WELLINGTON TOPICS

Hokitika Guardian, 12 November 1930, Page 2

WELLINGTON TOPICS

PARTY PEACE,

A VAIN HOPE,

(Special Correspondent)

WELLINGTON, November 10,

Tlie “Post” still clings to the dream of a coalition between tlie United Party and the Reform Party, which, it thinks, would finally dispose of the peril of the Labour. Party mounting the Treasury. Benches during the next twenty or thirty years. But it is less hopeful to-day than it was a while ago of; the fomation, of a. coalition between the Unitetls and the Reformers which i- would definitely exclude Mr LI. 15. . Holland and his doughty colleagues from office for an indefinite time.' Tlie evening paper sought frankly to find in the ActingPrime Minister’s speech at Palmerston North, during the week' end some encouragement for its dream, but it sought all in vain. “Reform,” it concluded in despair, “may say that the times are too serious to think along United linos, and United may he equally emphatic that they are too serious to think along Reform lines. But that seems to .be .as far as cither, party can get.” This is a very sound conclusion for a looker-on to reach!;;:

LABOUR’S OUTLOOK. Mr Holland and, his colleagues three or four years ago were loudly proclaiming thjeir desiire td* drivel the -Umteds' and the Reformers into one camp and having"done this to dispose of them piece meal at their leisure. But the result; of the last general election, left Labour, at the bottom of the poll, with its desire for a United-Reform coalition very materially lessened. It also finally disposed of Labour’s regard for proportional representation, only the Canterbury members of the party being bold enough to hold ■ fast to their previous professions. It must 110 b be supposed, however, that Labour’s possjbilty of reaching the Treasury Benches one of these fine ' days is altogether dissipated. If the Uniteds and ; the Reformers persist in belittling one another long enough, Labo.hr at the next general election, now (only a year away, may gather in tliq. votes of a sufficient number of weary electors to give Mr;Holland and his very, considerable following their opportunity. Already there is the example of tlie last general election. MR FORBES ABROAD. The “Dominion” this morning presents its ' readers with extracts from the American and Holile newspapers indicating the first impressions of New Zealand’s Prime Minister, How the Right Hun. G, W. Forbes, made upon gome of the journalists he encountered, One alert American thought, .he looked like a “Labour leader,” a judgment which would not offend the traveller, and another summed him up as “a short stocky man with grey moustache and friendly grey eyes.” A British critic accepted him ns “an overseas version of Jcihn Bull;” another observed that “his ..face is strong,” and a third described him aa “a weighty man, both in figure and choice of words.” Yet another had it “there was no change to he had out of this strong man.” One ’enterprising inquirer wanted to know what Mr Forbes thought of his contemporary, Mr Ramsay MacDonald, the British Prime Minister. “You probably know him better than I do,” Mr Forbes replied grwriy. On the whole “Our George” as he was known on the football field, seems to have borne himself quite well. “ROBBER OF LABOUR.” Foj' some time past, Mr P. J. O’Regan, at' one time a member of the House of Representatives and now a very busy member of the legal profusion, hag -been devoting such spare time as comes his way to dealing with problems such as the “‘Tariff Swindle, or How Protection Razes Wages,” a thiune which occupied his attention at the Trades Hall last night. Needless -to say ...razes; has the very opposite meaning to raises. Only the crux of Mr .o’Regan’s doctrine... cap he presented yfrerer “The way out of the morass',” the single-taxer insisted, “is quite clear for all who wish to see it,” What the country requires is a budget cutting down the tariff, commencing with such monstrous imposts as the flour duty and the boot tax, at the same time increasing the land tax?' Abundance of cheap land and cheap commodities would soon make the unemployed evil a thing of history.” It would relieve the monotony of parliamentary debates if so fluent n sneaker as Mr O’Regan would again appear in the House of Repiescntatives.