue of having the largest following in the House of Commons. That is the nation’s manifest intention. Labour may dismiss the suspicion that the Conservatives are fabricating an unholy alliance for the purpose of obstructing it Whether Mr. Baldwin resigns or awaits the House of Commons’ dismissal in three weeks’ time is of relatively small Importance. Mr. Baldwin himself probably feels that even to appear to hesitate is like a batsman questioning the umpire’s decision. The arguments pro and con on the subject of an immediate resignation are closely balanced. There can be no question of seeking Liberal support to prolong the life of the Government, though signs of it in certain sections of the Press-would be as welcome to certain nervous souls as it would be to tadpoles and tapers who haunt muddy waters. Mr. Lloyd George can effectually put the Socialists into power. The method and manner -of their assuming it matters little. But what does matter is that there should be no suspicion of manoeuvres afoot to rob Labour of the fruits of its victory.” OTHER VIEWS MAJORITY OF VOTES AGAINST SOCIALISM Australian Press Association. (Rec. June 3, 9.20 p.m.) London, June 3. The “Daily Telegraph” says: “Constitutional usage and expediency alike demand that Mr. Baldwin should reconstruct his Ministry and meet the House with a programme of progressive, non-controversial measures common to all parties, leaving the responsibility of defeating it and forcing another early election to his opponents." The “Daily Mail,” claiming that there are thirteen million to eight million votes against Socialism, says the Conservatives and Liberals must get together.

THE ELECTORS’ WILL .PARLIAMENT’S DUTY TO GIVE EFFECT TO IT Australian Press Association. (Rec. June 3, 7.55 p.m.) London, June 8. The “Daily Herald” in an exclusive interview with Mr. MacDonald, covers points which can be crystallised thus: “Mr. Baldwin should lose no time in telling the country what he is going to do. Labour claims that it is the only alternative Government. Labotir holds and is going to keep the initiative.” A significant passage is: “It will be the duty of the House of Commons to give effect to the electors’ will if Mr,. Baldwin decides to await a vote of cem sure. It is clear to me that the country wishes the new Parliament to remain in being, making the best of the mandate, and not go flying back to the constituencies because of purely partisan feeling. An election in a few months might suit the ample coffers of the Tory and Liberal Parties.”

The “Daily Herald” editorially demands Mr.-Baldwin’s instant resignation, and it warns the Liberals that by supporting Mr. Baldwin they are only hastening their own extinction. The “Daily Express,” after editorially calling on Mr. Baldwin to resign, features its political correspondent’s deductions. If Mr. Baldwin instantly resigns, Labour will then have to take office without completing a deal with the Liberals, and with diminished prospects of doing so. But if Mr. Baldwin remains it will make co-operation between the Socialists and the Liberals a greater reality than now. The “Express” understands that Mr. Lloyd George has come to the conclusion that the Liberals should not support Mr. Baldwin in the event of there being a vote of censure; also that the Conservatives are divided among themselves, though a majority is in favour of facing the House.

LABOUR’S DREAMS A TRANSFORMED WORLD (“Times” Cables.) (Rec. June 3, 10.25 p.m.) London, June 3. Mr. J. Maxton, speaking at a Labour victory demonstration at Glasgow, said : “Even if we do not control Britain we are going to have an opportunity of ruling it. We are going to have the opportunity of abolishing privation. A large proportion of the people who voted Labour have not had a decent meal for four years, with an income of less than 40s. a week. That has got to stop immediately. We say there should be neither rich nor poor, neither master nor serf, neither war nor thought of war. I stand here amid victory and say that we will not cease to work until we see around us the world of our dreams,*

Berlin, June 2.

By Telegraph.—Press Association.

LABOUR EXECUTIVE TO MEET POLICY TO BE SHAPED TO MAINTAIN OFFICE FOR TWO YEARS (“Times” Cables.) (Rec. June 3, 9.40 p.m.) London, .’une 3. “The Times” states that the National Executive of the Labour Party vvlll meet during the coming week to hear the opinions of the party leaders, especially Mr. MacDonald’s, and shape a policy enabling the Labour Party to assume office and maintain itself' therein for the two years essential to maturing Labour’s plans and ensuring the introduction of two Budgets. it the second is not carried they will go to the country thereon, but it is necessary in this connection to have either the Liberals’ support or their benevolent neutrality. Consequently, Labour is most likely to choose frdm the programme of measures which the Liberals favour and postpone definitely Socialistic legislation until a more convenient time. MAIN APPOINTMENTS BY MR. MACDONALD IF CALLED ON TO FORM ' MINISTRY (Rec. June 3, 9 p.m.) London, June 3.

