The Southland Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. Luceo Non Uro. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 9, 1930. VALUELESS ASSURANCES

Southland Times, Issue 21263, 9 December 1930, Page 4

The Southland Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. Luceo Non Uro. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 9, 1930. VALUELESS ASSURANCES

Mr Lloyd George may be emphatic in his insistence of the lack of any pact uniting his Liberals and the Labour Party, but the declaration he has made should be sufficient to satisfv Mr Ramsay MacDonald that he can depend on Mr Lloyd George s votes on all except a few reserved points. Mr Lloyd George’s excuse , for his readiness to swallow a great deal of Mr MacDonald's political concoctions blindly is that he is tcaiful of the coming of protection, and it is interesting to notice that simultaneously with this confession by the Liberal homunclc there has appeared a manifesto by nineteen Labour members, including Mr A. J. Cook, Sir Oswald and Lady Moseley, and Mr Oliver Baldwin demanding certain departures from the Government’s policy, including a measure of protection, and Imperial and foreign trade agreements. This vigorous section of the Labour Party is small in comparison with the party’s total voting strength, but nineteen supporting protection go a long way towards providing a counterweight for Mr Lloyd George s anti-tariff platoon, and it has to be remembered that the Liberal forces arc not united on the tariff issue. It would be wrong to say that any of the Liberals arc out-and-out protectionists, but undoubtedly there is a section, giving adherence to Air Lloyd George at present, which is ready to modify its free trade ideas to meet ruling conditions. On more than one occasion it has been obvious that Air Lloyd George cannot command the unqualified obedience of the Liberals who acknowledge him as leader, and it follows that while his declaration may seem to give Air AlacDonald a guarantee against a general election before the expiry of the life of Parliament, actually the position is not much better than it was before the Liberal chief spoke. No number of bravos and hearty assurances by Air Lloyd George can alter the fact that within the free trade ranks there has been a serious cave, and Air AlacDonald is threatened by it. Now that the dominion delegates have set off for their own countries, the disturbing influence of their protectionist confidence will be removed, but the British workman knows that he is being asked to meet the competition of goods made by operatives who receive smaller pay and work longer hours than he does. Depending on her export business, Britain may consider that she cannot protect her home market if it means suffering a corresponding loss in foreign trade, but other nations are protecting themselves at home and •‘dumping” their surplus as a profit, and if they, operating behind tariff barriers, can undersell Britain in foreign markets, the retention of free trade is indefensible. Prior to the War, when prosperity was a bright, vigorous beacon, Britain did not feel the pinch of this competition, but, burdened with war debts and the honour of being the only debtor to meet its obligations, she now sees these trade issues in a new light, and after examining them the unimpassioned abserver may wonder whether Air Lloyd George’s concern is not for the party’s principles rather more than for the country’s interests. The man whose dubious methods wore excused during the War lost ground seriously in the post-war period, and politically he is a spent force in Britain, holding control of the remnant of the Liberal Party by reason of his grip on the money chest, but actually without power, and his assurances to Air AlacDonald, while they may sound well, actually mean very little because facts arc swinging people's minds to-day, and no political rhetoric can alter those facts.