London, Oct. 3.
With the opening of the Labour Party Conference at Brighton this Monday and the beginning of the Liberal Conference at Nottinghai tomorrow the Pol world is Ueginning to wake up again and the quiet, uncritical period of the summer Recess has come to an end. With the opening of Parliament the end of the month and the Conservative Party Conference about fortnight later the tension will steadily increase, The chorus of praise which has attended the Socialist Government during the last two months following the so-called successes at the Bayne, Geneva and Washington seems'to be drawing to and end and the annual Conference of the Party has shown very clearly that there is a strong undercurrent of discontent among various clements the way things are being done by these in Power.
On the opening day, Miss Jewson of the Independent Labour Party moved a resolution urging the intreated taxation of the wealthy to enable a system of children's allowances to be introduced cost is reckoned, over £100,000,000 a year. A card' vote was taken and the resolution was defeated by 1,259,000 to 860,000, The margin sufficiently narrow to show what. A large measure of discontent really Mr. Thomas on Unemployment 'On the second day, Mr. J. 'Thomas spoke on the Unemployment Problem, which he, as Lord Privy Seal has been' specially detailed to overcome. As the figures of unemployment "are slightly, higher today than when the Con-jovernment went out of still stand at the appalling figure of 1,160,000 it was obvious that nothing he could say would sound very encotiraging. And 40 it proved. His speech was nothing but an apologia. Like so many Conservative speakers during the past five years he felt himself obliged to point out the magnitude of the problem and how impossible it was to grapple speedily with it. Speaking of his visit to Canada he had to make it clear that he had een able to do nothing on the lines of setting Canada to absorb dircet!y any of the unemployed British workers. Canada already has her own unemployment problems. He had concentrated on trying to induce Canadian firms to buy more of own ¢oal and material from this country. instead of America. The appeal to sentiment may temporarily have, a little effect, but in the long ran economic considerations are bound to take first place and it is doubt-whether the Canadian trip will have any startling results, Anyway the speech was definite not a success and amer with little applause. The—conjuror hind failed to produce a sufficient quantity of rabbits out of his hat.
ism was profuse. Mr, Whea ley suggested that the excuses were only worthy of Mr. Saidwin and sounded no better coming from the mouth of a Socialist Minister. Other speakers expressed equal di: katiafuction but none could sugges! any better remedy save to change the whole system under which we live. The debate then drifted back to reconsideration of the Unemployment, Insurance question and the criticism of Government's method of treating the unemployed. The resolution that: this part of the Fartiamentary report should be referred back swas defeated the narrow margin of 73,000 votes eut:"o "over 2,000,000. "Such a Farrow margin must neeessarl marie the Teadets very" amiens, They know that any loosening. the system of giving doles res result ina big. increase in. the umber of unemployed and "mach eteater expense whereas the maine fens of things In tr one fiom: within, <Pbition may result in matin Hestonees npn yates was received with much greater favour. He ran over the recent negotiations with Russia, the Egyptian Treaty, the Hague Conference and the Disarmament proposals, Everything was comple-rely to the taste of his audience and the applause was very much greater than it had been for Mr 'Thomas on the previous day. Outside the Labour Party, however, there ig a growing feeling that the' praise of the Socialist foreign hey has been overdone. The joees" at the Hague, itis claimed was only won at the expense of considerable loss of friendship with France and a slight increase of the burden on Germany which is in complete opposition to all previous Socialist pronunciamentos on the subject of international debts. The Treaty with Egypt may prove the source of any amount of trouble in the future and the surrender to Russia whereby it is proposed that diplomatic relations should be begun before the settlement of disputes rather than after, error of the first magnitude. So say ithe critics, Whether their pessimistie prognostications will be fulfilled, time alone can show.
Meanwhile the Labour—Government is likely to have a trying time when Parliament re-assembles, The Miners Bight Hours Act, Widows Pensions, Unemployment insurance and a score of other domestic problems on which they have made Fash promises all await treatment Postponement and either course will micer with furious attack from one Party or another.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.