THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES TUESDAY, OCTOBER 29, 1935. THE BRITISH ELECTIONS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22714, 29 October 1935, Page 8

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES TUESDAY, OCTOBER 29, 1935. THE BRITISH ELECTIONS

The appeals for party support in the election campaign in Great Britain which will be carried on until November 14 will follow more or less familiar lines. The real contest lies between the parties representing respectively the National Government and Labour. The presence of the Liberal Party in the field is not expected to affect the issue. The contrast in policies revealed in the National and Labour manifestos is, of course, traditional. The Labour Party aims, it frankly states, at the promotion of Socialism at home and peace abroad. It is actually a Socialist Party, as is the Labour Party in every portion of the Empire, and its programme in that respect is comprehensive. The achievement of the Socialist end would be destructive, of course, of individual initiative and of incentives, at least outside the official sphere, to personal ambition. Public ownership would embrace the land, the banks and numerous utilities, the currency would be the plaything of politics, industry would be controlled by the State, and that could only mean that, so far from there being any increase of efficiency or encouragement of effort, a tendency towards a. dead level of inefficiency would be inevitably introduced. In its efforts to discredit the National Government the Labour Party concentrates a good deal of its attack on its foreign policy. It blames it for the existing international situation. It blames it for not intervening earlier in the Italo-Abyssinian conflict, and for not making Signor Mussolini understand that if he broke the peace Great Britain would join in upholding the authority of the League of Nations. Possibly Signor Mussolini would have hesitated to play the aggressor if he had anticipated the application of League sanctions. But while the League Powers displayed a solidarity in relation to the Covenant which doubtless surprised him, clearly the application of sanctions involved a collective responsibility, and it was no part of Britain's policy or obligation to act alone. She has incurred the anger of Italy for upholding the League, but until Italy had broken all her treaties there could be no certainty as to how France would act, nor even after that event has the attitude of France been free from doubt. But wherever the League has in its view been open to criticism the Labour Party seeks to fasten blame on the British National Government. Its large assumptions that Great Britain could act independently, that she should apparently have acted as the representative of all the nations in checking aggression, may bear an interpretation flattering to her as a Power, but had Britain attempted to adopt that dangerous policy there is no saying what the grounds might be upon which the Labour Party would now be arraigning it for its conduct in regard to foreign affairs. In the fantastic view of the party, Great Britain, thanks to the National Government, also wrecked the Disarmament Conference and created an armaments race, even though, as the world is well aware, she was the one nation that set an example in disarmament by reason of which she ran a risk of impairing her own security. If the Labour Party has in mind her naval agreement with Germany, it is to be remembered that this was in reality an agreement to limit armaments, made at a time when Germany was rebuilding her fleet and had repudiated the provisions of the Versailles Treaty. The .National Government in Great Britain can base its appeal to the electors upon a record of substantial achievement. It can claim to have done much to establish the foundations of the returning prosperity which the country is experiencing. In the King's speech at the prorogation of Parliament the encouraging prospects are briefly traversed. The Government's domestic programme, as outlined in the party manifesto, is one that promises social reform and industrial progress, and it is recommended by the fact that, as in the case of the Coalition Government in New Zealand, results can be pointed to which show that definite advances have been made in the direction of economic recovery. Under the National Government Britain is emerging from a trying period with enhanced prestige. Its policy of " making Britain and the Empire safe, and fulfilling obligations to the League " is in clear-cut contrast to the altogether confused pronouncements of the Labour Party in relation to armaments and security.