Evening Post. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 1931. THE SUPREME NEED

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 39, 16 February 1931, Page 8

Evening Post. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 1931. THE SUPREME NEED

Replying in the House of Commons' to the vote of censure' on the Government for "its continuous additions to public expenditure" which was moved by the Conservatives on Wednesday, the Chancellor of the Exchequer met the attack with a confession and an appeal which must be almost unprecedented in parly politics. There is no secret, he said, that there will bo a heavy deficit at the end of tho financial year. .. . Expenditure has increased and revenue declined. Productive capacity has fallen oft 20 per cent. .. . The country and House must realise the gravity of the situation and unite in an effort to overcome the temporary difficulties and restore former prosperity. What was very like a plea of guilty was met by the prosecution in a strange fashion. Sir Robert Home (Conservative) thanked Mr. Snowdcn for oue of the gravest warnings ever uttered from the Treasury bench. It would brace the country to a new view of its responsibilities and duties, but, . . . There is no need to continue the quotation. In its gratitude to the Chancellor of the Exchequer for his almost unexampled candour and its recognition of the bracing effect that the appeal must have upon the nation by putting its responsibilities and its duties in a new light, Sir Robert Home's opening displayed a spirit worthy of that of the speech under reply, and seemed to hold out the promise that at the eleventh hour the peril of the nation might unite the parties in a candid give-and-take cooperation for the public safety. That apparently inevitable "but," however, ruined all. It switched the Conservative spokesman off from the national to the party line, and the speech and the debate concluded in the usual polemical style of party warfare. Would it be unfair to say that Sir Robert Home's gratitude to Mr. Snowden for his candour seems to have been inspired, at any rate in part, by its value as a weapon in the hands of the Opposition, and that the new view to which he thinks it should brace the country is the determination to put them into office? From this distance at any rate the comparative freedom of bias with which it is possible to regard the politics of Great Britain must compel many of us who have no liking for a Labour Government to deplore that Mr. Snowden's invitation to the Opposition parties to co-operate in a united effort to grapple with a great national emergency has been in vain. It is, of course, always easier to be broad-minded and dispassionate in the affairs of other people than in our own, but it may be hoped that the widespread regret in this country that the opportunity for sinking party differences has been missed by the British politicians will make it easier to avoid a similar mistake in our own affairs, and to face the danger which. threatents us all in the only spirit that will guarantee success Fortunately for this country, the task which Mr. Forbes has to face is not comparable in its magnitude with that confronting Mr. Mac Donald and Mr. Snowden, but it is beyond question of sufficient gravity and difficulty to provide a severe test for his statesmanship. No Prime Minister since Atkinson, says the Auckland "Star,"' has had such au unpleasant task. It may be doubted whether an exception should not have beeu made in favour of Mr. Massey, but the point is certainly of no immediate importance. What concerns us most is Mr. Forbes is facing the present crisis in the same spirit which his predecessors brought to their respective ordeals in 1887 and 1921-22, and that he has a right to expect that lie will be met by the samo spirit on the part of both Parliament and people which carried them successfully through. The courage, the comprehensiveness, and the promptitude of the statement which Mr. Forbes has issued are deserving of the highest praise, and should have some of that bracing effect upon the national resolution which Sir Robert Home expected from the candour of Mr. Snowden. In the Press opinions which have come to hand since we discussed the Prime Minister's statement on Saturday there is satisfactory evidence that the national standpoint is given priority to the party standpoint, but here and there the credit that is given to him is discounted by an unseasonable and sometimes unjust reference to controversial issues. It is, for instance, grossly unjust to draw a general comparison between Mr. Snowden's statement and Mr. Forbes'?, and then to make a '"significaul exception"' in the

former's favour on the ground that he said any exLra taxation of industry would be the "last straw" —whereas Mr. Forbes proposes to increase taxation by£1,750,000. How "significant" the exception is would appear if the existing burdens of taxation in the two countries were included in the comparison. It is equally unseasonable, though less unjust, to point out that whatever credit is due to the Government for acting decisively now, it is necessary to remember that it is acting much too late. In face of the facts that what is done cannot be undone, and that the supreme need of the hour is present unity with a view to future action, there is not the slightest necessity to remember that the action of the Government has been delayed too long, or that a more prudent policy a year or two ago might have obviated such drastic measures. There is some force in this criticism, but for the most part our financial and economic troubles are the outcome of world-wide causes, of which, if Mr. Forbes did not foresee the operation, his ignorance was shared by his critics and by everybody else. But whether just or unjust, the chief objection to such criticism is that quarrelling about past differences is entirely out of place when the paramount need of the hour is united and drastic action. Who, if anybody, is chiefly to blame for our troubles may be an interesting subject for future discussion, but for the present let all our energies be concentrated in a loyal support of the Government in its resolute attempt to provide a cure. All that is required, says the Prime Minister, is a combined effort throughout tho length and breadth of the land, and I confidently appeal to the other political parties and to tho whole community for support and co-operation in carrying through the programme that I have outlined for again placing the Dominion on the high road to prosperity and better times.