IMPERIAL POLITICS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18687, 17 October 1922, Page 5

IMPERIAL POLITICS

A COMPLEX SITUATION. NEWSPAPER COMMENT. ELECTION IN NOVEMBER PREDICTED. Preu Association —By Telegraph—Copyright LONDON, October 15. The speeches of Mr Chamberlain and Mr Lloyd George have done little to simplify the complexity of the political situation. The newspapers, according to their partisanship, place conflicting interpretations upon these speeches. Some of them strongly approve of Mr Chamberlain’s loyalty to Mr Lloyd George, while others declare that he is a traitor to the Conservative Party, and should resign the leadership. It is suggested in some quarters that both Mr Chamberlain and Mr Lloyd George are again manoeuvring for the creation of a centre party by the elimination of the dissentient elements in the Coalition. Their speeches seem to indicate that they intend to await developments in the Conservative ranks. The moderation of Mr Lloyd George’s speech came as a surprise after the sensational prophesises. The Sunday Express states that the question for the Conservatives is whether the party is to be shattered, as the Liberal Party was, in order to keep Mr Lloyd George in power. The Conservative rank and file desire to deliver the party from the coils and toils of the Coalition. Thev are determined to recover their independence and to go before the electors with their own policy. They say that Mr Chamberlain ought to resign, and if he refuses to do so a conference of Conservative members of the House of Commans and the House of Lords ought to be summoned to define the party’s policy and to 'mose a leader.

r i..e Sunday Observer states: The mass of moderate Conservatives desire the end of the present Coalition. They want to march to the polls under their own banner with their own leader and programme, contending that this is the only means of keeping the party together. If by an. immediate election the Unionist Party is committed -without its representative body being consulted, a total split will bo threatened, and the Unionist leaders in the Cabinet may be repudiated by the rank and file. Tlie Observer declares that experts, reading between the lines of the Manchester speech, predict that Mr Lloyd George intends to resign the Premiership within a few days. This will result in the dissolution of Parliament and an election early in November. After leaving Manchester, Mr Lloyd George, in the presence of a large audience, was presented with the freedom of Salford. There was a similar ceremony at Blackpool, where 3000 persons were present.—A. and N.Z. Cable. PRIME MINISTER’S RETURN. AN ENTHUSIASTIC WELCOME. LONDON, October 15. Mr Lloyd George had an enthusiastic reception on returning to London. Crowds cheered him heartily. Mr Lloyd George, who had a long interview with Mr Churchill, was greatly impressed by the warmth of his welcome in the North of England. —A. and N.Z. Cable. STORY OF THE COALITION. MR ASQUITH’S SUMMING UP. LONDON, October 14. Speaking at West Hartlepool, Mr Asquith said : “We hear a great deal of talk about the imminence of the General Election. The sooner it comes the better. The story of the Coalition is a long and almost unbroken record of delusion and disappointment. There is not a single problem of the many and complicated problems which the war left in its wake, except two or three minor matters, that are nearer solution than they were at the time when the Peace Treaty was signed.”—A. and N.Zr Cal^le. SHALL LABOUR GOVERN? MR CHAMBERLAIN’S SPEECH LABOUR LEADER’S CRITICISM. LONDON, October 15. Whether Labour shall or shall not be allowed to govern seems likely to be the basis of the Government’s appeal both to the Coalition members of Parliament and to the country at the elections, judging from Mr Chamberlain’s speech. Mr Chamberlain’s attack on Labour was no surprise. Mr J. H. Thomas, M.P.. states that it is evident that the Coalition’s battle-cry will be the danger of “a wicked Labour Government.” Mr Thomas added: ‘We accept the challenge. I feel happy respecting the outcome.” Mr Clynes declared that the Government was trying to shield itself by shouting “Beware of Labour!” The Times, in a leading article, pronounces Mr Chamberlain’s speech as a failure. It is unwise, unfair, and misleading, and a deliberate attempt to conjure up the Labour Party as a terrible menace. It betravs an attitude of mind which demonstrates that the Government is no longer fitted to control the destinies of the nation. —A. and N.Z. Cable.