WELLINGTON TOPICS

Hokitika Guardian, 28 August 1929, Page 2

WELLINGTON TOPICS

THE REFORM ATTACK.

EASILY REPULSED,

(Special Correspondent.)

WELLINGTON, August 26

Though Mr Coates himself and his. feuppoi'ters in Parliament and in the country have been busy.during the last few days in explaining why the leader of the Opposition launched his “ want of confidence ” motion upon a weary world towards the end of last week the man in the street still is wondering what was the ““teal purpose of this strange proceeding. . The “ Dominion ” seems to come nearest to /-elucidating the problem. •“ Whatever the outcome in this respect, whatever course the Labour Party might adopt,” the morning journal insists, “ should not be allowed to divert, the Opposition Party from resisting proposals which are in some respects uniust, and in others opnosed to the interests of the country. Tlie motion was defeated, but Mr Coates has left no room for doubt in the minds of the people Of the Dominion where he and his party stand.” This is all very fine and large in its way, the leader of the Opposition and his party had been proclaiming in the House and in the country for a good eight weeks' ’ exactly where they stood and in the circumstances their interruption of the proceedings of the House seemed more than a little superfluous.

! LABOUR’S ATTITUDE. The morning paper returned to the subject on Saturday for the purpose of reiterating some of the earlier reproaches it had cast upon the Labour Party. “Not so very long.ago,” it repeated, 11 the leader of the Labour Party %vas likefting himself to a kingmaker ; his .idea being that he could make of break the Government at the sweet will of.his party. . This boast Mr Holland no doubt imagines was supported by the action, cf the-Labour Party in voting with the Government on the recent ,want-ofrobnfidence .mbtion. There is, 'howevef, >jspther aspect of the position.' ’'-'Mr. Holland, in order to practise his role of i kingmaker wap. forced-to abandon t.he ;pripciples for j which his party professes to stand and-to fall into ‘ line: .with the policy of ,the. Government. • Instead pf standing ,tp their profession s 'and opposing any attempts to place .fresh'burdens on the workers, Mr Holland arid his followers voted, to uphold the placing of additional taxation on/the necessaries of life.” This, of course,''is'-an entirely ■ wrong interpretation of :th'e attitude of ; the Labour Party towards the other two parties :in ,the House.Mr Holland'and his party had to'choose between the two courses open to them and; obviously chose wisely.

A SANE CHOICE. Their choice clearly lay between a party that stood for a progressive land policy, and a temporary primage duty, and a party that had failed to promote effective land settlement and has left the country with a deficit of over half a million. The Labour Party had expressed early and 'frankly its objection to an increase in the primage duty—indeed within a few minutes of the presentation of the Budget, three weeks before, it had declared its'disapproval of this instrument of revenue raising—and by voting with the Government /on the “ want of confidence” motion it did not suri’ender its right to review the duty later on. ,In any case if Labour had voted with the Opposition it would have either involved the country in an immediate general election or brought about a state of confusion in Parliament which could have been ended only by another appeal to the electors under' very unpropritious conditions. Had Mr Holland and his colleagues assisted towards either of these contingencies they would have seriously prejudiced their chances at the polls. As it was they showed a very sane view of the situation and materially added to their kudos in the House.

THE FUTURE

The current suggestion that the hap-

penings in the House last week are o 'going to lead to an alliance between the United and Labour parties, and a to the two party system of gov- 1 ernment, rests upon a very slender foundation# That the Labour Party is more ready to accept half a loaf from the Uniteds than it is to consider a smaller portion from the Reformers goes without saying. The idea of Mr Holland sitting in a Cabinet with Sir Joseph Ward, however, is another matter' altogether. To begin with, the : three party system definitely instituted here two years ago has come to stay, as it has in the Mother Country, and associated with a sound system of election, which would give every shade of public thought its fair share of representation, it would be for the good of the whole community. Already there are indications: that the Labour Party’s criticism of the Government’s policy has been more effective than that of the' official Opposition. No Government, whatever its colour may be, can fail to be all the better for such criticism. A third party will enlarge the vision of the whole House and of the constituencies at large.