The Stratford Evening Post With which is Incorporated "THE EGMONT SETTLER" (Established 1890.) SATURDAY, MAY 13, 1933 The British Government

Stratford Evening Post, Volume II, Issue 242, 13 May 1933, Page 4

The Stratford Evening Post With which is Incorporated "THE EGMONT SETTLER" (Established 1890.) SATURDAY, MAY 13, 1933 The British Government

"I 1 HE. National Government in Great Britain has now been in i office for eighteen months, if the tide of popularity which swept it into power with irresistible force in October, 1931, should have receded appreciably, that would be merely in accordance with natural expectations. Public opinion is swayed by various considerations, and is apt to grow tired of even the best of Administrations. If expectations of what a new Government may able to accomplish in times of national difficulty are pitched in a key that is somewhat high, a certain measure of reaction is bound to occur. There has been nothing to suggest, however, that the National Government will have difficulty in carrying on for three more years. From an electoral point of view it has no reason to feel dissatisfied with its position. Mr. Baldwin, who is a tower of strength to it in the confidence which his qualities inspire in his countrymen, has been offering seme judicious observations on the necessity that the Conservative Party should continue to co-operate with the National Administration. The burden of his argument is that without national backing the Government could not have grappled with the great domestic problems which have recently demanded drastic measures involving heavy burdens on all classes of the community. He claims that in eighteen months of strenuous work the National Government has done what would have taken three years under the system of party government—if then it could have been accomplished. Such a claim may well appear to be incontrovertible. The measure of success achieved by the National Government in carrying the nation through a period of extraordinary difficulty may be the subject of argument. It is difficult, however, to imagine that any other kind of Government could have stood up to the problems demanding solution, or achieved anything approaching the same results. The task with which a National Government alone may be able effectively to cope is, moreover, far from being fully accomplished. The domestic difficulties in Britain are bound up with international problems. PYirther progress in relieving these depends to a large extent, as Mr. Baldwin has pointed out, on international consultations, and here again the argument that a National Government is best fitted to meet the situation is equally forcible. Mr. Baldwin's conclusion, dispassionately submitted, that for some time yet the form of coalition represented in the National Government is essential in the interests of Britain and the world will probably appeal strongly to the common sense of both the adherents of the Conservative Party, to whom he was addressing himself, and the British public as a whole.