The Christchurch Star PUBLISHED BY New Zealand Newspapers Ltd. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 29, 1931. THE BRITISH ELECTION.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 257, 29 October 1931, Page 8

The Christchurch Star PUBLISHED BY New Zealand Newspapers Ltd. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 29, 1931. THE BRITISH ELECTION.

TN CAUSES rather than effects the lesson of the British election has its greatest significance, and almost before the tumult and the shouting dies it is possible to realise that the overwhelming victory for the National Government, amazing as it may seem to many persons, was the inevitable result of a situation that should have been more confidently interpreted. The greatest factor in the Coalition landslide was undoubtedly the transparent honesty of Mr MacDonald, Mr Snowden and Mr Thomas, who were too Olympian in their idealism to be undermined by any suggestion of treachery to the cause to which they had given their lives, and who parted company with their old colleagues as soon as the principles of the democratic State were pushed into the background by their party. And even that is hardly a correct statement of the case, for the Labour Party really deserted its leaders, hoping to exploit the inherent loyalty of the Labour movement for sectional interests that could only lead to class warfare. The Coalition, of course, had the full strength of the Conservative Party behind it, and all the best elements of tlie Liberal Party, and these, it must be remembered, already constituted a majority in the House of Commons, and a much more substantial majority in the country, as far as the country was allowed to express itself through a faulty electoral system.

A combination of forces so overwhelming could have had no other result, and the only difficulty of the leaders, and particularly of Mr Baldwin, will be to ensure that the huge majority that has almost extinguished the Labour Party will be harnessed to a purely national task, and will steer clear of the dangers inherent in an open mandate. The return of Mr Ramsay MacDonald, who went to the country as the leader of the Coalition, and who will automatically assume the Prime Ministership, is a substantial guarantee of a wise and prudent policy. Indeed, we believe that the magnificent response of the country to the appeal of the nation in the hour of crisis will have a sobering effect upon the parties within the Coalition, and that the new spirit of confidence engendered at Home and abroad in the stability and solidarity of the nation will usher in a period of political tranquillity that will outlast the depression. MR MACDONALD’S MANA. |>OETIC JUSTICE has been done in the return of Mr Ramsay MacDonald for the seat, which, like his principles, he refused to desert in the hour of greatest danger. Not only throughout the Empire, but in every country, his return will be received with gratification for, besides being a hard fighter, he is a great idealist of whom any country might be proud. Mr MacDonald has been described as a politician who has pulled Labour after him, and not in the least a great figure pushed up by Labour, and his success at this election in the heart of a Labour constituency, with the whole organisation of the party against him, will hearten those who see in the election the possible emergence of an untrammelled Labour Party holding to the ideals which Mr MacDonald, Mr Snowden and Mr Thomas have championed. Mr MacDonald, by his self-sacrifice and devotion to duty, has preserved for those Labourites who have supported him the remnant of an old idealism, and in this he is still “ pulling Labour after him ”. It has been said that few men have reached eminence with so aloof a bearing and so lonely a spirit, and the events of the past few weeks have emphasised that fact. But they also emphasise his greatness and the potentialities of any party or coalition to which he and his loyal colleagues may attach themselves.