BRITISH POLITICS.

Wairarapa Daily Times, 24 June 1930, Page 5

BRITISH POLITICS.

CONSERVATIVE PARTY.

ATTACKS ON LEADER. .-'reas Association- Electric I'elegrnoh-CoDyrigbt It UGEY, Sunday. A Conservative Party meeting has been convened for next Tuesday, as the sequel to attacks on Mr Baldwin’s leadership by the protagonists of the Empire Free Trade movement.

There has not been a Conservative Party meeting of this kind for seven years, when, after his defeat at the 1923 General Election, Mr Baldwin received an enthusiastic vote of confidence. The main question at issue is Mr Baldwin’s attitude towards the programme of the Empire free traders, particularly on the question of food taxes. Mr Baldwin, as a compromise, some months ago accepted the proposal of Lord Beaverbrook, who leads the Empire free traders, to refer to the people the question of any agreement involving food taxes reached at a specially summoned Imperial 'Conference. Ho has repeatedly stated that food taxes will not figure in his programme at the next General Eelction. Mr Baldwin’s utterances have been regarded as luke-wann by the Empire free traders, and Lord Beaverbrook in a letter to the “Dally Mail” on Saturday, said that the Empire crusaders could expect little assistance from the Conservative front bench. He appealed to all Conservatives for subscriptions to enable them to place a candidate in each of those constituencies in which Empire free trade was not actively supported.

POSSIBILITY OF CRISIS. „ LONDON, Monday. The “Daily Herald” says: “The coming week will be full of incident. The Cabinet on Tuesday will have to decide its unemployment policy, on which it may decide to stand or fall. Furthermore, if the House of Lords again insists on amendments to the Coal Mines Bill, there will be a firstclass crisis, and possibly'an early electicn.

“In the meantime, Ministerialists are petitioning the Prime Minister, Mr Ramsay MacDonald, to proceed with the new naval construction. This relates to the impending announcement regarding the Navy programme on Wednesday, in which it may be found that the Ministry is discreetly spreading the building over a long period. ’ ’