THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 1922. MR, LLOYD GEORGE'S REPLY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18223, 17 October 1922, Page 6

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 1922. MR, LLOYD GEORGE'S REPLY.

To say or do the unexpected is so much tbe characteristic of Mr. Lloyd George in answering his critics that his week-end speech at Manchester must have disappointed* his opponents. Ths first complaint to arrive is that he has done nothing to simplify the complexity of the political situation. To this he Kiight reasonably retort that a3 he could not accept responsibility for its development it was none of his business to unravel the tangle. As a matter of fact, while the absence of oratorical fireworks might be interpreted as proof that the lassitude and fatigue with which he is supposed to be overwhelmed have really robbed him of his fighting spirit, it may just as well be an example of the tactical shrewdness for which he is equally noted. It <has given the critics a minimum of ammunition to use against him. Mr. Chamberlain flung out what might have been a rash, but was probably a deliberate and calculated, challenge to- the Labour Party. Already his words are returning to him with the other ends barbed. Mr. Lloyd George attacked nobody; he scarcely reproached anybody. His whole declaration, in effect, was that he had done his best in a difficult situation; if he had not pleased the nation he was sorry, but could not feel guilty. If anybody else thought he could do better, let him try. In the light of such words the popular picture of the British Prime Minister as a kind of political Colosßus astride the world, directing all sorts of evil | deeds in the obscurity of his own [ shadow, begins already to look a | little foolish. Describing himself as just an ordinary human being, struggling against circumstances which perpetually threatened to be too strong for him, Mr. Lloyd George has already called upon hostile criticism to answer the charge of exaggeration. His final stroke is his wholly unrepentant attitude to his Near Eastern policy and his appeal to ths Dominions. His adroitness was never more' manifest. When attacked on this point again, if overthrown on it, the way is clear to claim that he has fallen because he placed his conception of what was right higher than personal or party advantage. One of the difficulties of the position is that Mr. Lloyd George has long led a party which owe'd its existence as a cohesive unit largely to his presence as leader. He has had to steer a devious course. In the very nature of things a coalition must move from compromise to compromise if neither element in it is to be antagonised. In justice to his critics it must be conceded that j the Prime Minister has shown no ! aversion to changing his course to catch the favouring breeze. He has, in fact, laid himself open to the biting reproach that ho steered by the weathercock instead of by the compass. The time must come when such a policy must end ; that time now seems to be at hand. On his own forecast Mr. Lloyd George is to be .dropped by the Conservatives in the Coalition, and political groups are about to readjust themselves. In such a situation they are better placed than the Liberals where the breach between the Independents, or " Wee Frees," and the section of the party standing by the Coalition is wide, and, on present appearances, incapable of being closed. What role there will be for the Prime Minister to play is not clear. He does not predict any reconciliation between the two sections of his old party. He has never led the Liberal Party—for he first assumed office as a Coalition Prime Minister —and does not appear to anticipate doing so. He does not make any difficulty on that score, offering to support any party with a programme corresponding with a few broad and simple principles. From the purely political standpoint Mr. Lloyd George can face the future with few personal difficulties. If he goes out of office he leaves most of the problems for his successors to solve, and reserves the right to support or to criticise as he personally sees fit. He seems on the eve of committing

another'tmpardonable sin in the eyes of his opponents, disembarrassing himself and embarrassing those who must follow.

An admission of failure is contained in the statement of difficulties with which another Government will have to cope. The problems facing Britain are greater than any man who may grapple with them. As | Mr. Lloyd George says, those who attack him will need, in order to make good their words, to forgive Germany her reparations, and hold the friendship of Franco; to pay the United States, yet collect none of Britain's debts; to reduce taxation, yet find the money to do more for education and the unemployed. Unfortunately for who may follow, it is with failure to do these things that he has been most deeply reproached. They are as formidable undertakings as to " make Ger-

many pay " and to " make England a land fit for heroes to live in," two catch-cries from the last election which Mr. Lloyd George did not mention at Manchester. In sketching the difficulties to be faced, the Prime Minister naturally did not mention one which it may be granted many people have seriously pondered—to find a man with the

personality and the powers of leadership which, despite all his faults and his occasional veniality, characterise Mr. Lloyd George. No man, it is generally accepted, is indispensable. He has reached the nearest point to it by being ono whose place it will be exceedingly difficult to fill, especially from a party standpoint. Otherwise he could not have carried the Coalition with him as he made retreat after retreat from positions which once he had proposed to hold to the death. If, as is forecasted, he resigns office in the next few. days, he will do so after having far outstayed any of the other national leaders of the war period. He will

bear away a record of great achievements as well as of failures. He is putting the best possible face on the position, and is leaving himself free to retura in any capacity, if, after a reassortment, there seems a place for him.