SCYLLA AND CHARYBDIS.

Colonist, Volume LII, Issue 12763, 3 February 1910, Page 3

SCYLLA AND CHARYBDIS.

LABOUR PARTY AND THE NATIONALISTS. THE GOVERNMENT'S EMBARASSMENTS. (Received Feb 2, 10.50 p.m.) London, Feb 2. Mr Ramsay Macdonald. in an interview, said that anyone . assuming that the Labor party would simply b« content with anything the Government might propose regarding the House of Lords was much mistaken. Unemployment had been so exploited by the Conservative Tariff Reformers during the election that the Liberals, if only for party interests, must deal drastically with the subject. Moreover, it was essential for somebody's sympathy that a drastic programme should go to the Board of Trade. He did nob consider that a coalition Liberal and Labour ministry would suit either party. "The Times"says that Labour being now a united party in Parliament, Mr Richard Bell is driven out of parliamentary life, and Messrs Burt . nd Fenwick are driven into the Liberal party. The Government cannot,.unless siipported by the Nationalists or Unionists, disregard or defy the present compact Labour party, and a serious rupture on the Right to Work Bill seems inevitable. The Labour party also demands a Bill to get round the Osborno judgment. This is tantamount to the party's admission that parliamentary levies arc ( forced on the members of trade unions against their will; inasmuch as tho officials are free to collect voluntary levies. Will the Government join in promoting a system of tyranny? These are. some of their impending embarassments. It really looks as if they might find their best friends amongst the Unionists. The "Telegraph" considers there is a likelihood that Mr Haldano will go to the Admiralty.