Fusion.

Press, Volume LXI, Issue 18402, 8 June 1925, Page 8

Fusion.

It -will be a pity, if the ridiculous position in which the" Prime Minister's last letter lias placed Mr Wilford makes it moro difficult for the two Parties to confer usefully. The message which wc publish to-day from our Wellington correspondents shows that Mr Wilford's hold on his followers is now so feeble that the country docs not know to whom it is listening when he speaks; and his position will not have improved since Friday. Mr "Wilford in fact made his position sufficiently clear himself when he took fright at the proposal of Mr Cpates—unkindly recalled from Mr Wilford's own past—that tho leaders should be excluded from whatever discussions tako place. It is a little odd that one whose sole desire is to serve the Empire should find it impossible to do so' except in a party of five; though there can be no very important reason why he should not* bo permitted to serve in hia own way if he refuses to serve in any other. It certainly cannot matter much whether five or threo delegates from each side attend the meeting, and it is not likely Jhat the Dre'sence of Mr Wilford, except

by bringing about the attendance of Mr Ccates, would affect the deliberations very seriously. It is not indeed likely that the conference will do good at all unless it is understood at the outset that it really is a conference and not a moetipg charged with the selection of a Government or the formulation of a policy. It is not discreditable to them that the Liberals should be concerned not merely with their dignity but with their reward, and that fusion should appeal to them chiefly as a means of gaining a quarter-loaf of office instead of. no bread at all. It is quit-e natural that those Liberals even who have lost all hope of an independent existence should hold aloof publicly from the Keform Party, and at leastpretend to be indifferent, except for the sake of the Empire, whether fusion take 3 place or not. But if the attitude should be maintained too long it will bo impossible—if it is not impossible now —to make any further headway towards fusion until after the General Election. And so far as the terms of a fusion are concerned —lot us call it frankly tho' price—it will be very much better for the Liberals to agree to' an unconditional merger. To demand representation in the Ministry corresponding either to their numerical strength, in the House or to the proportion of votes actually cast for them at the polls may bring them nothing at all but further weakness and confusion. It is far safer to assume that the Prime Minister will wish to have as strong a Government as he can form out of the next Parliament, and that this will bring an opportunity to as many ex-Liberals as are qualified to benefit from it.