CABINET RIFT.

Waipawa Mail, Volume XXXVII, Issue 7918, 14 August 1917, Page 3

CABINET RIFT.

MR HENDERSON RESIGNS. PLAIN SPEAKING BY MR LLOYD GEORGE. Australian and N.Z. Cable Association. LONDON, August 11. Correspondence between Mr Lloyd George and Mr Henderson regarding Mr Henderson’s resignation has been published. Mr Henderson, in tendering his resignation, wrote: “I share your desire that the war should he carried to a successful conclusion." ‘ Mr Lloyd George, in reply, intimating that the King had accepted Mr Henderson’s resignation, says: “There arc certain facts wherewith the public should be acquainted in order to form a correct appreciation of the events that have led to this regrettable conclusion. Your colleagues were completely taken by surprise by the attitude you adopted at the Labor Conference. I was under the impression that you meant to use your influence against meeting enemy representatives at the Stockholm Conference. This was also the impression of your Cabinet colleagues and your Labor colleagues. Surely this was a conclusion whereon you should have informed the Cabinet before entering the Labor Conference, as you are not a member of the Labor party only, but a member of the Cabinet responsible for the war. Nevertheless you did not deem it necessary to inform the conference of the views. Your colleagues and delegates were accordingly justified in assuming that the advice you would give was not inconsistent with their opinions." Mr Lloyd George then points out that the Government had received important official communication from the Russian Government, stating that although it was not deemed possible to prevent Russian delegates from attending the Stockholm Conference, its decisions were in no wise binding on the liberty of action of the Russian Government. The covering letter added: “I hasten to lay this information before you as it is feared that the impression has hitherto prevailed that Russia ardently desired the Stockholm Conference, and this argument has been put forward in order to influence British public opinion in favor of the Labor and Socialist parties in Great Britain participating in the Conference."

Mr Lloyd George adds: “I immediately sent this communication to you with the request to communicate it to the Labor Conference. You omitted to do so, though in the course of your speech you made a very casual reference to some modification in the attitude of the Russian Government. Under these circumstances your action does not appear to have been fair either to the Government or to the delegates. You, in addressing them, left them in ignorance of a vital fact which must necessarily have affected their judgment." Mr Henderson’s reply deprecates his attitude at the conference being made the subject of controversy or recrimination. He says: “I can only ■request the public to suspend judgment till they know the facts. If any statement is necessary it will be made in the proper place in the House of Commons. Even then my course would not be influenced so far as to affect the nation’s interests and the successful prosecution of the war/ ’

UNITY DESTROYED. Mr Havelock Wilson is calling a meeting of trade union leaders to consider convening another conference on Thursday demanding a trade union referendum before sending delegates to Stockholm. Mr Appleton, secretary’ of the Trades Union Federation, states that Mr Henderson has destroyed the unity of the Allied democracy and is jeopardising the unity of the British movement. He has affronted the Dominions and American movements. MR HENDERSON EXPLAINS HIS POSITION. UPBRAIDS THE PREMIER. Australian and N.Z. Cable Association. (Received This Day, 2 p.m.) LONDON, August 13. In the House of Commons, Mr Henderson, speaking from the Labor benches, said he intended to speak lengthily owing to the unprecedented dangerous press campaign anent his position in the Cabinet and his actions at the Labor Conference. It would be almost impossible to find a precedent in the history of Ministerial resignation for the conduct of the Premier and his colleagues. During the weekend he received the first intimation of the acceptance of his resignation from a newspaper, though still working in the War Cabinet’s office. Mr Lloyd George, after the conference’s decision, said his (the speaker’s) position as secretary of the Labor party was incompatible with his holding a seat in the Cabinet. He chose the former. He only wished Mr Lloyd George had emulated the character and spirit of his (the speaker’s) letter of resignation.