WELLINGTON TOPICS

Hokitika Guardian, 21 October 1931, Page 2

WELLINGTON TOPICS

A REFORM VIEW. A CANDID CRITIC. (Special Correspondent). WELLINGTON, October 19. A correspondent, who, to hjs credit, jg ashamed neither of his name nor of -his politics writes to the “Dominion ’ newspaper with but a superficial ac- „ quaintance with facts and with even | less knowledge of their application, t . His objects apparently are to discredit f the United Party in politics by any « means that lay at hand, and io } ' magnify the Reform Party as the only say ions of a betrayed community, iv “A§ dispassionate review of the present political situation,” this authority I*, says, “reveals the fact that the Unite! Party has become a disintegrated unit and the prediction of “Porfow, Room and Bust” coupled with a vacating policy has shattered public confidence. This of course, is but a jeer at Sir I. Joseph Ward's borrowing suggestion of three years ago for which no mend) er of the present Cabinet, whether :■ United or Reform, was res;ion-;M v ; The attempt to saddle Sir Jo-*rh Ward’s dream of cheaper money on ~o Mr Forbes and bis colleagues is not “cricket” in the general acceptance of the term. “DEFINITE AND UNSWERVING POLICY.” The “Dominion’s” correspondent having delivered himself of the “Rod* *. row, Boom and Bust” stunt, which had nothing whatever to |jp with Mr Forbes, turns to what he calls the fundamental principles of democracy in their application to the United Government. “One- fails to discover in a single sentence,” says this quaint; authority, “where the United Party ' has istood four-square for a definite and unswerving policy, with the result that electors have to look to Reform to safe-guard traditions that can alone b. restore confidence, and, in turn, somepy' tiling in the nature of prosperity for all classes of the community.” With fjti party strife between United and Res form sot aside for the time being, in ‘! the interests of all concerned it would .|t be difficult to frame a retort to this effusion that would exactly meet the , situation, hut those who know Mi % "t- Forces and Mr Coates at all intimately ffv win not suspect either of them of be- \ traying the terms of the compact to y - which they have pledged themselves. "r SOME AXOIMS. This authorjty, who to his credit, as rflreadiy stated, discloses both his * name and address, further charges the yv'■ United Party in general and the Prime Minister in particular, with having ■' $ produced, no definite policy, with. ba\ing appointed to the Cabinet a gentle- " man not duly elected by the representatives of the people, with having r money"and' 'V: with having over-governed and over- " legislated the community at large, The only effective remedy for all these inflictions, the pubic is told, is “to look to Reform to safeguard traditions that can alone restore confidence and in - turn, something in the nature ol prosIJrperity for all classes of the commun.ity.” Some weeks in advance of this ;; plea for a better Govorn;:;ment than the one representing the -United Party, the Coalition Govern- :. ment had taken office; but in the mr- ' cumstances it may be permissible to re call one of the hoppenings when Reform had the field all to itself. THE WAR AND AFTER. It will be remembered that on the conclusion of the Great War in 1918 the Liberal members of the National ■ Government, which had endured for four and a half years amicably enough withdrew from the Cabinet as speedily as they decently might, the chief bone of contention between the parties be-ing-the expenditure of the surplus the S Liberal Treasurer had accumulated during his neriod of office. The Re--1 formers insisted upon the bulk of this huge sum being expended upon the purchase of land for the returning soldiers. History has recorded the rest. The suggestion of “Borrow, Boom and Bust” attributed to the United Party in 1928 was a mere passing incident. The reality of the land boom settlement promoted by the Reform Party from 1918 onward is a Jpige burden upon the shoulders of the taxpayers to-dav. As for the Minister of the Crown, who according to our | authority should be elected by the !1 1 people, how stands the Reform jj * .nominee with seventeen years of rdllj mirable service to bis credit? * ‘ ■■ iwrinißirir i'ij