IMPERIAL POLITICS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 14700, 7 December 1909, Page 7

IMPERIAL POLITICS.

THE BUDGET BATTLE. GREATEST FIGHT FOR GENERATIONS. SPEECH BY SIR E. C.REI; Press Association-fir TelestapU-Copyiiglif, LONDON, December 5. Sir .Edward Uroy, Foreign Secretary, addressing 3000 Liberals at, Leith, said that the country was in, for the gi-oatest iignt it kid hud for many generations. Tho Government might .have fought tho Lords 011 education, but it was justified in remaining in, office because it. had saved' the country groat- damage in South Africa, and had established a scheme of army reform which .had appealed to the whole country, and enlisted its spirit in support of tho voluntary principle. Now the time; had come when it had no choice lv.it. to light it through, and he was glad tte.re was no other choice. When tho Lards in 1884 obstructed tho franchise tl;oy lecoded owing to the country's rising iii'li.;!::,'.icii. Now, no retreat was pesfiblo, and no opportunity for repentance. Tho Lords had burned their boats, and the Liberal; were determined to assert for ever that tin Commons' rights in regard (o finance snail be uncontrolled, and to ass Mit a, Liberal Government's right to hold office on fair terms, having ths House of Lords to the country, or! if not reformed, to outer into some mutual soltk'd arrangement, ensuring (hat tho will of the Commons in Uio long run shall prevail. Referring to Lord Cumin's idea to •reform tho House of Lords with a body of superior perrons chosen by themselves, Sir E. Grey added that there could be no real reform unless the hereditary principle were abolished and jiopitlar c.lcctio:: substituted.—(Loud chew's.)

BURDEN OF GOVERNMENT.

LIBERALS DEMAND FULL POWERS. LONDON, December 5. ilr AVinslon Churchill, speaking at Preston, paid that tho Liberal parly did not intend' to undertake the burdens of Government again unless fuil and effective powers were given, to them. DEMONSTRATION IN TRAFALGAR SQUARE. LONDON December 5. The Radical newspaper Natioi> calls upon Englishmen in their hundreds of thousands to refuse to pay tuxes should the Government bo overthrown nt the general election. The National Democratic League held .1 demonstration of 7000 people in Trafalgar square to protest against the Lords ar.d their rejection of tlio Budget. Dr Clifford and a dozen Liberal and Labour members ww.o the chief speakors, There v ere many banners. An cliigy of a Peer which was paraded consisted of a. turnip cut into tli3 likeness of a face with a, paper crown. It was carried on a red-robed pole, and labelled 1 lie- First-born." It caused much merriment and boohing. THE LABOUR PARTY. ■ NO AGREEMENT WITH THE LIBERALS. LONDON, December 5. Speaking at Sheffield, Mr Henderson, M.P., tho Labour Loader, indignantly tlenied any compact with tlio Liberals. Lack of money did not enable them in some cases to fight successfully; therefore a few candidates had been withdrawn, but there .was no proposal from tilis other side for a. do.il. Mr Pease's (Chief Liberal Whip) suggestion implied u. surrender—namely, the withdrawal of nearly all their now candidates. NeedIces to say, that would not be done. If the Libarais word anxious to avoid hopeless contests they should follow the example of the Labour party and not contest them.

PEOPOEIIOXAL REPRESENTATION. LONDON, December 5.

Tli® Primal.?, Archbishop Bourns (11. C.), Lord Cromer, Lord Avcbury, Lord Balfour of Burleigh, Lord Court'enar, Lord Hugh Cecil, ])r Clifford, and others have issued a. manifesto to tho electors on the advantages of proportional reprewnlntion. A LABOUR. MANIFESTO. LONDON, December 6. (Received Dec. 6, at 9.45 p.m.) The Labour party, in a manifesto, says that tho great question is whether the Peers or the people lira to rule. It welcomes tho opportunity to prove tliht tho feudal age is past, and that the people are no longer w.illing to live on the suilerivnee of tho Lords. Tho manifesto continues as follows:—"Tho present system of land ownership has devastated tho countryside, imposed heavy burdens on industries, cramped the development of town;, crippkd capital, and' impoverished labour. The oqmaice of four years has demonstrated tho valtn of tho Labour party acting independently. The wgiit to work has still t.o be won, but it is now within llw range >o[ practical politics. The Poor Lnw must bo broken up, pauperism, abolished, old-ago pensions extended _ and increased en the present iioii-ooiitributorv basis, and fra-Hii" r* strictions, including the sex barest be wept away. The working and middle classes are still overburdened with rates <Wd taxes. Vote for tho Labour candidates, for .land for this people, for wealth lor tne wealth-producers, and down with privilege and up with tho people." MR WILL CROOKS INTERVIEWED, (Per United Press Association-.) ~ .I 1 ?!® 1 ® 111 ''! December 6. J l ' ,?i °° !(S ' M ' P '> intsrviewed by a Iboiithiaud Times reporter on his way lo catch tne Melbourne boat at the Bluff, sau ho would be back in time for the intisii elections, and vcukl be in the thick of the light. He hoped to reach Home by January 10. The earliest polling in tho boroughs would not bee'ii until the 13th, and British elections spread over six weeks. Whatever was the result of the coming elections, he said he did not. think there had been for M .V eavs or more such a chance for the people. Ho declared that the Lords were absolutely irresponsible, and this last- act marked the end of their power. It wis the merest rubbish to talk of their rights as a Revising Chamber. They 'had violated that principle time after time. If they beat us at this election," headded, "then representative Government ceases to exist; all your democratic sentiment goes by the board."