* The Liberal Party The manner in which the Chancellor
of the Exchequer accepted the support of Mr. Lloyd George over the amended clauses of the Finance Bill dealing with the taxation of land values, gave impetus last week to the disintegration of the Liberal Party. Mr. Snowden's health is not fully restored and the more he can depute his controversial work to the Solicitor-General and others the better. Mr. Lloyd George has not played an admirable part, but we could almost sympathize with him over the reception of his surrender. This contemptuous treatment was the last straw for three chafing Liberals who refused to bow their backs to bear it. Sir John Simon, Sir Robert Hutchison and Mr. E. Brown have officially left the party. If they should now or later join the Unionist Party, they are bound to influence it in the ways we most want to see it influenced, such as in mitigation of its Protectionist fervour. But the slow ruin of the Liberal Party under Mr. Lloyd George's devious tactical guidance is a sorry sight. The Liberal Council has declared its disapproval of the Government's new principle of double taxation on land (as Mr. Lloyd George did in Edinburgh) and also of their attitude towards the Report of the Royal Commission on Unemployment Insurance.
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