WELLINGTON TOPICS

Hokitika Guardian, 13 May 1931, Page 2

WELLINGTON TOPICS

BETWEEN THE PARTIES. A PRELIMINARY TEST. .(Special Correspondent). WELLINGTON, May 7. The by-election for; the.Hauraki seat in the" House of Representatives, made necessary, by tlie. death of Mi A. AV. Hall early in the recent session of Parliament, will be,determined mainly by the attitude of the Labour Party. Labour will have little chance of securing the seat for itseu since at the general election held in 1928 it secured only 2411 votes whilethe Reform candidate, Mr Hall, polled 3826 and the United candidate, now again in the field, 2935, having secured. only 41 per cent of the votes polL ed in the constituency two and a hair years ago and it is frtirly certain that hie successor in the approaching con* test- will fare no better unless his sponsors are prepared to make some amicable arrangement with Labour, Fewer than 450 votes transferred from Ref cirri? to United—said to be a quite possible rlewLopnient—would seriously disconcert His Majesty s Opposition.

THE PRIME MINISTER. Mr Forbes i« rather amused than parthrbod by the grave accusations that are being heaped upon him in connection with his suggestion for the formation of a National Cabinet t° deal with the economic difficulties that are facing the country at the present time. In particular he lias been entertained by the reports of speeches delivered by'his friend Mr 5A. Young, the member for Hnnr’tm, apparently for the purpose of. leering li.s constituents know something of the undesirable qualities, of th-c Prime Minister of the country. “Many of the planks ! of the Reform Party,Mr. Forbes read from one of the city papers, “have been adopted by the United Party.” The accusation amused him immensely. “Of course we stole these planks,” he said! “They were good planfis—excellent. But how many more planks did Mr Massey, that biggest of Reformers, appropriate when he came into office in succession to the Liberal Government.’.’ .-. Mr Forbes sees no harm in following the footsteps of the big men who blazed the way.

' FUSED FUSION. Referring to more recent happenings the Prime Minister said he was sorry Air -Coates had not seen his--*way to associate himself with the Government in its efforts to overcome the grave, difficulties that were confronting tho Dominion., . ‘.‘Fusion/’ per* haps was'not the happiest.word .ill,lit Plight have been employed in suggesting a spirit.of on-operatipn and effort between, the parties; but it never was intended that It should pefmhfieiitly extinguish the traditions or,the aspjr* ations of the Reform Party, the. Lab* our Party or the United Party. Mr Massey and Sir Joseph Ward had made concessions and personal sacrifices in forming the National Cabinet during tlib Great War, and he had hoped himself that similar concessions -and personal sacrifices weuld be made during the grave difficulties now surrounding the country. The Government had. been .disappointed and now would have to face -these difficulties without the assistance it had invitecr. A large measure of public opinion, however, seemed to be offering it very substantial compensation. -

DIFFERENT VIEWS. The morning paper regrets that “there are still no firm grounds for hoping that New Zealand butter will again, be admitted to Canada on competitive terms.” “This,” it bemoan- “is not a pleasant conclusion to reach when values for our dairy produce in Great Britain are being seriously prejudiced by the over-load mg of our one great overseas market. Dairymen cannot be blamed for ask-1 ing why the negotiations between Australia, and Canada seem to be on the eve of a practical and mutually advantageous conclusion while New Zealand appears ,to be able to -make no headway.towards an accommodation. • Happily a cable on a later page of the papers announces that “a Canadian and New Zealand trade agreement is in prospect” and “that the Government' here is favourably disposed to- . wards advocating an extension of the Australian treaty.” It looks ns if Canada had repented of its narrow policy and was anxious to repair its hasty blunder.