WELLINGTON NOTES.

Hokitika Guardian, 6 January 1920, Page 4

WELLINGTON NOTES.

(Our Special Correspondent). THE HEW YEAR. \ MR MASSEY’S MESSAGE. ; WELLINGTON, January 1. | In his message of the people of New Mr Massey epitomised the speeches he made up and down the country during the election campaign. “Loyalty, industry and progress’’ were the “principles” he stressed in his appeal to tlie constituencies, and they - are the keynote to the felicitation’s 1 he offers them on the threshold of the New Year, It would be a poor spirit that would carp at his sentiments or at the words in which he expresses them. But the Prime Minister’s own personal and politcali fritendh are becoming a little alarmed lest he should fail to realise the full significance of the verdict delivered at the polls.

“INDBPENDANOE.” That Mr Massey has a working majority behind'him iii 'tße House)"there can be no reasonable doubt. The independence claimed by some members of his party during the election campaign was not of the kind that endures. It always was qualified by the reservation that in the event of no-confidence motion being tabled against the Prime Minister his restless supporters lvould return to the fold. The independence of certain Liberal members of the House is of the same order, the truth being, of course, the present system of party government does not allow a member to va c ilitate from one side to the pther without loss of influence and prestige—one might almost say without loss of selfrespect. But the knowledge that the Government represents only a minority of the electors is going to make its supporters far’ more critical than they have been in the past. DIFFERENCES OF OPINION.

Mr Massey evidently was alive to this fact when he issued his New Year message. “I know' perfectly well,” he says, “that it is impossible to avoid differences of opinion in minor matters but there should be only one opinion wvih regard to essentials.” This amounts almost to an invitation to his own supporters to take more latitude in the way of criticism than would have been at all convenient when the contending parties were more evenly balanced. Whether or not there will be any marked change in the discipline of their own party bn account of its larger and more stable majority remains to be seen, but it is recognised that Mr Massey has proved a very tactful leader so far as ms followers are concerned and that ho possesses something of the Seddonian genius in knowing when to tighten and when to loosen the reins: ANOTHER TRUCE.

Some people believe that the Prime .Minister’s conciliatory message is intended to smooth the way to another “truce” between the Reformers and the Liberals, and the Hon. W. D. 8. MacDonald, the Hon. A. M. Myers, and Mr T. M. Wilford are being mentioned as probable members of a Coalition Gabinet. Other people, however, who profess to be acquainted with the temper of both parties declare that at present such an arrangement is quite out of the question, Mr MacDonald and Mr Myers would be warmly welcomed to the other side of the House if they were disposed to cross the floor but the younger of Mr Massey’s followers would look upon Mr Wilford as an intruder and it is doubtful if the Prime Minister himself would receive the very intense member for Hutt cordially. The relations between them in the old fighting days were very strained to put it as mildly as the facts will admit and apparently their association in the National Cabinet did not improve them.