The Session.

Press, Volume LXVII, Issue 20181, 9 March 1931, Page 10

The Session.

I Hf Yte fihall know wi4i» ft very few days fcow moob more ior lew 'wisdom the p<urli«ra«nttim « «• jftonly attributed to it. It will not be a M ereo a sign, of folly if the tAm it tneetflj is not awo to say which of Government's •Pf9|iOß{il4 will Wo9t r&idily restore prosperity. Nor w$ the 'Government 'wtd the Ptfipe Minister be culpable# ,<j£ open - aeriops criticism, -if v jpro|»o9ftls go further thin the •&£aaticH* Actually dematids< The Housa be d&igraeed oply if it uses the, for another than its'original IftQMKKt; the Govegunent only if it fsuofc taetics. to terrify it. The Jron* .Minister' cqii hardly fail to .Wednesday, is his day ;pf, destiny. 1 It' must be as,clear to #-<«! Bqqh Situations eyer are that and the casthqaake behave plwoed himia '%?<s- - polities can we* capacity,

for leadership may be. If he is not yet where Mr Massey was during the Great War, he has been carried very near to that position, and will "be turned, back from it only, if he fails within the next three or four weeks to rise above Party tricks and fears. He" is not required to know better than anybody else what to do. Far less is he expected' to be a banking, exchange,' or currency expert, , He is expected to lead the people. Faith in his stability of character placed him in office; adversity has exalted him to power. It is an opportunity that comes once or twice in a century in any country, and although he must not think of it primarily as an opportunity, he must consider the effect on the community of letting his hour pass. Nor does "anyone need to be told what that will be. Economically we shall end where Australia now is-—if, 'with our. greater dependence on a single market, we do not drift farther. Politically we shall pay a far bigger price than Australia is now paying at the demand of adventurers, for the reason, among others, that the smallest ships toss most in a storm. Australia is too big to be convulsed all over at the same time. New Zealand is so small, the spending Departments are so powerful, bad government makes itself so quickly felt, that if we were to drift now into political turmoil the depression would be perpetuated indefinitely. The alternative is sacrifice now, leadership, unity. Any member, any combination of members, from whom unreasonable obstruction comes must be pinned down as the public enemy. They will not be numerous enough or powerful enough to obstruct any policy that is clearly indicated as a national necessity. ' ■ . | < i ! i i i