IN DAYS OF STRESS

Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 91, 14 October 1922, Page 7

IN DAYS OF STRESS

(let party yield to empire

'' CHAMBERLAIN'S DEFENCE OF

COALITION.

(Received 14th October', 1 p.m.) LONDON, 13& October. & Mr. 'Austin Chamberlain, at Birming\ham, declared that he- could' not say ;-when the election would take pk.ee. It (was Mr J Lloyd George's prerogative to 1 Parliament, but he was conjyinced that in any new Parliament ikew must be a Coalition Government. If Labour obtained a majority at the electrons,. he foreshadowed Government by caucus with a capital levy destroying industry, "We must not, therefore,' '.he said, "permit the national irecocebruction experanerttfl to fall into the hands of a subversive, if not a revolutionary party."' Mr. Chaznßerkin said that ha spoke ■under a great sense of obligation to the party wlaah h.€ had represented for thirty years. He thought that in the days of struggle and stress ho flhouM subordinate his own party aims and personal consjdsttwttana to the welfare of the Empire.. „ .. He had ywafed wr& Mr. Uoy* George in perfect hawmoittr. Sto» PrimeMinister had stated: XI <to not know when, an ejection will camel:* The t&Mfli of dim** neftm had bean raised again, and he coufaJ not pretend to Bay when the election TOoalA tafeo plaice. It was the Prime Minister's undoubted right toiidvis^ the King when the Parliament should bo dfaptved. Ho tad staangtbened the Unjaniat etaaent in tbs Uabmet, and no question o£ padndpte bad ever ; separated &em. P He oould no* pretend to «ay in wta* 'circumstances or oanditicns &» co-opeia-tion between ourselves and out present Allies could best be obtained in the new Parliament. He could say with conviction that nnios should be onr first conifideration, " bwt it would be criminal," 'he declared, " to allow a ntnsow paripr. ■of prejudices to sacrifice the country * interests and betray a great cause, which ■wo as a party should cherish and maintain, which, if abandoned or betrayed by us, cannot be sustained by any other force within the Bealm. No question of principle divided the Liberals and Unionists, colleagues at tbe present. These are not the days for reviving differences, but for rallying all parties to the defence of the Constitution and social and economic order, whereon our safety and prosperity depend." He had no doubt when tbs House of Commons came into being,} it would be very different from the present House. If Labour obtained a majority, heavy would be the responsibility of those who could not take a national view in time of national danger. Direct action would triumph over a Government who, as Mr. Clynes had said, would not be allowed to lead, but must take instructions from, Ilio caucus.