THE POLITICAL SITUATION.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1320, 26 December 1911, Page 4

THE POLITICAL SITUATION.

8 i: ■ A MiNMSTKRiAr, conl.r-mpornry n , - y iT.-irks Mifii Kir .lii.skpm \V'ai;d a'ppnr- ,- cnt.ly blill docs not, rcalito, his nnn popularity with l.hn country, nor the, o.\-l.?ut to which he is prejudicing fhn o fulurc of flic Liberal parly. [(, jr v cliffirult !,o hslievr, t.bt. thil; i,\ Mi p. o caw. Oux ovn opinion is that the

Prime Minister realises the position quite well, but is so reluctant to prrniit his opponents to secure the reins of office and cam that; insight into (he affairs of the country which Ministerial powers ;ilono can give, that he is prepared to risk anything l<o prevent it. The injury which must eventually be done to his party must of course be great, for the public can only have one opinion of the manner in which the Ward Administration i.3 shirking its plain duty and the party which supports such leaders cannot escape its full share of responsibility. Mr. Payne, the Independent Labour member for Grey Lynn, has, it will be noted, come forward with a definite proposition by which the Labour members are to take control of the country's affairs. The new representative for (In.-y Lynn is certainly a very enterprising gentleman. He plainly has a very poor opinion of the Ward Administration, and it is perhaps not, surprising that he should regard it as willing to pay any price iu order to retain office. He has touched on a vital point when he insists on the necessity for the control of the finances and the principal Departments of the State being takenout of the hands, of the present Ministry and thoroughly overhauled .by some independent set of people. But to secure this, Sir Joseph Ward would have to relinquish the Prime Ministcrship, and we suspect that Mii. Payne has not quite realised how ejeep is the attachment of the head of the Government to the sweets of office. Despite any suggestions or opinions to the contrary, the plain facts of tho situation are that the Ward Government is in a minority in the new Parliament; that it cannot hope to avoid defeat on a noconfidence motion without purchasing support by some means or other more or less discreditable _ to the party; that despite the decision of the country against it, the Government persists in retaining office, and up to the present has. refused to give the people even an indication of its intentions. No doubt Sir Joseph Ward hopes that the holiday season will divert attention from the extraordinary and indefensible behaviour of the Ministry, but it is a vain hope. The country now sees as it has never seen before the Ward Administration in its true colours. And it is a sorry spectacle.