Evening star., 1926-05-30

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Great Britain. - The long-existing
breach between the Earl Of Oxford
(Herbert Asquith). leader of the LIB
eral party, and Lloyd George. chair
man of the Liberal parliamentary
party, has been greatly widened and
there Is really serious danger that the
Liberal party of SO glorious history
will be dissolved. one section joining
the Conservatives, the rest joining the
Labor party. except that a small
group under Lloyd George might
maintain an independent existence
under some such nan1e as Radical
Liberals"
On May 20 the Earl Of oxford wrote a
letter to Lloyd George expressing regret
at the course pursued by the latter
during the general strike and deplor.
ing the famous article on the strike
contributed by Lloyd George to an
American newspaper while the strike
was on. It will be remembered that,
while Lloyd George condemned the
general strike and supported in Par
lament all the measures demanded
by the government to preserve order
and carry on the essential national
services. he sharply criticized the gov
ernment for breaking off it's negO-
tiations with the general council of
tho Trades Union Congress the day
before the strike orders took effect: he
condemned the governments refusal
to resume negotiations before the
strike should be Internationally
compromise proposals Of the Arch.
bishop Of Canterbury.
Lord Oxford declared that Lloyd
Georges course was In conflict with
decisions taken on the eve of the
strike by the shadow cabinet "a
group of "a Liberal bigwigs, mostly
ministers. and including Lloyd
George) and opposed to the country's s
interest, which demanded uncondi-
tional support OF the government
Becoming (rather unreasonably) i'm
patient over Lloyd Georges failure
instantly to reply. the earl gave his
letter to the press. 1t so happened
that Lloyd Georges reply reached
him Immediately thereafter. and it,
of course. was forthwith also pub
lished. The whole matter will prob
ably be thrashed out by the shadow
cabinet. the Liberal parliamentary
party and the National Liberal Fed :
Grafton, which me>ts June II. The
press has a juicy subject of which
1t Is making the most.
The coal strike continues. On
May % Mr.. Baldwin sent letters
chiding both mine owners and miners
for turning down his proposals. He
told the miners the. government
of May the offer of a further sub
sidy to the industry. But the tone
of his letter to the miners chiefs
was far gentler than that of the
letter to the owners central com
mittee. The prospect is black
enough: but 1t seems probable that
should Parliament on reconvening
proceed at once to legislate for the
industry along the lines indicated
by the report Of the Coal Commits
sion, the miners would soften.
In consequence Of the shortage oi
coal train service in Great Britain is
less than half Of normal.
France.-The franc made 'recov
ery of approximately 20 per cent
| within the week. thanks apparently
| to the governments use of the
! Morgan loan in buying up francs
Some say that as much as $4,000
900 thereof was used.
The Riff War Is practically over. o.
Thursday. Abd-eEKrim rode into thu
French lines before Fee and surren
dered Internationally. He was received
| with the ilonors of war. 1t seems prob
i able that, like the gallant Abd-el
Kader OF Algeria, he will spend th'
rest of his life in honorable exile ii
i France. The military situation in Mo
rocco is by no means entirely. cieanet
up, but no doubt 1t soon will be. Th'
! French and Spanish have to arrang'
(, the future status of the Riff, ant
there are possibilities of friction
| Moreover, other powers. as Britain ant
Italy, may insist on being heard Il
that connection. But Morocco shouh