The Evening Star TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 1935. A JUST VERDICT.

Evening Star, Issue 22142, 24 September 1935, Page 8

The Evening Star TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 1935. A JUST VERDICT.

Ix a calm and dispassionate, yet searching, way Mr W. Downie Stewart, member for Dunodiu West, summed up the political position in an address in the Burns Hall last night. His speech, following the opening of the session and the delivery of the Budget, could hardly have come at a more appropriate time. It was enlightening to have the issues of the day discussed with such clarity by a parliamentarian of Mr Stewart’s ability and experience. He is no conservative of the old school. On the contrary, his outlook is essentially democratic, believing in orderly and progressive development, yet holding fast to realities and .opposing visionary schemes impossible of fulfilment Too often men when they give up a portfolio on a matter of principle, as Mr Stewart did, or for other reasons, set themselves in direct opposition to the Government of the day. Mr Stewart has not adopted this attitude. Last night he traversed the evidence for and against the Ministerial policy in a judicial manner, and gave his verdict, which was that the electors would be wise to support the Coalition Government and its policy rather than the Labour Party and its proposals. The member for .Dunedin West defined ms own position. He is standing as an Independent Nationalist, which will allow him, while giving general support to the Government, freedom to criticise any of its measures which he considers to be ill-devised and opposed to the public interest. Tho Ministry is handicapped by the fact that it has had to impose unpopular measures during a period of lean years, thereby incurring resentment and dissatisfaction, Mr Stewart defended the Government on this point. Deferring to the crisis from which we appear to be emerging,

Mr Stewart remarked that retrenchment, curtailment of expenditure, and economy' were always unpopular, but the countries that were recovering most successfully from the depression were those that had not shirked the necessity of doing these things. The speaker might well have illustrated his remarks by pointing to the relative financial* positions of Britain and France to-day. Mr Stewart opposed the contentions i/f the Labour Party—that the economy measures of the Coalition Cabinet were unnecessary, and pointed out that a Government, like an individual, had to govern its expenditure by its income. When the effects of the slump reached this Dominion there was a sudden and catastrophic drop in the receipts from our primary products sent overseas, and had the Government not acted with courage, foresight, and promptitude a financial crisis would undoubtedly have arisen. The Democrat Party complains that the ■ Government has gone too far along the road to Socialism, while Labour considers that it has not gone far enough. Mr Stewart’s remarks under thip head will be read with interest, for they indicate the trend of modern thought and practice. Ho said that all over the world Governments were being forced to interfere where a problem was too great for the citizens to solve. What was needed was to “ maintain the best features of private enterprise fortified and enriched by the best features of group or community life.” There is no doubt that the quiet and restrained tone of the Budget submitted by Mr Coates has had the effect of creating an atmosphere of confidence, and Mr Stewart’s comments on the Statement, because of his high financial reputation, give further reassurance. The conditions generally are better, but the speaker sounded a note of caution when he remarked that the recovery in this country and elsewhere was local, and might not maintain itself, and that nothing but restoration of world trade could bring prosperity back on a wide basis. Mr Stewart’s speech, covering an extensive field, will repay careful study. It was a statesmanlike address by one who follows with alert interest the political, social, and economic movements of the times, and whoso guiding motive, as he has demonstrated in a practical way, is to place principle before party.