NOTES OP THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1828, 14 August 1913, Page 4

NOTES OP THE DAY.

The great battle between the Liberal and Labour parties in the Federal Parliament is now about to commence in earnest. The proceedings have opened, and the new Liberal Government has declared its programme, an outline of which was published in our cable columns yesterday. After preliminary business, one of the first matters to receive attention. will probably be the amendment of the electoral law, so that everything will be ready for the next election, which may be precipitated at any moment. In view of the tariff arrangements agreed to between the New Zealand Minister for Customs and the Federal Labour party, who then held office, it is' of interest to New Zealanders to note that the new Federal Government is giving "earnest attention" to the question of reciprocal trade relations with the sister Dominions. Of course, the agreement cannot come into force until it is ratified by both the New Zealand and the Australian Parliaments, but as Mr. Cook seems to be quite sympathetic the matter is not likely to be blocked in Australia if the Federal Parliament has an opportunity of dealing with it. It is quite possible, however, that it may be pushed into the background by developments of a mo_re exciting nature. The Government have certainly clone the right thing in deciding to remove the restrictions on the discussion' of public questions during elections. The attempt of the previous Administration to gag and fetter the press did no good whatever. The two parties may be expected to get to grips at any time now, and Federal politics promise to be full of interest, for the next months. A fresh election is regarded as a certainty, but it is impossible to say when it will take place. In a recent speech at Wangaratta Mr. Cook declared that he did not know when the next appeal to the electors would come. He and his colleagues had first to "straighten out a few things," such as the electoral tangle. He went on to say that "if the House is there to wrangle, we are not there to stay in the wrangle. We are not there to hang on to office at any price. We are there to do the business of the country, and if wo cannot do that we shall ask you to arbitrate the deadlock that has arisen." Which is not only a very straightforward attitude, but a very wise tactical position to take up.

Another by-election is now being fought out in England for tho Chesterfield seat, and as in the case of the rccent Leicester contcst there appears to bo a split in the Labour party. The local Liberal and Labour people have adopted Mr. Kenyon as the Liberal-Labour candidate, but the Parliamentary Labour Executive has refused to recognise his candidature. At the Leicester election a large section of the local trades unionists defied the party leaders, and put up a candidate of their own. It was, as The Times pointed out, an act of Hat rebellion, and "an overt manifestation of that dissatisfaction with the Labour party which has been rising and growing more insistent during the last year or two, and has united strange bod-fellows. The Labour party stands unevenly balanced on two supports, Socialism and trades unionism. . . . It is an awkward position, like that of a circus rider astride of two fier.v steeds, and

great skill is needed to drive them. Their tendency to draw apart puts a severe strain on the artist's muscles, but when they combine to throw him off he is in still greater danger." The Chesterfield vacancy lias been caused by the death of Hit. James llaslam, a Labour member, and the Labour split is due to the fact that the Socialist section is opposed to Labour-Liberal candidates. They want straight-out Labour candidates. Since the general election the Unionists have won ten s«:it3 from the Liberal, Labour, and Nationalist coalition, in addition to Exeter, awarded to t-hsni on a scrutiny. The state of parties in the House of Commons is now as follows : — Unionists 282 Liberals 264 Labour 40 Nationalists VC Independent Nationalists 8 3SS Coalition majority ICG Coalition majority at gen. election 126 Decrease in majority 20 It is significant that in a workingclass constituency like Leicester there should have been a decrease of over 2000 in the Liberal vote.

Our evening contemporary adopts a rather peculiar style of argument in its article yesterday on the Bible-in-s'chools question. . After endeavouring to show that a referendum should not be granted _ because it would involve a violation of rights of conscience, it concludes by Baying "by all means let the ballot-box decide the issue, but lot it do so in the ordinary constitutional way." This is a plain admission of the contention that the people of New Zealand, who own and pay for the schools, have a right to decide whether Bible lessons shall be given in them. The principle is thus admitted; but our contemporary strangely contends that the people ought not to be given an opportunity of expressing their wishes in an unmistakable manner by means' of a plebiscite; but that the question should be fought out at a general election together with a score of other issues so that when all was over no one could say exactly what the verdict was based upon. The principle that the majority has a right to decide at the ballot-box having been admitted, it surety cannot be questioned that machinery should be provided for ascertaining the decision in such a plain and direct way as will admit of no doulit. The opponents of a referendum certainly appear very anxious to muzzle the people of the Dominion on this question.

The fighting between the Nationalists and Unionists at Derry, as related in another part of this issue, gives an unpleasant indication of what may happen if the Home Rule Bill becomes law. Revolvers were brought into use, and the police had great difficulty in quelling the disturbance. Even tho Mayor of the city was stoned. The state of feeling between the two parties is extreme'y bitter, and there are ma-ny signs that matters, are growing worse instead of better. The Unionists of Ulster are arming and drilling, and make no secret of the fact that they will resist by force the rule of an Irish Parliament, and the attack of tho Nationalists at Derry on the Unionist procession shows that uie fighting will not be all on one side. The outlook is very dark from every point of view, and an early dissolution of the British Parliament seems to bo the only way of averting a state'of civil war in Ireland.

Leader No. 3—to quote the order of precedence drawn up for the Opposition leaders by the member fo'r Matanra—led off for the Opposition in the Financial Debate last evening. It was rather significant that when the debate opened at 7.30 p.m. there were a great many empty benches on the Opposition side of the House, a most unusual and discourteous thing on an occasion of the kind. Amongst the more notable absentees were Leader No. 1 (Me. G. W. Kussell), who is, we believe, in Christchurch, and Leader No. 2 (Mr. J. A. Hanan), who took his seat about a quarter of an hour after Me. Macdonald had started speaking. Sir Joseph Ward, who is in the south, was also amongst the absentees. There is some speculation as to why Leader No. 1 was passed over by the party for Leauer No. 3 on this important occasion; also as to whether the absence of Leader No. 1 was the cause of his being passed over, or whether his absence was because he had been passed over. This sounds rather involved, but is not so i volved as it sounds. Then again, why was Leader No.' 2 ignored i The local anti-Reform journal, which appears to be an authority on this matter of the leadership of the party, perhaps can explain these things. It states, by the way, that "there have been no tearful pleadings yet' to induce Sir Joseph Ward to take the leaderships "Thero have not," it states, "even been any overtures," which assertion no doubt is quite as veracious as a good many of the things which are appearing in its bolumns just now.