THE New Zealand Herald. AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS FRIDAY, OCTOBER 2, 1931. PARTIES AND A TARIFF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20993, 2 October 1931, Page 8

THE New Zealand Herald. AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS FRIDAY, OCTOBER 2, 1931. PARTIES AND A TARIFF.

The political situation in Great Britain remains in a position of uncertainty. The three possibilities are the National Government's remaining in being with no disturbance of Parliamentary routine, an election with this. Government facing the only real Opposition, the Labour Party bereft of its old leaders, or an election with tho three parties acting independently. The third course woulc leave Mr. Mac Donald and those who have followed his lead witho.it any political homo or any organisation to support them. "When the National Government was first formed, the whole idea was for a short life, the passing of urgent emergency measures, and then disbandment for an appeal to the country. Tho predictions have gradually moved away from that position, and bow it is the chance of an appeal by the National Government led by Mr. Mac Donald and supported by Conservatives and Liberals that finds most favour. It is clearly indicated by the news; that the tariff issue not only dominates all others, but presents the knottiest problem to those who wish to keep the National Government together for an election. The position of the Liberals is naturally the most difficult. If all possibility of a tariff is to be ruled out, it will bo difficult if not impossible for the Conservatives to remain with the National Government. They are too deeply committed to their tarif: policy. Yet, can the Liberals endorse an appeal for a tariff ? If they do, little will remain to distinguish them as Liberals. It will mean abandonment of their last, greatest, traditional principle, meaning, also, in effect, the end of the Liberal Party as a separate entity. Thef.e are the chief difficulties of coalition.

Tie return of the tariff issue to a leading place in the political field is a remarkable instance of a turn in the political wheel of fortune. In the last weeks of 1923 Mr. Baldwin faced the country as the leader of the Conservative Party appealing for authority to impose tariffs. The policy was then advocated as a cure for unemployment by the conservation of the home market. Mr. Baldwin advoccited tariffs on manufactured goods, especially those most exposed to foreign competition, but specifically repudiated duties on whent or meat. Both Liberal and Labour Parties opposed the tariff uncompromisingly. They vied with one another in denouncing protection, though they made no common cause in the electorates. The campaign was said to recall that of 1905 in many ways. The result resembled the earlier one in the disaster which befel the Conservatives. When Parliament was dissolved Mr. Baldwin led a party of 346 members. In the new Parliament 4 .<;e Conservatives numbered 258. It was said tha; any chance of protection had been put off for a generation. When, less than a year later, Mr. Baldwin led his party to a victory that gave then 413 members, he ojttitted tariffs entirely from his programme, merely proposing to extend the provisions of the Safeguarding of Industries Act wherever it seemed feasible. At that time any departure from orthodox free trade was regarded by Liberals and Labour as a thoroughly discredited policy, by the Conservatives as a suicidal one. The change that has come over the situation has occurred in the past two years, since the return of a Labour Government to office in the first half of 1929. As indicative of the completely new outlook the chief Conservative critic of Mr, Snowden's Budget, produced last April, predicted that he would be the last Chancellor of the Exchequer to introduce a free trade Budget. The Conservatives have long ago returned to the tariff as a leading plank in their platform. Even while M:\ Snowdcn'3 Budget was being debated in April, Mr. Baldwin was launching a campaign in the country in which tariffs figured largely. Since then they have made no secret of their eagerness to go to the country for a mandate to apply their policy. The Labour Party has changed its attitude considerably since 1923. The Trades Union Congress was early in the field then, denouncing tariffs as a remedy for unemployment, and expressing its faith in free trade. Y3t before the last Imperial Conference the Trades Union Congress produced a policy for Empire economic co-operation, and in effect declared free trade to be an obsolete and outworn shibboleth. It expressed willingness to accept tariffs if they could be proved useful. As long as Mr. Snowden dominated the financial pol ,cy of the Labour Party, no tariff policy could be pursued. But the readiness to consider one reTrained'in the party, and has been shown to remain in the insurgent M:\ Henderson now leads. The Liberals, alone have stood unflinching in their "no tariff" attitude until very recently. Now their opposition is more mildly expressed, though they prefer to dwell on an emergency measure for the raising of revenue, or to limit imports in the interests of the trade balance. They still refrain from discussing fullbodied protection. On all the evidence there is no insuperable obstacle to the National Government's uoing to the country even with tariffs in its programme. The Liberals, if not openly approving, may refrain from active opposition. With the exception of Mr. Snowden, who will retire from politics, none of the Labour members of the Government is indissolubly wedded to free trade. The enthusiasm of the Conservatives for the policy is undoubted. They would certainly, on their own words, have preferred to go to the country jis a party seeking for themselves a mandate to change Britain's fiscal system. Out of these elements the turn from the free trade doctrine which has ruled for nearly 90 years seems a certainty, whether an election is held in the near future or •not.