The Dominion THURSDAY, JULY 29, 1915. A MISSED OPPORTUNITY

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2526, 29 July 1915, Page 4

The Dominion THURSDAY, JULY 29, 1915. A MISSED OPPORTUNITY

— « The most gratifying feature of tho unduly prolonged negotiations which have been proceeding between tho Prime Minister and the Leader of tiie Opposition, on the offer submitted by Mr. Massey to form a National Ministry is that they have at last ended. The proposal put forward by tho_ head of tho Government was one which in its amende:! form left little room for bargaining or delay. There was only one question to be decided, unci that was whether the interests of the country and the cause of the. Empire in the present crisis would be best served by a fusion of parties which would ensure complete unity of effort for the period of the war? The Government felt that it was desirable that all party divisions should bo swept aside in order that the efforts of tho leading public men of tho Dominion might bo.wholly concentrated on the one great task which lies ahead of the nation. That this end might bo attained, individual members of the Ministry, with a fine of self-sacrifice, were willing to relinquish their portfolios so that places would be available for a sufficient of members of tho Opposition to make the Government a truly national one. It is to their credit that they showed themselves ready to set aside their personal and party interests at the call of patriotism. So also with the members of the party it says much for their public spirit and breadth of view that they were prepared to endorse a proposal which imposed on them tho necessity of extending, loyal support, to men with whom they had differed on so iiiany political issues of domestic importance. They, like their leaders, placed the? country - first — party interests and personal feeling were considered by them to bo out of place at a tinio when tho nation is fighting for its existence against a ruthless foe who has already robbed U3 of so many of the best of our young men. '

The Opposition now in effect has rejected these overtures by putting forward alternative proposals which are plainly designed to prevent an agreement being arrived at. It has missed a great opportunity. It had tho chance thrust on it of proving itself capable of taking a broad view of its responsibilities, and it has shown itself more concerned to drive a_ hard bargain than to render service in the greatest crisis" in the history of tho British people. There are members of the party, some of tho most prominent of its members wa believe, who recognise the seriousness of the situation which confronts tho Empire and its Allies, and who were anxious to see a National Ministry formed. They, however, have been overruled and outvoted. _ AVhethcr they .will submit to the will of the party caucus or whether they will cut themselves adrift and use every legitimate means of relieving the Government of' unnecessary _ strain while Parliament is in . session remains to be seen. But it is well worth whilo at this juncture to bring under the noticc of the people of Now Zealand the action of the political leaders in the Homeland and contrast it with the conduct of the Opposition here. In Great Britain the leaders in politics had no more liking for Coali : tions than we havo hare, but they set aside their personal and party feelings for the sake of their country. Mr. Asquith, Prime Minister, referring to the matter in the House of Commons shortly after the Coalition Ministry had been announced, summed up the situation in the following emphatic and convincing words:—

There was not, and there is not, in my opinion, any call for a change in our iational policy. That remains what it has been since . the first week in August— namely, to pursue- this war, at any cost, to a victorious issue. (Loud cheers.) Nor was anything substantial or worth, consideration to bo gained by the mere'substitution of A for B in this offiea or that. What I came to think was needed—and 4 hero I oome to the root of tho whole lnat'ter— I what I came to-think, slowly, reluctantly, and in the end without doubt or hesitation, wa9 needed was such a broadening of the basis of Government as would take away from it even the semblance of a one-sided or party character— (hear, hear)—which would demonstrate beyond tho possibility of doubt, not only to our people at home and to our fellowsubjects across the seas, but to tho whole world, Allies; enemies, and neutrals, that after nearly a year of war, with all its fluctuations and vicissitudes, -the British people were more resolute than ever, with one heart and with ono' purpose to obliterate all distinctions and unite every personal and political as well as every moral and material force in tho prosecution of their cause. (Cheers.) . . . It appeared to me, and I believe with equal clearness to those with whom I have been in sharp antagonism—and shall be again—on tho main issues of domestic policy, that an unique national exigency demanded from all of us something more, actual visible co-operation—"unreserved, whole-heaTtetl— and concentration for a single purpose, shared and pursued by men of every section and every party and every political creed. (Cheers.)

Lord Lansdowne, the Leader of the Opposition in the House of Lords, and one of the most capable and experienced of our present-day statesmen, was the principal speaker at a meeting of the Unionist Party when the decision of the leaders of the party to fall in .with' Mr. Asquith's proposal , was made known. His statement of the position and what be conceived to be the duty of the Opposition and of every patriotic British subject in the present crisis is no half-hearted hesitating thing:

