The New Parliament
THE Government and the new House of Commons have now met at the Palace of Westminster. We have given in our Notes of the Week the gist of the King's Speech, and our readers will see that unexpected and revolutionary measures are not conspicuous. It is true that we did not expect an inquiry on the part of the Government into the working of the new franchise ; the Liberal Party could have been trusted to raise that matter. If the promise of a Royal Commission on the Drink Question means that a Labour Government will really grasp that nettle, it is an unexpected but welcome sign of courage. We can welcome, without calling it unexpected, the recurrent references to consultation with the Governments of India and the Dominions. The results may sometimes disappoint enthusiasts, but the uniform advance of the Empire is worth a great deal more to the world than pace.
In foreign affairs we note that the Young Report is mentioned only as leading to an international conference, and to a settlement which will "enable the occupying Powers to proceed with the evacuation of the Rhineland." This is cautious, and wisely so. To be a party to the evacuation of 50,000 French troops will be a greater achievement than to bring home our 5,000 men and leave the Rhineland still an occupied territory. Our readers know how strongly we feel that the evacuation is overdue. An early reduction, not merely limitation, of armaments throughout the world is the next object of hope. Here we are assured that Imperial co-operation will be sought, as well as agreement with foreign Govern- ments. If Lord Cecil takes a hand in these matters on behalf of this country, at Geneva or elsewhere, we are eertain that no enthusiast has earned and kept greater respect and sympathy, even among those whom be may consider to be slow coaches, both at home and in the Dominions. The signature of the Optional Clause of the Permanent Court of International Justice is in theory an obviously 'right and proper step, but we recognize that no ill will ever prevented the Unionist Govern- ment from signing it. It fis no good denying that certain risks have to be faced, and that here again Imperial unanimity is desirable, even if not indispensable. Ful- filment of pledges to open the way to vast trade, and the end of unemployment, through new relations with Russia, must be sought in a promised examination of conditions under which diplomatic relations may be resumed, and in consultation with the Imperial Govern- ments. No rash reference is made to any connexion between trade and diplomacy. Our principal hope is that without damage to ourselves we may do more to humanize the Moscovite despots by contact than by the disdainful aloofness which they have invited by their active hatred of our ideals. We are willing once again to test their honesty.
In OUT domestic affairs it is plain that Mr. Thomas is bringing to bear on unemployment his experience of transport work at home, and of Imperial commerce. His mind must have gone back, for instance, to his visit to West Africa. If the Labour Party can make a greater sttecess of Imperial commerce, without serious damage to Free Trade, and of emigration than the Unionist Government has made, no one will grudge them praise, and they will admit that _the Unionist Government has tried hard to prepare the Empire for efforts, on our part. Agriculture and Fisheries will receive such encourage- ment as words may give, but we urge the agriculturist to seek his own salvation, without counting upon the help of a Government returned by urban voters. The Unionist efforts to facilitate credit are still full of hopes not yet disappointed. The coal industry has a clause to itself in the Speech. Its reorganization is "under con- sideration" by many others besides the Government.
So too is the ownership of the minerals." This vague threat to owners may mean action on the lines suggested by the Samuel Commission of buying out royalty owners.
If this is so, the Lord Chancellor will be a bulwark of justice towards those who have spent or invested large sums in trying to produce their minerals for consumption and to give employment. Many people will be quite open to conviction if it can be shown that Crown property in the hands of the Woods and Forests has brought greater happiness to workers and consumers than privately administered mines.
Like agriculture, the other great industries, iron, steel, and cotton, have encouragement in words, for they are bidden to hope for improvement through co-operation with the Government. We do not blame the Govern- ment for being so cautious and vague here. They are more definite in regard to "the obligations entered into in Washington in 1919." We have lately told our readers that the objections to signing the Convention do not lie here, but in the lack of assurance that other signatories will be able to enforce the same obligations. If the Government have got over this obstacle they will sign with our approval. The next subject is housing, and we should be the last to sneer at them for stealing the Unionist thunder if they proceed on lines thought out by Mr. Neville Chamberlain. We cannot gauge the mildness or fury implied in the last contentious announce- ment of remedies for situations created by the Trade Disputes Act of 1927. It will be observed that the word " repeal " is not used. The Government are likely to profit by the lessons of the general strike, which gave rise to the Act, for no one learnt those lessons more clearly. So to alter the law as to reintroduce the possi- bility of political and industrial tyranny as it existed here and there would be a retrograde step; loathed by the rank and file. If they encourage unions within the Civil Service to take part in politics they will strike a bad blow at the efficiency and trustworthiness of our administra- tive system. They can hardly want to weaken their own hands in the face of a threat of a general strike against which the Act was meant to be a safeguard, nor to confuse the common law which the Act tried to elucidate.
To sum up :—The lunacy that prevails on the hustings has given place, as all but the most timid expected, to mildness, the usual effect of knowledge and responsibility. It is not the mere cooing of a sucking dove, for it will always be possible to give extreme socialistic interpreta- tion to vague phrases, and it is open to the suspicious to say that the cooing is only a pretence to lull them to sleep. We have indicated some of the possible dangers, and we would only add here a warning to Mr. MacDonald that he will lose the chances that we want to see him take, and the confidence that has been placed in him, if he shows any signs of weakness before pressure from outside Parliament. He must be aware of the danger. He learnt a bitter lesson at the time of the last Russian Commercial Treaty and the Campbell case. Whether he suffered justly or not is not the point here. He forfeited confidence because he was believed to have yielded to pressure. The country dislikes nothing more, and the House of Commons cannot abide what they feel to be a wrong to themselves so long, as they are the representatives of democratic government,
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