THE LEADERLESS OPPOSITION.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1529, 27 August 1912, Page 4

THE LEADERLESS OPPOSITION.

A DEPRESSING OUTLOOK. (By Ttlccrash.—Snecial Corrcsuondcnt.) Auckland, August 20. The "Star" discourses somewhat amusingly on the subject of tho leaderless Opposition as follows:—"We have already expressed the opinion that the Liberals in Parliament have something l>etlcr to do just now than to select a lender, and wo arc glad to see that tho general feeling of the party is tending in that direction. It is hardly necessary to emphasise the great difficulty that Liberals in or out of tho House would have to faco if they were called upon to chooso a party leader nt this precise juncture. Sir Joseph Ward's refusal. to consider what amounted to a tentative offer of tho leadership has to some extent cleared tho air, but as wo havo already pointed out it is practically impossible for Sir Joseph Ward to hold the party together,.and tho fact that ho has been discreet enough to recognise this does not do much to enable- us to find a substitute. But tho * position from the Liberal 1 point of view is hardly 60 unsatisfactory as this might seem to indicate, for there is no doubt that for the moment the Government has a definite working majority which, though not large, will probably suffice to carry it through to tho natural closo of this present .Parliament. For tho moment, therefore, tho liberals have no effe'etivo means of making themselves felt as an Opposition, and it certainly seems to us that befora they trouble about appointing a leader they had better decide upon a programme and a course of action that will draw tho party closer together and counteract tho many existing tendencies towards disorganisation and disintegration."