1 APRIL 1922, Page 2

Mr. Churchill, speaking at Northampton last Saturday, said that it

would be a great disaster if the Conservative Party were broken up, " as their great Liberal Party had unhappily, in the convulsion of events, been broken up." That would mean a. Parliament of jealous and discordant groups, and would weaken the forces that held the dangerous and subversive elements in check. Mr. Churchill instanced the bloodshed caused on the Rand by a gang of armed Communists and the ruin brought upon Russia by the Bolsheviks. He declared that Conservatives and Liberals could not revive the old Party quarrels. They were equally menaced by the Socialist Parties, " behind" which crouched the shadows of Communist folly and Bolshevik crime." He defended the Shin Fein Provisional Government and expressed gratification because most of the Unionists living in the South of Ireland had not yet been molested. The Bolshevik mania of Mr. Do Valera was a sign that the Free State was gaining strength. Mr. Churchill concluded by saying that in our desire. to help Eastern and Central Europe we ought -not to forget the British Empire. We could profitably give trade credits to the Dominions and Crown Colonies as well as to foreigners.