IMMEDIATE GENERAL ELECTION CERTAIN .sx GOVERNMENT NEEDS A MANDATE FOR TARIFFS .sx Liberals Who Will Leave Ministry When Mr. MacDonald Declares For Duties .sx RIGHTING OUR TRADE BALANCE .sx Mr. J. H. Thomas Announces That He Will Contest Derby .sx The National Government has decided that there is no alternative to an immediate General Election , as it has no mandate to impose tariffs , the chief question on which the election will be fought .sx Several Liberals will leave the Ministry when Mr. MacDonald declares for tariffs , but Sir John Simon and other Liberals are likely to be in the reconstructed Ministry .sx Mr. J. H. Thomas , who , at Derby yesterday , announced that he would fight the seat , said :sx " Mr. Henderson has said that in his view the National Government has lost all prestige abroad .sx It is important that the foreigner should be left in no doubt whatever that the great overwhelming mass of the people of this country believe in and endorse and appreciate the action of the National Government .sx There is only one way of bringing this to a test , and I believe that it is necessary at once to bring it to an issue .sx " CONSERVATIVES CANCEL ANNUAL CONFERENCE .sx ( By Our Political Correspondent .sx ) The National Union of Conservative Associations is to cancel the annual conference which it had arranged to meet at Birmingham on Octobr 7th and the two following days .sx Mr. Baldwin had promised to address a great meeting in that city during the conference .sx He may still do so , but it will be to launch the General Election campaign of the National Government and of the Conservative Party .sx Birmingham has been unlucky in the matter of this conference .sx It was to have met there last year but was postponed for a year because the delegations threatened to be too large for the accommodation and also because the Conservative Party had not agreed on its tariff policy .sx In the General Election which is now impending and in which Mr. MacDonald took decisions at Chequers yesterday the Conservative Party will be solid in its tariff policy and will have support from other politicians who see that sterling can only be stabilised if the present excess of imports is reduced .sx Mr. Runciman is one of these .sx Lord Reading is believed to be another and would in any case be requested to remain in the Government till the Round Table Conference on India has ended .sx On the other hand several Liberals now in the Government mean to leave it rather than accept tariffs .sx Sir Donald Maclean is one and Mr. Isaac Foot another .sx Both made public declarations in Cornwall during the week-end with such frankness that their resignations must follow when Mr. MacDonald declares for tariffs .sx Nor are any Socialist Front Bench men on the Opposition side ready to back the Government on this issue .sx Mr. Henderson said at Bristol that he would have preferred a 20 per cent .sx or 10 per cent .sx tariff to a cut in the " dole .sx " Now that the other side are ready to propose a 33 per cent .sx tariff he has decided to revert to rigid Free Trade .sx The election manifesto of the Socialist Opposition will condemn the National Government's tariff proposals outright , suggesting instead the national control of banking and of the machinery of credit and bills whereby British foreign trade is conducted .sx Mr. Lloyd George from his sick room , and the Free Trade Liberals from the platform will declare for Free Trade .sx Whether they will go on to advocate Nationalisation of the machinery of banking and foreign exchanges cannot yet be said .sx Some business men and politicians think that an emergency tariff could be carried through Parliament without a General Election , or an election taken on it after its passage .sx The Government Whips have considered this and reject it .sx If an emergency tariff were brought before the present House of Commons at least 80 Liberals and all the Socialist Party would vote against it , and would perhaps defeat it .sx Then the National Government would fall and the Conservatives would go to the country with a burden of failure on their backs .sx No Treaty Difficulties .sx Another suggestion of imposing a tariff by Order in Council without a mandate from the polls or from Parliament , is also dismissed .sx I am assured , however , that the only difficulties in the way of a tariff are Parliamentary ones .sx No foreign treaty need cause the Government and Parliament a day's delay in applying import duties so long as these are equal against all countries not in the Empire .sx Pending a tariff the business of the Government and of the City is to keep sterling fairly stable .sx The Bank rate will be used for this purpose .sx Mr. Ramsay MacDonald will meet the Cabinet this afternoon , probably at the House , to tell them his decision about the election and the general tariff .sx To-morrow the King will return to London , and give an audience to the Prime Minister .sx On Wednesday , if not before , Mr. MacDonald's first statement of intentions should be made to the House of Commons .sx Liberal resignations from the Government will follow , and some of the vacant offices will not be filled until after the General Election .sx This afternoon the House of Commons will resume its debate on the Government proposal to reduce Unemployment Insurance benefit and introduce a means test for people on uncovenanted benefit .sx A talk about Government expenditure on roads may follow .sx To-morrow ends the House of Commons' debate on the Economy Bill .sx It will be sent to the Lords , who have promised to put it through all stages by Friday .sx The House of Commons will have further discussions on Thursday and Friday about the details of Mr. Snowden's new taxation .sx That will nearly end the business of the special sittings for which the National Government was formed .sx The Bill to establish a year's truce regarding the Sunday opening of cinemas is not likely to be taken before the House rises , and London Conservatives have vetoed the London Traffic Bill .sx Free Trade Liberals declare that the purpose for which the National Government was formed is not fulfilled .sx Conservatives will reply that the original task of the Government is completed and that before going further it requires reconstruction and a new mandate .sx POLITICS AND RACING .sx Will Cambridgeshire and Election Clash ?sx If