The Dominion. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 7. 1919. POLITICIANS AND THE PEOPLE

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 37, 7 November 1919, Page 6

The Dominion. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 7. 1919. POLITICIANS AND THE PEOPLE

The lot of the politician-in these days is hardly to be envied. Ministers ancl other arc called upon to turn without respite from an arduous and trying session to an election campaign which will not be less exacting, 'ljie essential (Jc'mand now made is rather upon, the patriotism and initiative of politicians, however, than upon their working powers and endurance. The issues of the election are open and. the outlook in some respects uncertain, chiefly because the prewar division of parties, though it has not been definitely abandoned, is plainly obsolete. In defiance of ordinary common sense, not to speak of weightier considerations, some politicians are still intent on perpetuating party divisions which are purely artificial and in no respect based upon true representation of the people. These short-sighted efforts must be defeated if the coming election is to result as it should in a satisfactory reconstruction of the. political machine. The only election issue that really counts is whether or not Parliament is to be renewed in such a shape as will best enable it to render useful service to thi! country. Anyone who looks fairly at the facts must recognise that the needs of the country will bd best met by a continuation and expansion of the conditions that obtained during the session. Because thoy abstained from wasting time in party wrangling members were enabled to put up a. particularly fine working record. The general aim now ought to be to work for continued progress on the same linns. The record of the session is a striking illustration of the benefits that attend working harmony. Restricted as it wa?. for time, Parliament was enabled to deal effectively. though not, of coursi?, finally, with most of the really urgent problems of the day. The one serious failure was in regard to immigration. It has been stated on behalf of the Government that no new legislation is needed to enable the Dominion to secure additional population from overseas, but Parliament ought not to,have adjourned without insisting upon the production of a well-planned scheme if immigration, to be_ brought into operation at the earliest opportunity. Unless enterprise is shown in this matter a measure of stagnation is inevitable. Labour must be secured from abroad if the housing shortage is to be relieved, still more if such a programme of national development is to be carried out as will do justice to the resources of the Dominion and its possibilities. Even with an election on its hands, the Government, has no excuse for further delay in establishing such fin immigration policy as the case demands. It ought to be making arrangements now to secure a fair proportion of the omigrants who will presently be sotting out from Great Britain. To look at what was accomplished during the session, or at the greater •tasks which still await attention, is to reach the same conclusion so far as the election and its prospects are concerned. What the country has a right to expect is that politicians shall work even more unitedly in the next Parliament than in the session which has just ended. Much was_ accomplished during the past session, but vastly more remains to bo accomplished, and the only v way in which the position can be mot with benefit to the country is by a working union of all who are inspired by a sincere regard for the national interest and the welfare of the whole people. Nothing else will meet the case. _ The agitation of distempered fanatics, whose chief aim is to inflame and exaggerate popular discontent, serves only to plunge the Dominion into deeper difficulties. As little certainty is to be hoped from the scatter-cash proposals of politicians of the, spreadeagle type who arc ready'to promise anything that seems likely to gain them popular favour. Given a sustained national effort there < is an assured approach to Hie solution of the worst and most difficult economic problems by which the country is faced. Their solution is now problematical, less because of their inherent difficulty than been,use some sections of the community are at cross-purposes. The root remedy for economic ills, whether in regard to wages or working conditions, the cost of living, housing, or anything else is that all sections of the community should concentrate wholeheartedly upon production and contrive in an orderly wav to adjust the _ conditions of distribution. Political harmony is the first essential to _the attainment of this state of affairs, ancl unnatural divisions

in politics arc the surest means of making it unattainable.

There is no doubt that the need of a united working effort is widely recognised, and that there is a spontaneous demand all over the Dominion for the changed outlook in polities which would make such an effort possible. Before long it will be seen whether the machinations of self-seeking politicians are to cheek and defeat this wholesome tendency. There art some grounds for hoping that attempts of this kind will recoil upon (heir authors. The people have before them the plain fact that the remarkable working output of last session was only made possible by the harmonious co-operation of the two main parties, and they arc hardly likely to be deluded into believing that the great tasks in prospect will be as well or better handled if party wrangling is resumed. This question of working unity and its alternative ought to be, and will be, kept well to the fore throughout the election. Tt is to be noted meantime that Sir Joseph Waud has failed completely thus far to justify in any way his action in resigning from the Government on the eve of the session. The chief result has been to demonstrate how little the main parties are divided on grounds of policy. Though they sat'jn Op Sin .Town \Yip,n -nid hi-, followers supported one after another of the wide-ranging poliev measures brought down during the session. Quite obviously, therefore, their decision to resume* their separate party existence was not formed in view of policy issues or from the. standpoint of national interests. It can only be construed as an attempt to defeat the popular demand which undoubtedly has arisen for the junction of the main parties in order that the work of Parliament mav be carried out to the best advantage. This attempt obviously was directly counter to the most' progressive tendencies of the day, and it compares badly_indeed with Mr. Massev's declaration for: the creation of a single narty voting and held together with one object—that of promoting the welfare and prosperity of New Zealand.