The Chronicle PUBLISHED DAILY. LEVIN. TUESDAY. aUGUST 3. 1915

Horowhenua Chronicle, 3 August 1915, Page 2

The Chronicle PUBLISHED DAILY. LEVIN. TUESDAY. aUGUST 3. 1915

A E.MED 1 101 l NEW ZEALAND'S POLITICAL DEADLOCK. The exceptional circumstances surrounding the political situation of New Zealand at present are the sole justification that can be pleaded lor the attempt ot His Excellency the Governor (after the party leaders have tailed) to promote n coalition between the Reform and Liberal parties in the House ol Representatives. And in this case the attempt is the more untimely because the possibilities ot Government under tTie present conditions are not exhausted. Hie matter of empire defence is ol para mount importance, and it is obvious that the Liberal and the Labour parties. representatives 011 the Deteiice Committee are working whole-heart-edly with the Reform parly T s members on that committee to a common end of good. Why. then, is there displayed in Parliament and out of it, among various sections oT the communities. an apparently deep-rooted desire for a coalescing ot the ant-agon-istic divisions in politics!-' The idea conies uppermost tliat a certain degree of faint-heartedness is at the base of the idea. But if the Massev Administration or any considerable, portion of its supporters is self-per-Biiaded of an inability to carry on the government of the country satisfactorily. the Administration can apply tor permission to appeal to the electors. Yet in taking such action there is always the want- of surety that there will be any decisive majority obtained by either party to the extinordinar.v general election: in fact, the likelihood at present, judged 111 the light of the two b.v-el _-tions recently held, is that indecision would be still the general tone of the amalgamated voice of the constituencies. It is the recognition of this Ifkelfhood that s behind the attempt to form a Coalition Government willv nillv. Vet the expedient would prove hazardous. OF this there is proof to be found in the ■ political history'-of New Zealand herself, Victoria, and other partii of the | empire. To those who point' to,, the fact that Great Britain has a Coalition Government it may be answered with truth that internal dissensions -were in the British Cabinet, whereas there can be none in the local one—maybe a noa scquitur, hut there is a .moral in it— and, further, the urgency of the neeJ lor effective and united action in tho .Mother Country last April and May finds 110 counterpart lii N'ew Zealand to-day. Why. then, should New Zealand in her present political emergency have recourse to old political expedients? ■At best, coalition of parties that are antagonistic is an ineffective method of grappling with any serious condition of politics. "When circuni-

stances are exceptional the remedy should be exceptional also. If the present Parliament of New ifealancl rises to the present occasion and U needs a real, effective remedy will lu obtained. As a sure means of attainment of this end The Chronicle submits' its own panacea for discussion Our proposal is that a constituency be formed of the whole of New Zealand, and that an election of. three or four additional members bo Tield, the exact number to be so clccted to be ascertained in manner siggested herein. The machinery for carrying into effect this proposal could be provided by a simple amendment bill to tliG Electoral Act, and* the result iroukl be a majority of at least one extra vote for one or other party in the House, with a possibility of three extra votes being -added. The amendment could be so v constnicted that it woultl remain a - perpetual part of the Act, ... provid ing tliat,wheisfever 011 division of tho'House

on a "Want of Confidence motion a majority of only one vote (casting or otherwise) was the result, the holding of a dominion constituency election of a specified number of members would become imperative. -No doubt it would be advisable to stipulate 111 the Amending Bill how the candidates would be ascertained; for to allow unrestricted nomination would be to burden the nomination paper with a plethora of candidates. Possibly it would be the best way if each of the tlree .parties in the House were allowed to select three candidates, making nine nominations. In this event, to prevent possibility of equal success at the polls, it could be provided that four members should be elected instead of three; thus ensuring that one of the three parties would secure at least two representatives. This proviso could be ionned t) meet all needs by making it say that "each recognised political party. in the House shall nominate three candidates, and the number to oe elected shall be one in excess ol the number of political parties qualified to make nominations." The party selections could be made from mimes submitted to a party caucus in each cas'!, or if deemed a better procedure, the Reform Party executive, the Liberal and Labour Federation and the United Labour Party separately could be empowered to make selections of candidates. As the final decision would be with the electors, no question as o proportion of representation need arise in regard to number of nominations. But' there is 110 need to adhere to this scheme of selection; a dozen others will readily suggest themselves. One would be to have preliminary ballots in the seventy-odd electorates, the selected man to go to the dominion poll; but that would be an unwieldy and expensive process. All these incidental aspects would be for Parliament in its collective wisdom to judge and resolve upon. Basically there exists the fact that .some such scheme as ours is an urgent need in the present state of polities in this country, and the amount of time that Parlkinent would have to devote to debating and perfecting an enabling bill during the present session would lie time well spent indeed, for the results assuredly would be for the benefit of future Parliaments as w*ll is the existing body.