The Daily News TUESDAY, DECEMBER 23, 1930. HEADING FOR CHAOS.

Taranaki Daily News, 23 December 1930, Page 8

The Daily News TUESDAY, DECEMBER 23, 1930. HEADING FOR CHAOS.

When the disastrous effects of the strike by coalminers in the United Kingdom in 1926 were fully realised by all classes there it was predicted that the recovery of some 1 of the lost trade would be hopeless, and that it would take many years to get back to normal under the most favourable circumstances. A very depressing pen picture wasdrawn as to' what might happen if conditions affecting trade, commerce and industry -continued to be unfavourable. In order to guard against a repetition of such a disaster the Conservative Government, in the. face of strong opposition by Labour extremists, promoted a measure to make sympathetic strikes illegal, and that Bill became the law of the land. Unhappily the coal strike and the attempted general strike had done their work only too thoroughly, coming as they did on the top of a decade of struggles against heavy deterrents of trade and industrial expansion. That they plunged the country into increasing 1 unemployment costing many millions a year is well known. From January to July, 1926, there arose 223 trade union-disputes involving 2,736,000 workers, but in the corresponding period of 1927 there were only 178 disputes involving 79,000 workers, by far the greatest proportion of whom belonged to the coal industry. It was hoped that the bitterness of the experience of losing trade would be so profound as to enforce the lessons of such a foolish policy for at least a lifetime, but the advent of Labour to power placed a new complexion upon the policy of the Labour extremists, though the fact that the retention of power depended upon the support of the Liberals kept the demands of- the Left Wing in check. Apparently the Labour and Liberal parties have now arrived at a new stage of relationship. The Liberals are keenly desirous of securing a measure of electoral reform, that will, they consider, be favourable to their chances of forming 1 a Government in the future. Labour is equally keen upon wiping out Mr. Baldwin’s Act, passed after the general strike of 1926. The effect of the Bill that has now been introduced into the House of Commons would be to permit strikes of all description so that no strike could be declared illegal on account of- its mere magnitude. Obviously "the Electoral Reform Bill, can only be carried by the aid of Liberal votes. According to one of the extremists jn the leading ranks of the Labour Party, the electoral reform measure is' a bribe to the Liberals to induce them to keep Labour in power for another two years. When; it comes to the deplorable exhibition of such depravity as to talk of bribes and blackmail in connection with British party tactics there is some justification for regarding them as an indication that the country is heading for chaos. What both these parties are dreading is the prospect of having to go the country by means of a general election at a time like the present, when both parties are in bad odour, and the answer to the policy of the Conservatives in relation to safeguarding certain industries would carry great weight. The tragic failure of the Labouf Government has been strongly emphasised by Mr. Baldwin, who pointed to unemployment as mounting higher and higher. Enterprise has been dis-, couraged by an ever increasing load of taxation, as well as by the prospect of further Socialist extravagance. The condition of the Mother Country has reached a stage of national emergency when people of all kinds of political beliefs unite in the conviction that a drastic change of administration is necessary. There should be a feeling throughout the Empire that what Britain sorely needs is a policy that will safeguard industries, work, and wages, and at the same time develop her • oversea markets through Imperial preferences leading to the economic unity of the Empire. Only the Conservatives can carry out such a policy, and they are pledged to do so both in letter and spirit. 'Without doubt the result would be immediate. On the other hand it is thoroughly plain that both the Liberal and the Labour party will proceed , to extreme action in order to keep the Conservatives out of power. The position is serious indeed when

the true interests of Britain and' the Empire are made the subject of bargaining for party purposes. It would be a terrible experience for the Empire to have no British markets to rely on, and that is what would happen under a continuance of the present regime.