“A DAMP SQUIB”

Dominion, Volume 24, Issue 65, 10 December 1930, Page 11

“A DAMP SQUIB”

Impracticable Manifesto

IGNORED BY LABOUR

(Rec. December 10, 12.5 a.m.)

London, December 9.

The “Daily Telegraph’s” political correspondent states that Labour re-

gards Sir Oswald Mosley’s manifesto as a damp squib Ministers intend tc ignore it as its pr(? posals are imprac ticabie, and no: even worth • while to summon a meet ing to discuss However, there is no idea of expell Ing Sir Oswald from the party.

An earlier wireless message stated that the manifesto issued by Sir Oswald Mosley and other Labour members of Parliament suggesting the setting up of a Commodity Board representative of producers and users, and the appointment of five Ministers without portfolio to deal with unemployment, states that the signatories have no intention of taking action in Parliament that would result in replacing the present Administration by a Conservative Government.

The signatories say they would be willing to grant tariffs provided the particular industry is efficient, that prices are controlled, and that trade union wages and conditions are observed. The manifesto is declared to be a statement of policy designed to meet the present emergency, but it can only be carried through if it secures national support. Beside the suggested appointment of an emergency Cabinet of five Ministers with wide powers, the manifesto proposes a national planning organisation for industrial development; an Import Control Board for foodstuffs with guaranteed price for agricultural products and protection of consumers against unfair prices; a Commodity Board for the control of imported manufactured goods; trade _ agreements with the Dominions: capital expenditure on constructive works; the creation of a public utility organisation. and temporary postponement of the repayment of the War Debt.