Evening Post. MONDAY, AUGUST 24, 1931. THE BRITISH CRISIS

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 47, 24 August 1931, Page 6

Evening Post. MONDAY, AUGUST 24, 1931. THE BRITISH CRISIS

; Thursday was described by the "Daily Mail" as "the most dramatic day in politics since the War."' At midnight the fate of the British Government was in the balance between the demands of the Opposition parties for more drastic economies and the refusal of the Trades Union leaders .'to submit to the reduction of. a single penny in the most profligate and pauperising expenditure of all. Continuous conferences and negotiations throughout Friday left the position, in the opinion of the same authority, even worse than before.

Thc'.Gover'nment's position;-said, the "Daily Mail" on Saturday morning, is 'more precarious, and a change of Administration is rapidly becoming a more definite possibility.

That the position was by this time beginning to look equally desperate from the Opposition , standpoint might perhaps be inferred from the marvellous suggestion attributed to the Conservatives by the same paper, namely, that a Coalition should be formed to tide over the crisis, with Mr. Lloyd George as Chancellor' of the Exchequer! It is indeed hardly credible that, in the interests of confidence and unity, it. should be proposed to put in the most important position but one, if not the most important of all, the most thoroughly discredited and distrusted of political leaders, and that the proposal should come from those who gave him a -similar chance before and are still smarting) from the effects of it. Yet it must be remembered that, while the danger lasted, Mr. Lloyd George did a great national work as the Coalition leader, and that it is only to tide over a comparable crisis that the Conservatives are said to be thinking of trying their luck with him again.

From a non-political angle "The Times" supplies even. stronger testimony to the supreme gravity of the position. It was not political or departmental difficulties of any ordinary kind that cut .short Mr.Mac Donald's holiday and brought him back from Lossiemouth a clear fortnight ahead of his time-table. He had expected to begin the most urgent work of the recess on the 26th inst. at a meeting of tlje SubCommittee appointed by the Cabinet to consider the Economy Committee's Report. But the financial authorities of the City had told him that drastic economy was a.matter not of weeks nor even of days, and that he must come at once. He came at once and has been busy ever since with meetings of Cabinet and its Sub-Committee, with conferences with Ihe Labour Party's National Executive and with the Executive of, the Trades Union Congress, with the Opposition Leaders, and with financial experts. For more than a week ' the Prime Minister , has doubtless been the busiest' and most harassed man in the country. But measured by results he has not accomplished' much, and we may safely assume that, ' when "The | Times" of Friday described the. financial situation as "deteriorating hourly," it is on behalf of the powers i that brought the unfortunate man back to town, and not of any political combination, that it is speaking. Although the Government has approached the balancing of the Budget in the right spirit, says "The Times," it is unfortunate that the day has ended without a sign of a definite timetable for the next'few hours. ... Until there is some dramatic proof that the policy of extravagance will be reversed, the delay will cause a renewal of the' nervousness of the world. An antidote must be administered within a few hours.

When we find those who have their fingers: on the pulse of the world's finance reckoning the time for the fateful decision by hours, it ; is to British Ministers listening to die ticking of the clock after the issue of their ultimation to Germany rather than to. any parallel in the War itself that the mind goes back. And as this warning was given on Friday, more than 48 more horns had passed with nothing done by the time of the despatch of our last reports from .London. So little need did the principal obstructives see for hurrying that bri; the vsame day the General I Council of; the Trades Union Conigress, which expects to be able to swing from 120 to 150 members against; the Government on the economy issue, .solemnly decided to refer the matter to the full meeting of Congress, which is, to be held at Bristol on the 7th September. The doctrine that time was made for slaves is a very comfortable one, but the experience of New South Wales should suffice to show these visionaries that all the resolutions in the world will not suffice to pay the dole next month if. there is no. 'money left to pay it with. Unless wiser heads than theirs persuade Parliament to face" the facts and make the necessary provision that might be Britain's position, and, unlike Mr. Lang's State, she would have no Loan Council and no Commonwealth to help her out.

In the article from which we have

already quoted the "Times" nolcs on the other side of the account that the Government was attacking the task of balancing the Budget in the right spirit. Attention on Thursday had been wholly confined to economies—a. result due, presumably, at any rate in part, to Opposition pressure. These economics were "manifestly drastic, even if still inadequate," and they were being given precedence to the new taxation, which will also be necessary but is of less urgent importance. Another hopeful sign is that all the voluminous statements) and speculations of the last few days have included no suggestion of a Cabinet split which not long ago was predicted as inevitable, but this evidence is of course negative 'only. .The crucial test was being applied at a meeting not completely reported at the time of writing. The finishing touches had been put to a scheme which was considered to meet the requirements of the Economy Committee's Report, and the first ■Sunday meeting of Cabinet in many years was called to determine> its J fate.' Meanwhile two crumbs of comfort may be gleaned from the comments of the Sunday papers. The talk of a General Election is discredited, so is the previous suggestion that the Government might resign without facing Parliament. Tho Government, .says the "News of. the World,'' has prepared a statement designed to reassure foreign opinion that, the Budget will be balanced. The three-party system has brought British credit to a strange pass when such an assurance is needed, and whether it will be forthcoming is in doubt up .to the last moment.