WELLINGTON NOTES.

Hokitika Guardian, 1 November 1918, Page 4

WELLINGTON NOTES.

THE PARTY TRUCE. j EMBARRASSED MINISTERS. (Our Special Correspondent) WELLINGTON, October 30. In the House of Representatives the motion for the first reading of Mr Iliiidmarsh’s Workers’ Compensation Act Amendment Bill afforded Air Poland and Air Veitcli an opportunity to give the occupants of the 'Treasury Benches a taste of the kind of criticism they are likely to encounter as the session progresses. Both the member for Ohinemuri, and the member for AA'anganui spoke rather in sorrow than in anger. They deplored the fact, or what- they said was a fact .that- New Zealand, once fnmod the whole world over for the daring of its industrial and humanitarian legislation, was now lagging hopelessly behind the Alother Country, Australia, America, and. even Germany in this respect. Air Poland would not. accept the war as an excuse for the Cabinet’s inaction. There was 110 need, he said, for the Dominion j to set its domestic problems aside while ! it was bending its chief energies towards winning success with the sword. . THREATS OF REVOLT. Air Vedfcch followed in a similar strain, placing a little more emphasis, upon the discontent prevailing in the constituencies and warning Atinisters they must either get on or get out. The incident has loosened other tongues 011 the subject and is sure to give additional interest- to the Address-ing-Reply debate now *n progress. Alany members have got it- into their heads that a general election will take place before they have another opportunity to address their constituents from the floor of. the House, and in preparatoiu for that event they are assuming an air of independence, which is much more common on the hustings than it is i;n the council chamber. But- they have no great desire in their hearts to hasten a dissolution. It- is patent to everyone that the party truce has not made for the popularity of Alinisters 011 either side, hut private members realise their own fate is too closely allied with that of their leaders to he risked on a premature cast- of the die. THE PARTY LTADERS. 'Their interpretation of the spirit of the party truce, while it prevents them pushing forward controversial legislation, does not permit Air Alassoy and Sir Joseph AVard to appear on the platform as apologists for their inaction. This places them both in an extremely difficult position. At the general election of 1014, for instance. Sir Joseph AVard put before the constituencies the most progressive programme he had over framed and promised members of his party reforms for which they had been striving for more than a quarter of a century. Air Afassov was in much the same case in that he was Prime Alinister and' still unable to dictate the policy of the Government It is not necessary to sympathise with their policy of masterly inactivity to appreciate the magnitude of their embarrassment, but it is quite certain both leaders have practiced a considerable measure of self-abnegation, in their desire to preserve the political peace TI-IF. FUTURE. It is too early to speculate upon the next appeal to the electors, hut the lobby gossip around the subject is not without- some passing interest. It is common talk that three Alinisters, at least, will not seek re-election —Sir James Allen, Sir William Fraser, and the HOll. T. AI. AA'ilford—and that an usually large number of private members will voluntarily sever their connection with the House. The popular tip is that Sir Dillon Bell, not Sir Joseph Ward, will be the Dominion’s permanent representative in London and that the Prime Alinister of the Day will continue his annual visits to the heart of the Empire after the conclusion of the war. All the authorities predict that the old bitter relations he_ tween the rival parties will never be resumed. They always have been more or less a pretence, rather a part of the traditions of the game than a necessary part of its equipment, and tlieir disappearance would be some consolation for the political sacrifices of the war.