BRITISH POLITICS

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LV, Issue 16923, 11 April 1929, Page 7

BRITISH POLITICS

GOVERNMENT’S POLICY MEETING OF CABINET {British Oiiiciv J Wireless.) Ree. noon. RUGBY, April 10. The first Cabinet meeting after the Easter recess was held to-day. It is understood that the Prime Minister outlined the General Election policy which he will announce a week to-mor-row at a meting at Drury Lein 3 Theatre, and that Mr. Churchill, Chancellor of tire Exchequer, submitted some of the proposals of his forthcoming Budget, which will have a bearing on the election programme. EXTENSION OF PENSIONS BRITISH BUDGET PREDICTION (Australian Press Assn.—United Service.) LONDON, April 10/ Sir Thomas Inskip (Con.), speaking at East Renfrewshire, foreshadowed that the Budget would include the extension of pensions on a voluntary basis. HOUSE LEADER? CHURCHILL’S NEW POST IMPORTANT MOVES EXPECTED LONDON, April 1. Startling changes are anticipated if the general elections return Mr. Baldwin to power. Air. Neville Chamberlain, Minister of Health, is tipped as a certainty for the Chancellorship of the Exchequer, if the Conservatives are again able to form a Government, with Mr. - Winston Churchill, the present Chancellor, in a lighter post, including the leadership of the House of Commons as a compensation. The Daily News political correspondent says that there may even be some measure of Cabinet reconstruction before fhe dissolution. 11 ic First Lord of the Admiralty, Mr. Bridgeman, has already announced that lie is hot seeking re-election, and the Earl of - Balfour, Lord President of the Council, 5 also wishes to retire. These two posts Mr. Baldwin may fill before the election. Sir Austen Chamberlain, Foreign Secretary, is generally understood to be destined for the House of Lords. His elevation is expected to be announced either in the dissolution honors list, or soon after the election. Meanwhile, according to the Daily Mail’s, political correspondent, Mr. Baldwin has decided to speed un his general election programme, in deference to back-bench representations that delay is likely to damage the party’s prospects. He now promise* to unfold the Government’s election policy to a great London gathering of Conservative members of the House of Commons and candidates on April 18, instead of at Bristol on April 25. as previously arranged. In addition, there will be special schemes for relieving unemployment and improving trade. The programme is expected to include housing, slum clearance, extension of “safeguarding,” and also proposals for assisting further Empire trade settlement