WELLINGTON TOPICS

Hokitika Guardian, 22 April 1931, Page 2

WELLINGTON TOPICS

FUSION. WEEK END GOSSIP. (Special Correspondent). < WELLINGTON, April 21. ( Though “fusion” of the two older j parties in the House of Representat- 1 ives—the United* and the Reformers ] -has been a subject of discussion in < the lobbies and further afield since the ■ meeting of Parliament a month ago, no one seems to know whether or not any real progress has been towards this end. The question now is not so much as to whether the United Party and the Reform Party should join hands in order to stay the encroachment of the.Labour Party upon-the Constitution of the Dominion, as it is as to whether the whole three parties should set aside their political differences for the time being and join hands as a single body in restoring the sound economic conditions of the country. An arrangement of this kind was found possible, and o*f great national advantage in 1915, when the magnitude of the Great War had become fully realised, and New Zealand s present place on the map is among the consequences, NEED FOR NATIONAL UNFIT, Of course a great war nnd> a great economic upheaval are not one and the same thing. They are in some respects, however, analogous. Party politics , ,were set aside by the members of the New Zealand Parliament in 1915 .because the whole country was insisting upon every legitimate means being employed in winning the wax. The parties, at that, time, just fresh from the constituencies, were very evenly • v balanced, and it was a speech delivered by Mr W. Downie Stewart—since then Minister of Finance in the Coates Ministry—in seconding the Addres.s-■Tn-lteply which set on foot the demand for-'the cessation of party -.strife during the progress of the war for. a united effort in the service of the Empire. 1 People inside and outside Parliament are recalling these facts, axid those outside are wondering whether or not the politicians of to-day are courageous enough and patriotic enough to dare the path their predecessors trod. , ' , 5 SIXTEEN YEARS AGO. When the members of. the Labour. Party took their seats in the House at the opening of the present session of Parliament they probably expected to find the members of the Reform' ■ Party turning a kindly eye towards them. At any rate they had made it widely known tluit they had detached ** themselves fvo'm such alliance as they previously had maintained with tlifc* United Party and would be g]a,d aas'st in removing Mr Forbes and his colleagues from the Treasury Benches But Mr Coates and hia associates had come to Wellington for other purposes than to indulge in party strife and so confuse the grave problems by which the country was confronted, They let Mr H. 15. Holland and his followers know they were bent on business, not on office, and that the welfare of the country was their first concern. So far they have shown no disposition to depart from this high ideal. It is obvious, however, that the present relations between the parties cannot be maintained indeHhitely.

FUSION AND ELECTION,

If there is to be "fusion” between the United and the Reform parties, >• or, what would be baiter still, between the three parties now in the field, it would have to be consumated before any general election was taken. It would not necessarily involve the postponement of the election, as was the case with the formation of the War Cabinet in 1917, but if "fusion” were adopted by Parliament probably a large majority of the members would deem an appeal to the electorates as superfluous and the public would not be likely to clamour for the expenditure of £70,000 or £BO,OOO in confirming an arrangment already accepted. The formation of a "fusion” . Cabinet should present no great difficulty. Finance is the main problem confronting the Dominion, The Hon. W. Downie Stewart is the only prov- .... ed financeir in Parliament at the pre,'sent time. The Right Hon. J. G.

;£y>£Coates has personally recognised this anil the Right Ilc#i. G. W. Forbes, ‘ s fairly safe to assume, would not hesitate, in the circumstances, to enS&c.'.di' rse it. For the occasion, it would seem, the man is at hand.