You all know (Lord Lansdowno said) that wo have been invited by the Prime Minister to join him in forming a Government which will bo representative of both the great parties of the State. In our view, that was an offer with which itwas right for us to comply. (Hear, hear.) "Wo felt sure that if we had declined it the country would have judged us hardly, and, I think I may add, we should havo judged ourselves hardly for what I think could not be regarded as anything elso than u failure of duty on our part. (Cheers.) I suppose that every gentleman hero lias at the back'of his miml a dislike of Coalition Governments. In ordinary circumstances I fully admit that the disliko is reasonablo aiul ought to prevail, Ijut wo are not in ordinary circumstances to-day. (Cheers.) the country is making the most stupendous efforts it has ever been called upon to make. We do not eveu yet know what the dimensions of that effort may prove fo be. New theatres of war unfold themselves beforo us. Now.dcvelo'pments, some of them of the most sinister and horrible kind, are takin,; placo day by day, .and we must all of us bo convinced that at such a moment nothing but a supreme and concentrated effort 011 tho part of the whole natiou will bo sufficient to meet the difficulties and the opposition in front of us. We aro fighting for everything that is worth fighting lor. (Cheers.) AVu arc fighting fo* our national honour, for the sanctity of treaty obligations, for t.hc cause of liberty, and for the cause of humanity. (Cheers.) In this-great and memorable nU'Ugglc it is Mliceded thai wo have al< tftiul.V MlwrUlWii Mt i Uw (Hsftjtpolfll' . mestfij Tliei'o lure beja slwi'tcwuipgi,.,

there have been miscalculations, some of them probably excusable, and some of them perhaps not. We arc all of us, T. suppose, penetrated with the conviction that-there lias been something amis? with what I suppose may he described as tho national organisation of the country. (Cheers.) As to men, <vo are not sure that we have got enough, or that we are gett[ns» enough, or that we arc getting tho right men. (Cheer.?.) As to munitions, I will not dwell upon that painful chapter in the history of the war, but it is a matter of common knowledge that the failure of tho supply of essential munitions lias not once, but many times, inteii'ered with the due progress of our military operations, (lloar, hoar.) Surely iF this, or half of this, is true, it means that the staying power of the country is going lo bo taxed as it never lias been taxed before, and that if we are to pull through, it must bs not by the efforts of one party or another party, of one portion of ihe United Kingdom or another poriion of it, of one class of the community or another class, but by an efl'ort of tile whole of tho country,_ irrespective of classes, or areas, or distinctions of any kind. (Cheers.) Being deeply convinced that that was so, 3tr. Bonar Law and I came to the conclusion that we could not do otherwise than accent the overtures thai were mado by tho Government.

So also with Mit. Bonar Law, Leader of the Unionist Party Addressing his party after the Coalition, he said in tho course, of an impressive speech There are very few—very few indeed— of those whom I am addressing whose hearts aro not heavy to-day from anxiety for those who aro dearest to them, who are either training to go to tho front or aro risking their lives in tho trenches, or have paid their last debt of duty to their country by dying for her. Our country is in danger, and iu all political considerations the one thing which ought to influence ns, and the only thing which has influenced us, is this: How can wo Ijest help our country, and how can wo in the quickest way bring to an end tliis liorribio war, which is devouring the power of our manhood? (Cheers.) That is our sole motivo in everything we do. As you know, at the timo the war broke out your leaders decided, with your approval, that ordinary Parliamentary opposition was impossible. Wo have adhered to that policy persistently., It lias not always been easy, but we have adhered to it because we thought it right. But tho events to which lord lansdowno has referred connected tho war itself mado it appear to us—cortuiiilyinade it appear lo me—that tho present stato of things could not go on, that criticism must come in connection with tho war itself, but so far as I could seo sucli criticism could not under existing circumstances help the cause which we havo at lieart. . . .

. • . We might have thought and as a,< matter of fact I did think, that from a purely political point of view, perhaps from their own fault, perhaps from causes beyond the control of any Government, the Government wcro losing their hold •upon tho country; and that we had only to wait for tlio fruit to drop into nur hands. ■ • AVo might have replied to Hie Prime Minister that wc had carefully coi'sidered his proposal, that we did not think it in the national. . interest, but that, since we declined to share his responsibilities, we should stand aside altogether and leave _ them to conduct the war' without criticism as best they could. From the personal point of view I can assure you that that is the alternative wliiclr everj v one of us would have perferred—every ono of us. But to have taken it would have been in our opinion shirking a duty which both tho country and the party expect us to perform. (Cheers.) _ . / These are the views of their responsibilities held by the leading statesmen of Britain in the present crisis. They realise the magnitude of the task which lies ahead; they know that dt is no time for weighing party or personal interests; no time for internal divisions of any kind when there is a possibility of all our existing institutions being overthrown, and even our liberties threatened unless we concentrate all our energies on defeating the tremendously powerful foe who is striving to master the world. Contrast the speeches of Lord Lansdowne and Mr. BonAr Law with tho letter of Sin Joseph Ward, which appears in another column, almost every line of which reeks of party. _ No one can read that letter without realising that its main purpose is to put tho Government in as unfavourable a light as possible, and that the object which the negotiations wore opened has beoomo quite a secondary, consideration. In tho oircumstances,_ it is just as well that the negotiations should be ended, and the failure of the Opposition Party to rise to the occasion recognised.