CONFLICT OF POLICIES INVOLVED.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume III, Issue 881, 6 December 1916, Page 7

CONFLICT OF POLICIES INVOLVED.

STRAIGHT TALK BY A LABOUR LEADER. TIME FOR CESSATION OF FOOLING. Australian and N.Z. Cable Association. (Received December 6, 11.20 a.m.) LONDON, December 5. A meeting of Liberal members carried a general vote of confidence in Mr Asquith by 43 votes to eight. Ten members abstained from voting. The meeting conclusively proved that the Simonites, who opposed Mr Lloyd George, are of small strength in the Liberal Party. The crisis has shown that behind the conflict of personalities there is a conflict of policies. One body of Ministers is in favour of concentrating all our strength upon the fighting services, while others argue that if we deplete our industries in order to fill the Army we shall deprive ourselves of the means of financing the war. The difficulties of the Asquith Government have been increased by the miserable results of the Allies' diplomacy in Greece and the deplorable withdrawal of the British and French marines after the attack on Friday. The Northcliffe papers have commenced vigorous attacks on Viscount Grey and Lord Robert Cecil. It is believed that Mr Lloyd George also favours Lord Grey's resignation. Mr J. 11. Thomas (Labour member for Derby, and organising secretary of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants), speaking at Kentish Town, said: — The present political happenings are calculated to cause dismay in the trenches. If a working man goes on strike he is abused, and called a traitor and other unsavoury names, and is finally brought under the regulations of the Munitions Act. Statesmen should be treated similarly if they strike. You cannot expect the workers to do their duty unless the leaders set an example. This fooling must stop. The country will not tolerate - a dictatorship, and is "fed up" with the Press campaign of calumny and slander. If the Prime Minister is unfit to sit on the War Council, then he is unfit to hold office.