MOTHER GOUNTRY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 12084, 13 August 1917, Page 2

MOTHER GOUNTRY.

MR HENDERSON.. HIS RESIGNATION ACCEPTED. Australian and AT.Z. Cable Association and Reuter LONDON, August 11. Mr Arthur Henderson has resigned from the War Cabinet, and his resignation has been accepted. (The Right Hon Arthur Henderson. P.C, has represented Barnard Castle since 1903. He was born in Glasgow in 1833. He served an apprenticeship as a moulder in Newcastle, and is an cx-member of Newcastle Town Council and Darlington Borough Council, and Mayor 1903. He was a member of the Railwav Commission and Industrial Corned in 1911. He became chief whip of tho Labour Party in February, 1914, and was elected chairman of the Labour Party on tht outbreak of war. He co-operated on the Parliamentary Recruiting Committee. Mr Henderson was appointed a Privy Councillor- in January, 1915. He joined the Coalition Government, in May, being the first Labour member to receive Cabinet rank, and became President of the Board of Education. Later he was ap-pointed,Paymaster-General and Labour Adviser, and last year he became a member of the Wai Cabinet when Mi Lloyd George became Primo Minister. Recentlv he visited Russia, and during ms absence rM G. N. Barnes served in the War Cabinet.)

Mr Appleton, secretary of the Trades Union Federation, states that Mr Henderson has destroyed the unity of the Allied democracy. He is jeopardising the unity of the British movement, and has affronted the Dominions and American movements.

MR HENDERSON'S ACTIONS. PRIME MINISTER'S STATEMENT. BEHAVIOUR NOT FAIR TO CABINET. LONDON, August 11. The correspondence between Mr Lloyd Ge.ovge and Mr Henderson regarding Mi- Henderson's resignation has been published. Mr Henderson, tendering his resignation, wrote:—'"'l share in your desire that the war should ba carried to a successful conclusion.'' Mr Lloyd George, in a reply stating that the King had accepted Mr Henderson's resignation, says:—"There are certain facts with which the public should be acquainted in order to form a correct appreciation of the events that led to this regrettable conclusion. Your colleagues were completely taken by surprise by the attitude you adopted at the Labour Conference. I was under the impression that you meant 1 to use your influence against the conference delegates meeting enemy representatives at the Stockholm Conference, and this was also the impression of your Cabinet colleagues and of your Labour colleagues. Surely this •vas a conclusion on which you should have informed Cabinet' before entering the Labour Conference, a 9 you were not a member of the Labour Party only, but a member of Cabinet responsible for the conduct of the war. Nevertheless you did not deem it necessary to inform the conference of the views of your colleagues, and the delegates accordingly were justified in assuming that the advice you gave was not inconsistent with their opinions."

Mr Lloyd George then points out that the Government received an important official communication from the Rua&ian Government, stating that although it was not deenied possible to prevent Russian delegates from attending the Stockholm Conference, its decisions would in nowise be binding on the liberty of action of the Russian Government. A covering letter added:—" I hasten to lay this information before you, as it i& feared the irni

pression has hitherto prevailed that Russia ardently desired the Stockholm Conference, and this argument is put forward in order to influence British public opinion in favour of the Labour and Socialist parties of Britain participating in the conference." The Prime Minister adds: "I immediately sent this communication to you with a request that you should communicate it to the Labour Conference. You omitted to do so, though in the course of your speech you made very casual reference to some modification of the attitude of the Russian Government. In 'these circumstances your action does not appear to have beeta fair either to the Government or to the delegates you were addressing. You left them in ignorance of a vital fact which must necessarily have affected 'their judgment." Mr Henderson, in replv, deprecates his attitude at the conference bein;? made the subject of a controversy or of recrimination. " I can only request," he says, " that 'the public should suspend judgment till they know the facts. If any statement is necessary,, it will be made in the proper place, the House of Commons. Even then, my course will be influenced so far as it may affect the nation's interests and the successful prosecution of the war.''

NEVILLE CHAMBERLAIN. LAIN. RESIGNATION ACCEPTED. Australian and N.Z. Cablo Association and Router. LONDON, August 11. The Press Bureau announcesMr Neville Chamberlain has resigned the Directorship of National Service. His resignation has been accepted. AFTER THE WAR. EX-SERVICE EMIGRANTS. LONDON. August 11. The Empire Settlement Committee recommends the appointment Central Board of Control ot Emigrftlion of ex-service men, consisting of _a chairman, who will clevoce his wnoie tune to the subject, and sixteen members, the Home Government to nominate five members, tho overseas minions four, with an additional two representing the States of Australia and tlio provinces of Canada, and five unofficial members. CONTROL OF COTTON. RESTRICTION OF WORK. Australian and N.Z. Gable Association Heuter. LONDON, August 10. The Press Bureau states:—A Board of Trade order empowers the Cotton Control Board to restrict and vary the number of spindles and looms worked in the cotton, mills and weaving sheds.