The Dominion FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 1928. A POLITICAL SORTIE

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 113, 10 February 1928, Page 8

The Dominion FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 1928. A POLITICAL SORTIE

That somewhat vague and shadowy organisation, known as the United Political Party, has emerged from a period of seclusion into the fighting arena. Its opening sortie at Auckland on Wednesday last appears to have fallen rather flat. As in the past a singular reticence was shown as to the personnel and policy of the party, but in certain respects the gathering was illuminating. In the first place, the new party put forward as its mouthpiece a very old friend in the person of Mr. G. W. Forbes, who is better known as the leader of the National Party. It is significant that the new party should find it necessary to fall back on Mr. Forbes for so important an occasion. Estimable as he may be in his'personal qualities, Mr. Forbes possesses none of the qualities of leadership nor has he the gifts of speech which arouse interest in or assist a struggling cause. In the circumstances, it is not surprising that the opening sortie of the new party began and ended tamely.

The meeting, indeed, might be regarded as hardly worth serious notice. The occasion, however, serves as a convenient opportunity for calling attention to the futility of political aspirations such as have been espoused successively by the remnants of the old Liberal Party under various guises, such as the Nationalist Party, the Liberal-Labour Party, the United Political Party, and so on. Whatever they may call themselves, the removal of the cover reveals the same little coterie. The smallness of the party might not matter so much, had it a gifted leader, or a definite and convincing policy. Time then might remedy its weakness in numbers. Unhappily for its prospects and perhaps unfortunately for the country as a whole, it has demonstrated that it is as barren of ideas as it is lacking in leadership. One looks in vain for any evidence of constructive policy, for any sign of practical statesmanship. It deals in generalities, and has a certain genius for finding new names for itself, but otherwise it seeks to cover its bankruptcy of ideas under cloak of a cheap slogan: “The Reform Party must go!” What if the Reform Party did go? What has Mr. Forbes and his United Political Party to offer in its place? Would the country gain by substituting Mr. Forbes or Mr. Veitch or Mr. Wilford for Mr. Coates? Is there anything politically convincing in the past achievements of these prospective leaders of the new party? What have they done? What do they offer? Why should they be preferred to the Reform Party? Mr. Forbes failed to answer satisfactorily any of these pertinent questions. When times are difficult and people are feeling the pinch, human nature is apt to vent its discontent upon its rulers. Such conditions exist in New Zealand to-day, and opponents of the Government naturally make the most of the opportunity to place Ministers in as unfavourable a light as possible,' Mcst people think it a good thing that a Government should have its share of criticism as a healthy stimulus to effort. But the public is not so ill-informed as to believe that New Zealand in recent times has been singular in possessing unemployed, or that as suggested by Mr. Forbes the Government has failed to realise its obligations in the matter. To-day Australia, Britain, even the wealthy and reputedly prosperous United States, each has an unemployed problem of greater magnitude than our own. We do not wish to belittle the position of our own unemployed, but does anyone seriously believe that Mr. Forbes and his associates in the new United Party would handle the difficulty any better than the present Prime Minister and Minister of Public Works? •

Whatever kind of political party aspires to assume the control of the destinies of this country, it must be able to present a leader, a personnel, and a policy which will inspire the public. Of these three essentials of political success there is not a single particle of evidence of any one of them in the so-called new party. Mr. Forbes and his friends seemingly are blind to the facts of the situation. If the Reform Party must go (as they contend), then it is not the United Party that take its place. The second strongest political group in the country to-day is the Labour-Socialist group, and the chief effect of the activities of the United Party and those assisting it is to play into the hands of the Labour-Socialists. It is fortunate in the circumstances that the political past of those most actively associated with the leadership of the new party does not encourage any high expectations.