The Reform Party.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 20085, 14 November 1930, Page 12

The Reform Party.

We print to-day some remarks by the Leader of the Opposition which may easily be misunderstood. As they have been telegraphed to us, they seem to say that loyalty in defeat is something for which the Reform Party can claim special credit. The truth of course is that standing together in adversity is necessary and normal, and that it is unchecked success which corrupts Parties and disintegrates them. The Reform Party's defeat in 1928 was undeserved; but it was the country and not the Party which was injured. The Party can be injured only by its own hand. It is injured when its supporters quarrel; when they cease, to be vigilant and actively interested in it; and especially when they make it difficult for the best men and women to control it. It is not injured when it loses seats or is expelled from office. What Mr Coates meant to say—and perhaps did say—is that the 1928 reverse not only • eliminated the timeservers but made the Party's true friends realise what loyalty is. It must not be said, or suggested, or supposed, that the Reform Party needs anyone whose loyalty is luke-warnf.