THE ELECTIONS

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 21 October 1924, Page 5

THE ELECTIONS

ATTACK ON LABOUR. “THE COMMON DANGER/’ ARCHBISHOP’S ADVICE. by cable—pßE3s association-copyright LONDON, Oct. 20. Jhe week-end speeches deal almost exclusively with the Campbell ease and the Russian Treaty. Neither the Conservatives nor the Liberals .advocated their own planks half as strenuously as they opposed Labour’s, but a. change in tone is most noticeable in some Libera] newspapers, who are now warning their readers of the danger of the return of a Conservative Government as the result of overmuch harping upon the cry of “Social ism, the common danger.” They point out that the reference. in xhe Conservative manifestoes to Imperial preference can be taken to entail an insidious form, of protection; also that, although not mentioned in the manifesto, the Conservatives’ policy as approved by the party conference on the eve of the election includes the restoration of the House of Lords’ power of veto. The Archbishop of Canterbury preaching at Sittingbourne, said that the people from Penzance to Seapa Flow must in a few days vote conscientiously for those deemed fittest to handle the great issues now at stake. “We must not only think of these islands,” he-said, “hut of our responsibility for a world-wide Empire. The election affects issues of far enduring consequence for peace, stability and progress throughout the Dominions and India as well as Britain.” The Moscow correspondent of the Daily Express estates that M. Tehitoherin, reporting to the Federal Central Executive upon the , Anrdo-Rufisian Treaty, declared that if the British Conservatives were returned to power it would he likely to produce a world crisis greatly affecting R'ussia. Some speakers advocated a rejection of the treaty. Others supported ratification as an insunance against the growing hatred of Russia. The Moscow correspondent of the Daily Express in a later message says the Qentral Executive decided to postpone the ratification of the AngloRussian Treaty owing to the British elections, and instructed the Foreign Office not to make any further concessions to England. Lord Thomson (Secretary of StVite for Air), speaking at Sheffield, declared that if the so-called anti-Socialist n:< r t were, successful, it could only lead to a disastrous coalition from which ft would take ten Baldwins to keep Lloyd George out. Such a coalition would mean another election in si’v mouths. Mr. Sydney Webb (President of the Beard of Trade!, .appealing to his constituents, asked them ~as it was Sunday to consider calmly the solemn issues. He said the election would end the Liberal Party, whose work wae finished by that great measure, rthe Franchise Act- of 1918. The Liberals were already ranging themselves cither with the Conservatives or with Labour. The Citv editor of the Morning Post says the Stock Exchange takes it for granted that as protection is out of the way between the Unionists and the Liberals, the Unionists will increase in numbers considerably. Hence the rise in gilt-edged stocks. The growing confidence in trade is reSertecl in the home, rails and industrial stocks. The election is no longer regarded as a bugbear but as ground for the hope that the forces of sanity will return to power.