THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS TUESDAY, JUNE 4, 1929. THE BRITISH SITUATION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20272, 4 June 1929, Page 8

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS TUESDAY, JUNE 4, 1929. THE BRITISH SITUATION.

With the results of the election in Great Britain what they are, it is a most natural thing to have speculation pouring out concerning the next move. The position is different from' that which followed the election of 1923. Then Mr. Baldwin mado his venture on the issue of protection as a stimulus to industry and a cure for unemployment. The absolute majority of the Conservative Party disappeared, but it remained the strongest of the three groups. It was not until January, 1924, therefore, after a motion of censure in the House of Commons, that Mr. Baldwin resigned to make way for the first Labour Prime Minister and the first Labour Government Great Britain had known. At the present moment the Labour Party is the strongest of the three. The Conservatives have lost not only their absolute majority, but have failed to maintain chief position in the House of Commons. This point gives more force, and seems to have given more vehemence, to the demand that Mr. Baldwin should resign at once instead of waiting for a formal dismissal. The chief mouthpiece of the Labour Party says it is his duty to do this. It can be deduced, therefore, that Mr. Mac Donald and his associates are quite prepared to accept responsibility and to meet Parliament 'as the new Government. That they feci like this before they can possibly have had any indication of what the other parties will do, that Mr. Mac Donald deprecates the idea of a speedy appeal to the country in search of a clearer verdict, jointly prove them ready to face the House and defy the other parties to deny them the opportunity of carrying ofi the affairs of the nation. The <jutlook is not wholly favourable for any of the parties, but Labour, whatever else it may lack, is obviously not short of confidence in face of a situation that will be precarious as long as this Parliament lasts.

The Labour Party being poised in expectation of stepping into the breach, without stopping to bargain with anybody, the next possibility is that of the other groups combining to block the way. The Conservatives and Liberals together have the strength to do it, with little to spare. Joined by those members who have no definite party affiliations, they could do it comfortably. It has already been suggested they should do this in order to keep the Labour Party out of office —to "save the country from Socialism" is the more popular phrase. Surely it has not been forgotten that exactly the same appeals were made in 1023 and early in 1921 to the two parties to do just this thing, and all fell on deaf ears. Mr. Asquith, as he then was, leader of the Liberals, describing this campaign after Parliament met, said: "I have during these weeks been cajoled, wheedled, almost caressed, taunted, threatened, browbeaten and all but blackmailed to step in as the saviour of society." Mr. Asquith said he would be a party to no such manoeuvre, "if only for the reason that it would secure for Labour tens and hundreds ,of thousands of votes in the country." Mr. Baldwin, similarly besought, similarly refused to be carried away by the appeals. His view, and that of the majority in his party, was expressed by the Times when it protested against anything being done to deprive Labour of that to which it was entitled by constitutional usage and insisted on the party being given a fair chance. If those arguments were sound in 192324 they are of equal application now —indeed, of greater, since the Labour Party is in fact the strongest of the three instead of being numerically inferior to the Conservatives. There is a different Liberal leader now, but the rank and file really determined what was to be done then, and, no doubt, will prevail again in the same way this time. Apart from the disinclination to appear bent on keeping Labour out, rightly or wrongly, there are plenty of Liberals and Conservatives who would • much rather see Labour in office than any bargain struck between the two older parties. It has been specifically said that the Liberals will give no general undertaking to keep Labour in office as they did five years ago. Ruling out, further, the prospect of any definite coalition of parties to make a majority, the remaining possibility is that Labour will form a minority Government and take its chances in Parliament. Mr. Mac Donald, in J924, laid down the lines upon which it could proceed in face of this position. He said then that his Government would not resign if defeated in a snap division on some matter of minor importance, but only in consequence of a motion of no-confidence, or an adverse vote on some question of principle. These rules of procedure, he said, would be necessary for any Government which did not possess an absolute majority in the House. He seems destined to reenunciate them. It is only the long reign of the two-party system that has made an absolute majority for the one. in office seem an essential in Great Britain. France and other

Continental countries would accept with complete complacency what appears so much of a problem at the moment in Britain. Admittedly the system which requires a Government to obtain a vote of confidence over every major question of policy, which allows Cabinets to come and go in quick procession, threatens stability, and is not entirely favourable to the administrative side of government. The British genius for Parliamentary government can be trusted to hammer something better than that out of the political conditions that may rule for years to come, whether the Parliament just elected proves short-lived or not. No matter what expedients are adopted to meet the situation of the moment, there is every prospect of its being repeated later, and in the circumstances resignation to the prospect of a Government without a majority seems the only course for the British people following the outcome of the election.