ELECTION CAMPAIGN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LV, Issue 17011, 19 November 1918, Page 5

ELECTION CAMPAIGN.

GREAT ISSUES PENDING.

STRONG PLEA FOR UNITY. | A,''aid N.Z!. P LONDON. Nov. 17. j Mr. Lloyd George, Mr. Bonar Law, and Mr. G. N. Barnes opened the election campaign at a great meeting at Westminster. Mr. Lloyd George said that the new Par-, liament would be the most important ever elected. Upon its character depended the: fate of the United Kingdom. The situation in Europe was full of perilous possibilities. If the new Parliament,.failed through lack of courage, selfish interests, or factions among politicians then even the institutions 0 ' the United Kingdom might he swept away. ..' The British had set an example for generations to the rest of the world in the steadiness of its Government. Let them continue the example. , .';■'■:• Reference to the throne evoked outbursts of cheering. He said ; the throne had won added respect, . stability, and | lustre : from the action of its occupants ■during the war.. !. The' Government must go to the Peace ■ Conference with the authority of a people's mandate. He mentioned that the recruiting statistics revealed a.higher percentage of physical unfits in Britain than in any great belligerent. That was a disgrace to a proud and prosperous country. Hundreds of thousands of men in their prime' 'were broken in physique, because they were under-fed, ill-housed, and overworked. Perhaps many were poisoned by excessive drinking, to which driven by squalor. There must be «' real national effort to put this right. , -<'

The Prime Minister then urged the need of grappling with the housing' question and maintaining the wages standard. Where the workers' strength and efficiency were secured, mothers would bo enabled properly to discharge their duty of bringing up children, develope industries, and restore those which had been cnrjrled by unfair competition. These problems required systematic and courageous treatment by patriots, not partisans. He declared that Labour's withdrawal from the Coalition ! Government at a time of national reconstruction vitally affecting Labour was the height of folly. Concluding, Mr. Lloyd George said that on the. character of the Government, depended the fate of the United Kingdom and the Empire, and through the Empire the fate of the world. Appealing for unity, he said it did not need a strong Opposition to make a : good Government, but union of the best brains and the best traditions of every party. Mr. Bonar Law said: "We who have advocated Tariff Reform as part of the issue realise that the war ha?, changed the whole aspect of these problems. We stood shoulder to shoulder with our allievtn war, and must stand shoulder to shoulder With them in repairing the ravages of war.". Mr. Barnes regretted the severance of the Labour Party and said he was convinced he would serve best by staying in the Government till the country reached industrial peace. I