WELLINGTON TOPICS

Hokitika Guardian, 20 July 1925, Page 4

WELLINGTON TOPICS

FAILURE OF FUSION

DISTRIBUTING THE BEAM I'

(Special to “Guardian”.)

WELLINGTON, July id

The old Pni'linmcntary Hands Imre held all along that the negotiations tor fusion between the Reformers and the I Jbcra Is were foredoomed to failure, and now that the expected has happened they are ready enough to give the reasons for their belief. These reasons, of course, have been fairly obvious to everyone and none of them need he discreditable to the politicians concerned. The Reformers, naturally, are encouraged by the witie-spiend cordiality with which Mr Coates’s appointment to the leadership of their party lias been received throughout the country to hope that the approach-

ing general election will give thorn a good working majority in the new Parliament anil enable them to s.u ■■ th,- country I rum Socialism and Communism without any assistance Inun the Liberal*. The Liberals, oil the other hand, could not with the retention of any dignity or prestige have accepted tin; terms of unconditional surrender which the Reform leader suggested to them in his last letter Wilford. Mr Coates may not have -‘banged, bolted and barred the door to the creation of a national party with a sound progressive policy, hut hr- certainly closed the way ell'eeniallv to am- hopeful negotiations between the parties. o FUSION DEFERRED.” The Liberals have no friend among the daily papers in Wellington in these days, hut the two local journals that justify more or less their judicial pose cast the responsibility for the break-down of the fusion negotiations on to different shoulders. "Any break that has occurred lor tic- mnul,” the " Dominion ” insists, "appears to he fully explained by the fact that the Lender of the Liberal Party has allowed himselt to he (allied awav li.v hi- fondness lor pbrnsomaking. In' his letters oil the subject of fusion, and in his speech yesterday. Mr AYill'iird repeated over and over again that the Prime Minister had • hanged, bolted and haired the door on the formation of a National Party. Anyone who read- the correspondence between the party leader- will per' eoive that this phrase is nothing more than words and lias no real relereiice to the facts. Far from being ended ruthlessly in the manner Mr Wilford alleged, the inter-parly negotiations were developed to a point at which the parlies might easily have been brought ir.to immediate co-operation, with every prospect of their ultimate amalgamation.” This doubtless i- tinview that will he accepted by the friends of the party in possession. o ranging THE DOUR.” •■The result was not unexpected.’' sav- the "Post,” inclining towards the other side. " hut the manner of it lias probable surprised a majority even of those who regarded failure as inevitable. The negotiations have lailcd because. though the Reiormers entered upon them with the apparent purpose of immediate business, their intention- were subject to the mental icsenation that fusion could not possibly operate till alter the General Election, or at any rate till alter the end o! the session. It wa- surely a most unbusinesslike and most uiilorluuato proceeding that apparently unre-trict ed negotiations should have been opened with an undisclosed and unsuspected condition in the mind of on'* pa l lv which was hound to Ic- icgaiocd as fatal as soon as th -y knew about it. N.-::oti,ition- which am begun in this way and conduct *d. with Impel ulne-s on one side, to the inevitable breakdown, would u-ually have been better left alone, and wo fear the present ease will not urovo to be an exception. The ipiite linnet es-arv ini-undor-tand-iing lie- battled hone-, and the wasted efforts are likely to make the position win e than ii nothing at all had been alu mpti d. CLEARING THE ATAIOSPII ERE. With fusion out ol the way. tor the

present at any rate, the business ul the House will progress much more rapidly, though perhaps a little more turbuleiitly. than it has been doing during the last two or three weeks. The expectation of an earlier prorogation than usual has been emphasised by the failure to establish a good understanding between the older parties, and the new I’rinie Alini-ter would have authority and precedent on his side in seeking the endorsement of his appointment by the constituencies

without waiting for the li to ol the present Parliament to run its full inurse. It is being whispered about that the general election will take place at the end of October, nearly two months Indore the usual time, and that the Government is not partieularlv anxious that there should he a long period between the prorogation and the dissolution of the House, ft i- iairlv sale to say, however, that .Mr Contes will soring no surprise on Ids opponents in this respect. The new

Prime .Minister at least may ho trust cd to play the game.