BRITISH PARLIAMENT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18493, 2 March 1922, Page 9

BRITISH PARLIAMENT

PROBABLE GENERAL ELECTION. (Fsom Ode Own Coehespondent.) ’ LONDON, January 3. Much, speculation and many reports points to the possibility of a general election in the near future. Mr laoyd George dined with Lord Birkenhead, Mr Chamberlain, Mr Churchill, Sir R, Horne, and Sir L. Worthington Evans immediately on the conclusion of the brief Parliamentary session, and “General Election” was almost the sole topic of conversation. Broadly speaking, one may say that the Coalition-Liberal leaders want a dissolution, ana 'the Conservatives do not. The Prime Minister, it is stated, take*} the view held by the majority of the Cabinet that the Government has almost exhausted the mandate received _ from the electorate in 1918; that the period of internal readjustment after the war has passed and that the building up of British industrial wellbeing depends now upon the - reconstruction of Europe and the development of its markets. That the cure for unemployment is employment is a trite but true phrass to which the Government will supply copious elaboration during the elec cion cviipajgn. Retrenchment at home and a helping hand to' reconstruction in the overseas markets will be the obverse and reverse sides of the Government’s general election coinage. REFORM OF HOUSE OF LORDS; Many Unionists would, doubtless, like to see the House of Lords reformed before a dissolution, but it is doubtful if the country is really very much interested at the moment in Lords’ reform. Apart from this, the Coalition, it is reasonably expected, would come safely through an election, and the Lords could be tackled after. Mr Chamberlain’s view is apparently influenced by this point. With .the reform of the Lords on the Statute Book, the Government, he suggests, could well and properly appeal to the country with' a full harvest of legislation redeeming eyery pledge. He also takes the view that the state of employment in the country is not favourable to the prospects of the Ministerial Party, which will be attacked on a wide front by Labour. The Government reports from the Southwark by-election indicated that the principal issue pf the contest was unemployment, and the victory of the Labour candidate was regarded with grave concern by those whoso business it is to test, on behalf of the Coalition, the strength and direction of every political wind that stirs in the constituencies. ELECTION PLATFORM. "A conjunction of circumstances,” says the Parliamentary correspondent of The Tunes, “has convinced most. Ministers that no more favourable opportunity can be expected for an appeal to the country. There is no difficulty in supplying the heads of their election addresses. We have attained p_oace and an honourable settlement with Ireland we have taken our part at Washington in reducing the burden of armaments and in promoting goodwill among the nations; wo have out down, and are prepared to out down still further, the cost of government in this country; and what is required, in addition, in the immediate future, is a great effort to restore the prosperity of all the devastated lands upon which our own prosperity depends. Shall we, who have led you so far upon the road, continue to direct the nation’s affairs, or do you prefer to entrust the task to others? “Whatever the language that, it may be safely assumed, will be the tenor of the appeal to the electorate. Ministers are not at all inclined to face a session in which every Bill, all administrative action, and every vote of individual members of Parliament would be directly influenced by the knowledge of the of an election and the necessity for rendering an account of'individual stewardship. It appears quite certain that before the election the Geddes report will bo published. Some_ Ministers already eee the error of having withheld the report so long from the public. Unofficial disclosure of certain of the recommendations has permitted of the organisation of sectional opposition. The report and its recommendations, to be properly appraised, must be viewed as a whole, and examined, not only privately in Ministertial conclaves, but openly by the tax-paying public.” COALITION LIBERAL CONFERENCE. All the proa and cons ore no doubt being duly weighed by the Premier at Cannes. He has with him Mr Churchill, who is known to favour a speedy general election; and Captain Guest, who was the CoalitionLiberal Whip before he went to the Air Ministry, and _ has far more experience of electoral machinery than Mr M'Curdy. Mr Bonar Law, too, is in the same town, and there are rumours that he may return to the Cabinet, especially if'Mr Balfour should plead the weight of years as an excuse for retiring from active politics. The conference of the Coalition-Liberals, which is to open in the middle of the month, will be, in the circumstances, of 'immediate political importance. The first day’s proceedings will be a private talk on organisation and the party prospects; the second will be for the public discussion of resolutions. The agenda is still in preparation, but the motions will have as their object to lay down a party platform to, which, on the following day (January 21) the Prime Minister will give his blessing. The planks will bo of his own shaping, of course, and it is being put about by bis fuglemen in the press that the platform will attract “the brooder-minded” Conservatives and “moderate” Labour.