“BETWEEN TWO STOOLS.”

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 201, 25 August 1931, Page 1

“BETWEEN TWO STOOLS.”

Economy Plan Caused Labour Downfall. The introduction of the economy plan is the direct cause of the fall of the English Labour Government, according to a Christchurch man who recently returned from England. The economy plan allowed two alternatives, he said. Either the Government could impose very much higher taxation, in which event it -would lose the support of the Liberals and thus go out, or it could cut down unemployment disbursements, and thus lose the support of its own party. Between these two stools, Mr Ramsay MacDonald had fallen. For a long time the people of England had been very perturbed about the huge amount spent by the Labour Government on unemployment relief and on social services, said another recent visitor to England. The amount was in the vicinity of 4000 million pounds for the period the Labour Party had been in power. This continual drain on wages and so on had amounted to considerably more than the country was earning, and the necessity for economy had become imperative. The economy plan had caused the downfall of the Labour Government. ” The people of England who think about these things are very despondent,” he said.