REFERENCE TO KING

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21250, 2 August 1932, Page 9

REFERENCE TO KING

MR. H. G. WELLS' ATTACK LABOUR PARTY INDICTED LONDON, July 31 Mr. H. G. Wells, in the course of a scathing attack on the Labour Party delivered at the Liberal Summer School, said: "The King was so ill-advised as to depart from his proper political and social neutrality and to lead a movement for cheeseparing and grinding tho faces of the needy in tho interests of the debt collector, and not a soul in the Labour Party said what ought to have been said about the King or that miserable campaign of unintelligent economy which cast a dismal shadow in the closing month of 1931." Sir Michael Sadler, chairman of tho meeting, considered tho reference to the King was like a very dark line in a larger picture of national life, amplifying the strong admiration and gratitude for the noble things the Prince of Wales and the Royal Family were doing for tho welfare of the country, the relief of suffering, and the encouragement of the people. Lieutenant-Commander J. M. Kenworthy, formerly Labour M.P. for Hull, commenting on Mr. Weils' remarks, declares that the King acted within the Constitution. The real villains of tho piece were Mr. Mac Donald and Viscount Snowden, who prepared a coup d'etat months previously. Far from no Labour Party voice being raised, the Labour Party was prepared to go into the wilderness, as it did, rather than be a party to rescuing the bankers at the expense of the poor. Mr. Wells' facts were all wrong, said Commander Kenworthy, who disagrees with his criticism. " The King took the new Cabinet's advice that economy was absolutely necessary, but the Labour Party declined to accept that policy," said Mr. George Lansbury, the Labour leader, in an interview. " Nobody knows better than Mr. Wells that it is nonsense to say Mr. Mac Donald, Mr. J. H. Thomas and a few others represented Labour." -