DIFFERENCES IN CABINET

Taranaki Daily News, 25 August 1931, Page 9

DIFFERENCES IN CABINET

TRADE UNION INFLUENCE

TREMENDOUS PUBLIC INTEREST.

CROWDS BLOCK DOWNING STREET. London, Aug. 24. In view of the acute differences known to prevail in the Cabinet there was an expectation- in London throughout the day that Mr. MacDonald would be compelled to resign. Summing up the position at midnight the Daily Telegraph and Daily Herald agree that at least seven Ministers are prepared to resign rather than accept a programme which the Trades Union Council opposes. These are Messrs. Henderson, Graham, Clynes, Tom Johnson, Greenwood, Lansbury and Adamson. When Mr. MacDonald left Downing Street to see the King his emotion was obvious. In the car going to the Palace he was seen to take off his hat and bury his face in his hands. The final blow tp Mr. MacDoMld’s authority was the realisation that the Liberals’ objections to the Cabinet scheme were now just as &tron<r as those of the Conservatives. Indeed, the views of the Opposition parties harmonised to an unexpected extent, chiefly owing to the stubborn resistance of seven Ministers to a drastic reduction in the coJt of unemployment insurance. The necessity for a reduction was the greater because it is believed that the unemployment total will be more than three million when the ■winte begins. Though the Cabinet is obviously tottering to its fall, the actual resignation h.'d not been decided when the Leaders who had called in Downing Street dispersed and, anxious and tired out, Mr. MacDonald went to bed at 12.15. The decision not to issue a statement followed the arrival of Mr. Baldwin, Sir Herbert Samuel and other members of the Opposition in Downing Street, and is interpreted to mean that the formation of a National Government was at least discussed. Therefore Mr. MacDonald’s resignation is contemplated after a Cabinet meeting at midday on Monday. KING HEARS THE LEADERS. It is officially stated from Downing Street that on Mr. MacDonald’s advice his Majesty asked Mr. Baldwin and Sir Herbert Samuel to sec him, because he wished to hear from them the position of the respective parties. It is understood that these audiences had no relation to any possibility of the Government’s resignation. Mr. MacDonald ex- i plained to his Majesty the situation according to his own impressions, and suggested that the Opposition leaders ehould have a similar opportunity. | Not since the opening of the general i strike have sueh crowds filled Downing ’ Street as were present last night owing to the quickening of public interest in the financial crisis, chiefly by the King’s return to London.

The precincts of Buckingham Palace throughout the day were surrounded with people, while Whitehall and Downing Street lost their normal Sunday quiet appearance. By evening the crowds were dense b' ”1 in Downing Street and outside the Palace. The Ministers had the greatest dSficulty in elbowing their way to No. 10. Miss Margaret Bondlield was held up by a constable and was not allowed to pass till she explained that she was a member of Cabinet. More police had to be called up to handle the throng, and eventually it was decided to take the unusual course of clearing the whole Street. The British crisis has- excluded all other topics in Paris. Scant sympathy is felt for the Labour Government, which no party, except the Socialists, favoured, regarding it as too closely associated with the second international and the interpreter of the foreign policy thereof. Moreover, the average Frenchman believes that the financial troubles are due to concessions to Germany. Nevertheless there is considerable anxiety regarding- a. speedy solution : as the weakening of British credit would disastrously affect French trade and finance. tj i ■. i