The Star. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 1921. CAN LABOUR WEATHER THE STORM?

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17345, 27 September 1924, Page 8

The Star. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 1921. CAN LABOUR WEATHER THE STORM?

Pressing problems of all kinds will face Britain's Labour Cabinet when Parliament resumes next week. Several narrow divisions arc expected, and political correspondents are already predicting that Air MacDonald and bis Ministers will find it difficult to retain office even until the end of October. In the region of domestic affairs, there arc such matters as unemployment, housing, and miners’ wages, all the subject of unfulfilled pledges made during the enthusiasm of the last election campaign, and all at a more acute stage, with the approach of winter, than they have been for many months. More serious still is the question of the ratification of the treaty with the Soviet Government. Both Mr Asquith and Mr Lloyd George have denounced the terms of the proposed agreement, and it seems likely that the great hulk of the Liberals will not help the Prime Minister to withstand the unrelenting opposition of the Conservatives. Another contentious measure is the Irish Boundary Commission Bill. "Whatever obstacles to its passage arc surmounted in the Commons, the obstruction promised in the House of Lords will require more skilful handling.

Mr MacDonald, however, is a force to be reckoned with in the political arena. lie has outwitted his opponents in the past, and it is on the cards that he will do so again before the session ends. On gaining the Treasury Benches, he announced that his Government would go out “ only if defeated upon substantial issues, issues of principle, issues that really matter.” He might have gone further and added that the sole judge on this important matter of principle was to he none other than Mr Ramsay MacDonald. It will not surprise anyone if he changes front on such a ticklish problem as the Soviet Treaty, after having proved two entirely different things to two entirely different groups. The task is not a light one. It is to show the extremist wing

of the Labour Party that their leader has not forsaken the ideals of international brotherhood; and, at the same time, convince the Liberals, through whose goodwill he retains office, that the outlook is not altogether as “ red ” as it looks.