The Star. MONDAY, DECEMBER 10, 1923. THE TRIUMPH OF FREE TRADE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17219, 10 December 1923, Page 6

The Star. MONDAY, DECEMBER 10, 1923. THE TRIUMPH OF FREE TRADE.

The general election in Britain has dealt a smashing blow to the protectionist campaign of the Conservative Government. The country has declared most emphatically in favour of free trade. Mr Baldwin, in his great political gamble, has lost his comfortable absolute majority of eighty votes and is now in a minority of nearly one hundred. The Cabinet and Ministry have not escaped inclusion in the list of notable casualties. It is evident that Mr Baldwin mistook the temper of the British electors. He and his Party must bitterly regret that they took the course that has ended in such a great Tory disaster. They were assisted to their doom by the colonial Premiers, who at the Imperial Conference clamoured for preferential duties. The Government really proposed a very small dose of preference, but it was regarded by the free traders as an insidious and dangerous attack on the very vitals of British industry. The outstanding feature of the election is the defeat of the. Government. The second is the retention by the I.about- Party of its position as the second strongest in the House. This must be bitterly disappointing to many liberals, who were fairly confident that they would secure the official Opposition Benches if they did not carry the Treasury itself. With the reconciliation of the two sections of the Liberal Party there was ground for an optimistic expectation. The Liberals gained from the Conservatives, but lost seats to Labour. It is only natural that the big question now before the British public is: What will happen next? Our opinion is that the Conservatives, as the largest party, will remain in office, possibly under a new Prime Minister. There will be strong support for a Coalition Government, but the temper of the parties must be taken into account. The Conservatives smashed the Coalition in 1922, and they will not be anxious to humiliate themselves by appealing to Liberals. The Liberals, on the other hand, have no affection for the Tories, who have been their historic enemies from the dawn of party politics. Each party contains leaders who are not acceptable to the other side. The Liberals and Labourites cannot make an effective coalition, though they must combine in defence of free trade. The fiscal issue, however, has been taken out of the hands of the House; it has been settled by the people themselves. Labour, as ilie larger party, would demand the right to dictate the terms of a coalition, and the result would be disruption. The situation is full of both interest and anxiety. A strong Government is out of the question, but another election is even more impossible.