the forecast made by the " Daily Telegraph " last week should prove correct , then it is tolerably certain that the holding of the General Election on October 27th or 28th will interfere with the Houghton meeting at Newmarket .sx The race for the Cambridgeshire is fixed to take place on the 28th .sx If that should be the day of the election , then the race , along with the day's programme , will probably be postponed to the following day .sx The Stewards of the Jockey Club created a precedent at the last General Election , when all racing for that day was called off .sx The York spring meeting was reduced to two days in 1929 , and in the case of the Salisbury meeting the first day's programme was abandoned with the exception of the Salisbury Stakes , which was postponed to the following day .sx No doubt the Jockey Club will make a pronouncement on the subject immediately the intentions of the Government become officially known .sx ALREADY JUSTIFIED .sx Premier on the Work of the Government .sx " Everything which during these unsettled moments diminishes the confidence in the Government or weakens unity exposes the whole nation to grave dangers .sx " This passage occurs in a letter from the Prime Minister which has been received by Mr. Derwent Hall Caine , M.P. , in reply to his statement of support for the National Government .sx The Prime Minister says :sx " If the Government failed to do everything else its existence and work have already been justified by the fact that before the was allowed to go off the gold standard preparations had been designed to protect the country from panic and to maintain the confidence reposed in it abroad .sx " After the passage given above , the letter concludes :sx " If you can be sure of anything in this life it will be that the steps you have now decided to take will be fully vindicated by events .sx Quite apart from public considerations I am very glad on personal grounds that you have decided to do what you have done .sx " AN " AUTUMN INSANITY .sx " Sir Donald Maclean and General Election .sx " A General Election before Christmas would be autumn insanity , " declared Sir Donald Maclean , President of the Board of Education , at Wadebridge ( Cornwall) .sx People had only just settled down , Sir Donald continued , to the fact of the National Government , and now in five minutes , so to speak , there was to be an election .sx PREMIER BACK AT No .sx 10 .sx The Prime Minister arrived back at Downing Street from Chequers about nine o'clock last night .sx Miss Isabel MacDonald and Miss Sheila MacDonald , the latter carrying a huge bunch of flowers , were with their father .sx Mr. MacDonald felt very much better for his week-end in the country .sx LIBERAL M.P. FAVOURS EMERGENCY TARIFF .sx Sir Robert Aske , Liberal M.P. for Newcastle East , in an interview , expressed himself as favouring an emergency tariff or the prohibition of certain foreign imports , to redress the country's adverse trade balance .sx FRANCE'S UNEMPLOYED .sx Growing Anxiety Over Economic Position .sx A warning cry to France over her increasing economic difficulties was sounded by M. Daladier , the Radical Socialist leader , at Lyons yesterday .sx After declaring that the French currency was stable and the gold reserve considerable , M. Daladier emphasised the difficulties of the French economic situation .sx " Already , " he declared , " we have a million and a half unemployed and partially employed .sx Our total adverse balance of trade will probably amount to 15,000,000,000 francs ( 120,000,000 nominal ) this financial year , and the situation will be worse next year .sx " Since the franc was stabilised , the currency has lost 14 per cent .sx of its purchasing power .sx Which is it to be , economic war or peace ?sx We want economic peace , and this can only be realised by a decline of nationalism in production as well as in politics .sx " PROTEST AGAINST SUNDAY FILM BAN .sx The refusal of the Sheffield Watch Committee to give permission to the Sheffield and District Workers' Film Society to hold performances on Sunday nights was discussed at a meeting of the Society last night when a resolution of protest at the Committee's decision was passed .sx The resolution called upon the City Council to reverse the decision .sx Mr. R. Berriff presided , and in the course of the discussion it was suggested that the Council should be asked why , if it banned Sunday amusements , it allowed the Police Band to play " Hit the Deck " on a Sunday .sx BAYONET CHARGES .sx British Troops Quell Hong Kong Riot .sx BITTER RACIAL FEELING .sx Japanese Murdered by Chinese .sx Racial antagonism between Chinese and Japanese in Hong Kong resulted in the murder of a Japanese couple and an attack on their five children , on Saturday night , and riots , which were only quelled by a bayonet charge by the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders .sx There had been sporadic anti-Japanese demonstrations by the Chinese population to protest against the occupation of Manchuria , and there followed , on Saturday , the murder of a Japanese couple in their home at Kowloon , and the wounding of their five children , one of whom later died .sx Numerous other attacks were launched on isolated Japanese .sx The police in every case , however , rescued the victims before they could be seriously injured .sx Frenzied crowds gathered at various points and then the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders charged a crowd of 5,000 which was menacing one of the outlying police stations .sx The rioters fled before the gleaming bayonets .sx The atmosphere in Hong Kong yesterday , says Reuter , was still electric , though extraordinary military and police precautions prevented any more of the anti-Japanese outbreaks .sx Last night , says Reuter , Japanese residents in the affected districts were leaving their homes and congregating on central points , where adequate protection was provided by the British .sx The British Navy also protected the wharves where Japanese shipping was alongside .sx Englishman Injured .sx There was a brutal slaughter on Saturday afternoon , when a large party of bandits , after derailing the Mukden-Peking train at Jaoyangho , 55 westward of Mukden , killed 30 people , including the driver , fireman , and two oilers .sx Many others were badly injured , including an Englishman and a Hindu .sx