THE GENERAL ELECTION

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 85, 7 October 1931, Page 10

THE GENERAL ELECTION

NO CONCLUSION YET

ENGLAND'S EXAMPLE

Cabinet's failure to arrive at unanimity on the question of extending the iife of the present Parliament has given rise to lobby speculation as to the extent to which events in tho Old Country are influencing consideration of the issue in New Zealand.

As a general rule the Dominion is not j impervious to British precedents, and it is suggested that the decision of the Imperial National Government to appeal to the electorate on 2Sth October will have an important bearing on the action likely to bo taken by New. Zealand's Coalition Ministry. It is an open secret that Mr. Coates has yet to be convinced of the necessity of postponing the General Election for any length of time, and it is said that when the matter was last considered by Cabinet the Reform representatives were averse to a conclusion being reached in the meantime.

The concluding sentence of the Supplementary Budget of tho Hon. W. Downie Stewart that the Government was trustees for the future as well as for the present has been interpreted in some quarters as an indication that the Finance Minister at least supports the postponement proposal, but some

members ■of Parliament receive it as being meant in its broadest sense. The issue will, however, remain a live one, and in the meantime tho experience of England will be closely watched and valued, no doubt, in the light of the success or.otherwise of tho National Government's appeal to the country.