LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1843, 1 September 1913, Page 6

LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION.

The member for Hawkc's Bay raised a question in the House of Representatives on Friday last which has been brought up on previous occasions, but to far without result. We refer to the question of some recognition in a financial way of the position of Loader of the Opposition, Mr. Campbell pointed out that the member-who fillpd the office of Leader of the Opposition necessarily found himself taxed 'in a fashion far in excess of any other private member, and during the sitting of Parliament especially lie has an arduous time attending to the many matters of a public and semi-public nature which fall to the lot of a party leader. The call on his time during the recess is also heavy, and the suggestion put forward was that whoever filled the position should receive an honorarium of, say, £800 a year, and during the .session should be provided with the services of a private secretary. Curiously enough the only support which appeairs to have been given to this suggestion came from the member for Ivaipara, Mr. Coates, who is not by any means a strong party man. Possibly his opinion is of the more value on that account. Under our system of party government it is unquestionably a desirable thing that there should be a strong and _ well-organised Opposition in Parliament. With a weak and incapablc Opposition the Government, whatever party may be in office, is liable to become either careless or autocratic or both, and the affairs of the country are in consequence not administered as_ well as they should be, nor are the interests of all classes fully conserved. _ A strong and critical Opposition is a great stimulus to a Government to bo on its good behaviour. One of the first essentials of a useful Opposition is a loader who is prepared to give a large share of his attention to public affairs. Mr. Massey when Leader of the Opposition in the days of the Continuous Ministry made very great personal sacrifices' in order to carry out in a thorough manner the duties of the office. Probably there are very few, men who would bo prepared to devote themselves so whole-heartedly to the public service at so heavy a cost to himself as he did;' ancl it is unreasonable to expect that it should be otherwise. The Prime Minister at least should k be in sympathy with Mr. Campbell's suggestion. It is perhaps fortunate that the question should have cropped up at a time when there is no Leader, of the Opposition, an'd the personal clement therefore does- not come into the matter. The Opposition has . now been without a leader for over twelve months, and the effects of the failure to secure a suitable person to take up thq office have been very evident to those whose business takes them to the House of Representatives. Either there is no ono willing to take the position or there is not one in the party in whom the members have confidence willing- to take it. The member for Awarua has declined it once, and the days are running into weeks now, and he has not been able to make up his mind whether he shall accept or refused.second invitation. He appears to be tlie only member of the party capable of leading it, and ho is at the present moment a very disturbing factor in its ranks. So long as he is unable to make up his mind what to do there is little hope of tho party settling down seriously to its tasks. Sir Joseph Ward is of course entitled to take his own time in deciding what ho will do in the matter, but the sooner lie can so decide the better it will be for tho party.