PRESS OPINIONS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 24, 23 October 1907, Page 10

PRESS OPINIONS.

THE COALITION RUJIOL'R.

There is nothing in tho present condition of parties in the House to bring a coalition within the immediate rango of practical politics. It is a well-known axiom in .party Govornment that coalitions aro only adopted as a last resort when every expedient has been tried to carry on the Government on orthodox party lines, and we can hardly concciro of any situation arising during the life of the present Parliament which would render t coalition the only solution of the difficulty. . . . Two things, however, aro cle.ir at the present time. One is that the extreme Socialistic section of the Government supporters are getting more and more exacting in their demands, and the Government is. showing a commendablo disposition not to go to extremo lengths in the direction of sacrificing tho interests of tho community as a whole in order to gratify.the demands of tho faddists. In the sanio way they show a disinclination to allow the advanced Labour party to direct tho policy of the Minister, irrespective of what is duo to the employers, and the general body of. the public on whom any increased cost of production ultimately falls. . ... The truth is that during the last year or so there has been a vorv decided reaction in the Dominion, especially in country constituencies, against Socialism and extremo Labour legislation, and tho Government has not been slow to recognise this fact. If, as we anticipate .will be the case; tho next election snows.a strong feeling against Socialism —the kind of Socialism whichsays, "wh.it is yours is mine"—it is not impossiblo that in tlin futuro we may find many' politicians working together on tho same side who in the past have been opposed to each other.— Chiistchurch "Press.

Those persons in the community who aro able to view tho political situation calmly will not bo prepared to dismiss, as quite unworthy of consideration, tho suggestion which is now receiving some attention that a fusion of tho members of moderate opinions on the ■Ministerial and : Opposition sides of the House is not desirable only, but likely to bo entirely possible in tho near future. One of tho Radical members of Parliament, whose obsorvations upon the suggestions were recently published by us, has beon. pleased to describe it as a device on the part of the Opposition to stimulate the formation of an independent Labour party with the ulterior object of splitting tho Ministerial vote at the next general election; This is', however, an entirely gratuitous assumption. The fact is that the idea that a fusion of parties upon a safe and modorato platform might be advantageously ofrccted during the currency of the present Parliament had its origin,' not within tho Legislature' at all, but in the minds of a number of patriotic citizens, whose solo concern is that the country shall be developed m the future on lines which shall bo sound and prudent without . being unprogressive Ine assertion that tho suggestion is prompted by any desire to drive the Labour section out of the Ministerial party in tho House in the interests of the Opposition carries its own refutation on the face of it. The Ministry can as a .matter of fact, dispense, if need bo! quite cheerfully with the support it receives from a small group of parliamentary extremists—support which, it may be conceived is occasionally embarrassing to it.— Daily Times." °