BRITISH POLITICS.

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXV, Issue 3261, 31 January 1931, Page 4

BRITISH POLITICS.

The political situation in Great Britain is another proof of the evils of party politics when carried to excess. The Labour Government tabled the Trades Disputes Bill, a measure which the Liberals did not approve of, yet the Government was enabled to have the measure pass the second reading. A section of the Liberals voted with the Government, giving it a majority of 27, another section did not vote, while a third, headed by Sir John Simon, voted against it. Those Liberals who voted with the Government and those who did not record their vo'te sacrificed conviction for party politics, and allowed what in their own opinion was a dangerous measure to become law because the party was not in the position to face an election. The defeat of the measure would have meant the defeat of the Government and an appeal to the country, but this the Liberals do not want at the present time. The Bill in question practically legalises strikes, and these are practically a challenge to the State. This was the way which Mr. Ramsay MacDonald described the general strike in Great Britain during 1926. Strikes in the past have served a useful purpose by giving publicity to the conditions under which many industries were carried on, but as a means of redressing so-called wrongs they are out of date. Throughout the British Empire the State now keeps a close watch on these things, and the modern strike mainly concerns wages and hours of work, which are controlled by economic conditions. To legalise strikes is a dangerous weapon in the hands of the extremists.