AMERICAN COMMENT ON BRITISH ELECTION.

Hawera Star, Volume LI, 9 December 1931, Page 4

AMERICAN COMMENT ON BRITISH ELECTION.

The following condensation of the editorial comment of a leading American newspaper on the British election results has its interest for British readers because it reveals a sympathetic understanding of the British character and, further, because it places its finger on the weak spot in the Labour policy of administration: — “Never before has British democracy spoken with so clear and certain a voice. . . . The ver-

dict is a verdict of the whole British nation, declaring its abhorrence of the reckless financial policy which had been dangled before electors, and giving its confidence to a Government whose leaders have declared that the urgent needs of the whole country must be put before those of any class. In view of the enormous poll recorded for the Government., it is impossible to regard its triumph as a defeat for the working classes. No such sweeping majority could have been won unless the working people themselves —the very men and women whom Labour leaders profess to represent—had decided against them and were ready to avow sharp disapproval of their programme. The verdict shows that the working classes no less than the rest of the nation were prepared to face facts; they were willing to listen to the truths that have been told them by Ramsay MacDonald and Philip Snowden; they were not to be bribed by any promises to retain the full dole or to resist cuts in the social services. They were not to be persuaded that the financial peril which had descended upon Britain was a creation of plotting bankers or that it could be averted by laying political hands on the Bank of England. The election proves that, all classes in Great demand a strong Government which will honestly and fearlessly call upon the people for the sacrifices that must be made, whieh will set itself to balance the Budget, stabilise currency and examine impartially necessary measures to restore the balance between imports and exports. Some measure of sympathy may be extended to the Labour leaders who have made so grave a mistake. They undoubtedly failed at the critical moment to realise the real nature of the peril. Their attention was too closely fixed on those important but narrower tasks to which their careers have been devoted. They failed to lift their eyes to the horizon and sec the approaching storm, and did not recognise that by neglecting it they exposed all their work to the deluge. No one can regret that they have paid the penalty, for the shattering blow which has been dealt the Labour leaders may prove in the long run to be in the best interest of the Labour Party. It is likely to be a standing warning that if Labour leaders restrict their policy to class interests at the expense of the higher interests of the whole people, the nation itself will tie their hands. The Conservatives must now prove their patriotism by submerging party or class interests in a truly national Government.”