The “Daily Express” says that Mr. MacDonald has framed his main appointments in the event of his being called on to form a Ministry. They are as follow: — Privy Seal: Mr. A. Henderson. Chancellor of the Exchequer: Mr. P. Snowden. Foreign Office: Mr. J. H. Thomas. Secretary for War: Dr. Hugh Dalton. Lord Bresident of the Council: Lord Arnold. Air Minister: Lord Thomson. Minister of Labour.: Mr. T. Shaw, with Miss Susan Lawrence as Parliamentary Secretary. Minister of Health: Mr. A. Greenwood, with Miss Margaret Bondfield as Parliamentary. Secretary. President of the Board of Trade: Mr. W. Graham. Minister of Agriculture: Mr. N. Buxton. Overseas Trade Office, of which the importance will be Increased: Mr. AV. Alexander. President of the Board of . Education: Sir Charles Trevelyan. Secretary for the Dominions: Mr. T. Johnston. Secretary for India: Lord Oliver. Minister of Pensions: Mr. F. 0. Roberts. Secretary for Scotland: Mr. W. Adamson. Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Representative at the League of Nations: Sir Oswald Mosley. Lord Chancellor: Lord Parmoor. Attorney-General: Sir Henry Slesser. Solicitor-General: Mr. Melville or Mr. Holford Knight. Other appointments may be: Mr. J. Wedgwood, Commander Kenworthy, Mr/ F. W. Jowett, Mr. H. B. LeesSmith, Mr. T. Kennedy, Mips E. Wilkinson.

POSITION OF ENGLISH CHURCH PROSPECT OF RULE BY SCOTSMEN (United Service.) London, June 2. The Archbishop of Canterbury says: “I will only permit myself to say that if Mr. Ramsay MacDonald forms a Government, the English State and the English Church will again pass under the rule of Scotsmen.” GERMAN PRESS COMMENTS NO DRASTIC CHANGE IN FOREIGN POLICY Australian Press Association.

The “Vossissche Zeitung” declares that in the place from which Sir Austen Chamberlain has come, men are not following the policy of alliances and military power, but are striving for security and the alleviation of the taxpayers’ lot by facilitating economy and co-oneration. The “Deutsche Zeitung” describes the election as a bluff. Germany must not expect a drastic change in foreign policy. MR. H. E. HOLLAND ON LABOUR’S VICTORY “GREATEST REVOLUTIONARY CHANGE” MACDONALD WILL PROVE EQUAL TO TASK

Westport, June 2. Reviewing the political situation in Britain, Mr. H. E. Holland, Leader of the Labour Party, said that the 1929 elections result constituted the greatest revolutionary change in British political history. It marked the deposition of a Government that found itself wholly incapable of either shaping its legislative enactments or applying its administrative powers adequately to meet the problems arising out of the processes of ordinary economic development on the one hand, and on the other hand conditions generated by the logical working out of the unscientific provisions of the Treaty of Versailles relating to reparations, etc. Next to the sweeping Labour gains, the Conservative debacle was the main feature of the election. Mr. Baldwin faces a new House with the loss of about 150 seats, and in the large number of cases those of his colleagues who secured election did so on a minority vote. The Liberal failure was little less significant than that of the Tories. The new Government with a following that was slightly less than one-half of the full membership of the House would be confronted with the most stupendous task ever undertaken by a British Administration, or any other for that mattan. But it

was needless to say Mr. MacDonald and his colleagues would justify the confidence reposed in them by the British electors and by the Labour movement throughout the world. The Labour victory furnished an effective guarantee in the direction of world peace, and made possible the establishment of commercial and political relationships between Britain and other countries, notably Russia. That would work out to the immense benefit of the people of Britain and all other countries affected. The voting on Thursday emphasised the phenomenal advance of the Labour Party, which had moved from a record of less than 02,000 votes and two elected members in 1900 to 151 members and five and a half-million votes in 1924, and now to nearly 300 elected representatives and added millions of votes in 1929. This year’s victory represented a great personal triumph for Mr. Ramsay MacDonald, 'whose private character and political reputation had been assailed on every occasion, along with Messrs. P. Snowden, Trevelyan, Ponsonby, Jowett, and others. Mr. MacDonald through the war years lived up to the highest ideals of the Labour movement, and accordingly in the 1918 contest he was pursued and denounced by lower grade newspapers and by politicians of the Bottomley type and was heavily defeated. Unrepentant because confident of the righteousness of his attitude, he went into the political wilderness, emerging to fight Woolwich by-election in 1921. Here Horatio Bottomley, posing as a loyalist, was employed to make an attack on Mr. MacDonald, and at the same time Communists held meetings to denounce his candidature. He was narrowly defeated, but in the following year he won Aberavon, turning a GOOO minority into a 3000 majority. In 1923 he became the first Labour Prime Minister of Great Britain, and went out of office in 1924 when the Zinovieff letter was concocted and the Liberals joined up with the Tories. On the present occasion every endeavour was made by Conservatives, Liberals, and Communists alike to defeat him at Seaham, and the miners’ answer to the at' k had been to give him the largest majority ever recorded for the leader of a party in Britain, if not the largest majority ever recorded for a British politician. In the Seaham contest in 1924 Mr. Sidney Webb’s majority over his Conservative opponent was 10,624. This year Mr. MacDonald’s majority over the Conservative was nearly 30,000, while his majority over the combined totals of his Conservative, Liberal and Communist opponents was more than 22,000.

VIEW OF SIR JOSEPH CARRUTHERS Dominion Special Service. Auckland, June 3. “I wish some of us could be as sure of going to heaven as it is certain that Mr. Ramsay MacDonald will form the next Ministry in Britain,” said Sir Joseph Carruthers, former Premier of New Soutli Wales, on his arrival by the Niagara to-day, on route to Honolulu. Sir Joseph intends spending the mid-winter mouths in the Pacific Islands.