The Auckland Star. WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening Refus. florning Arem ans the etha. TUESDAY. JANUARY 15, 1924. BRITISH LABOUR PROSPECTS.

Auckland Star, Volume 55, Issue 12, 15 January 1924, Page 4

The Auckland Star. WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening Refus. florning Arem ans the etha.

TUESDAY. JANUARY 15, 1924. BRITISH LABOUR PROSPECTS.

For the Mm that lacks aaiittanm, For the wrong thet needt resistance, For the future in the dittanct, ■-__ the food that we cm _o.

There seems to be a general consensus ol opinion at Home that Labour will take office shortly, and the other parties concerned are engaged in preparing for the inevitable. There is uo longer any prospect of a working agreement between Liberals and Conservatives with the object of keeping Labour off the Treasury benches. Kor whatever the Conservatives themselves may have been inclined to attempt. Mr. Asquith, who is nothing it' not an astute Parliamentarian, has declared emphatically against oven a temporary alliance. And quite apart from the question of Parliamentary tactics, in which Mr. Asquith is an acknowledged master, it is obvious that the Liberals as a parly could not afford to compromise their political reputation by using so violent an expedient as this to check Labour's advance. Indeed, even in Conservative circles it is now generally recognised that the only courae. under a constitutional system, is to give Labour a chance of vindicating its claim to political authority. Mr. Garvin himself, the most inveterate foe of Socialism, is now urging the Conservatives to let events take their course., and the outcome of this great political crisis will almost certainly be the speedy emergence of a Labour Government which will get fair play from its opponents unless and until the situation from the national point of view becomes quite intolerable. Ax regards the possible consequences of these latest developments it is still too early to offer any very definite conjecture. Most people believe that Labour, through lack of experience, and as a result of its declared sympathy for internationalism, is likely to make more serious blunders in foreign affairs than in the sphere of domestic polities, and the indications on the European horizon : are even now sufficiently ominous. Already in League of Nations circles fear is expressed that the advent of a Labour Government in Britain may be reflected in the Council of the League, and that new and unexpected interpretations may bo given accordingly to the League's Covenant. The Russian Soviets have made no attempt to conceal their satisfaction at the political news from England, and now apparently expect unconditional recognition from the coming Labour Government. The Hermans, too. are confidently looking to Mr. Mac Donald and his colleagues to lighten their burdens, and public feeling in France is correspondingly depressed and apprehensive. It is true that Mr. MacDonald has done something to allay these suspicions. But the French nation cannot forget that in the early stages of the Great War Mr. Mac Donald was vehemently pro-German, or that since peace came he has protested constantly against the Peace of Versailles, the exaction of reparations, and the occupation of the Ruhr. It is to be feared that though Mr. Mac Donald calls himself "the friend of France," he is not prepared to attach much importance to France's own view of her position and her policy. But apart from foreign affairs, Mr. Mac Donald is committed irrevocably to Socialism, and though his own personal views are comparatively restrained and moderate, the policy which he and his party represent, based as it is chiefly on the doctrines of Marx, cannot possibly commend itself to the majority of the British electors, and cannot be carried into effect even in a tentative way without completely overturning and reconstructing the existing industrial and social order. For all these reasons the political outlook at Home can only be described as stormy, disquieting, and obscure.