GENERAL ELECTION

Hokitika Guardian, 29 October 1931, Page 2

GENERAL ELECTION

& PRESS COMMENT. , , “All doubts and queries have been set jp' at rest by 'die official announcement from two authoritative sources that the | 'general election will be held at an early date,’’ says the "New Zealand Herald.” ‘ “There will be no postponement-, no ex..tension of the life oi Parliament. In a ~ c ,sense there should be no need tor any > * announcement. This is election year. fi'.Under the law the present Parliament * will conclude its allotted 'term about |: ,I '(the end of November. It would be more g "natural, therefore, to consider that in if* default of anything being said to the «•" contrary, there would be an election ft and that- the. only call for an announccgj ■; merit would come if it were decided to amend the law and defer the election. »*■ ip wing, however, to the amount that niias been about postponement, and »«• the manner in which rumours have been hying, the announcement in elec--5 * -fion year 'that there will be an election f, becomes an event of some moment. By Extending its own life without being Shivery sure that the people were ovei--Bj* Vhelmingly an favour of that being done, Parliament would have violated ~ v unwritten convention. There were f%o means of being certain that the peowould approve the extension. The c proper course, therefore, was not to L 'extend its life, but to hold the elections 5 at the due and proper time. Having put behind it the temptation to attempt >• anything else, the Government, has l- chosen wisely and rightly.” “THE REAL REASON.” !i > “Other factors besides a desire to ' please the electors were involved,” says the Auckland “Star.” “Some private members were becoming restive, and the possibility of the Independents receiving several recruits seems to have been the real reason to hoi’d the general election at once, and was one way of trying the discontented members, both to the party organisation and to the Coalition Government, to prevent *■' them from straying after false gods. It is probable, too, that the leaders re--1; fleeted 'that the longer they postponed the appeal to the country, the more unpopular the National Government might become, nor can the strategy of the National Government in England be ruled out as a possible influence. The decision, However, has been made, and

must be accepted. It is infinitely better that the country should be appealed to by a 'Coalition Government than by the two separate parties of which it is composed. If the Coalition GovevnI me rut is worthy of support without an election, it is -worthy of support at the polls. In their statements recently

| both the Prime Minister and Mr Coates | spoke as National and not as party g leaders. They appeal to the peopie for I a vote. of. confidence, and for a manI date to carry on the work of the CoaliI tion S re*

| ceive this 'approval, The alternative is | ruled by Labour, and we are convinced | .that the country does not desire that. ! ilf ithe- non-party nature of the appeal I is to be maintained and vote-splitting I is to be avoided, a. good deal of selfsacrifice will be required of political in difficult times such a 3 these this is not requiring much of a handful of men.”

WELCOME DECISION. '' “There is no doubt at all that the decision will almost everywhere be welcomed, if it also relieves a good deal of anxiety,” says the “Christchurch Press.” The explanation is not that the public has been unduly nervous, but that Government has been unduly hesitant and reserved. . . . The reasons which brought the two parties together to frame and initiate a policy without a mandate are equally good reasons for their remaining together to continue and control it, but with a mandate. The situation calls for difficult personal sacrifices for the courage and honestv ithat will make and accept difficult decisions, but failure in these respects would not merely make success impossible, it would show that success was not deserved P FRESH MANDATE REQUIRED. ~ “When .“the policy of the Coalition was announced, involving the repeal of the graduated land tax and implying a repeal of the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act, it was obvious that .the Government was going beyond the rinils of any existing mandate from the people, and that a Iresh would be required,” says the

’“Christchurch T ; mes.” ; “There were ,plain indications in the House of Ro,representative? last week that the Liberal wing of \he Coalition was not at all satisfied vi;h the position, and, indeed, it G difficult 4 to see how members could possibly reconcile their support of a violently anti-Liberal policy with their election pledges. An nr peal to the constituencies would offer .them an escape—and the only escape—from their dilemma. The position in the House has not improved appreciably in the interval, and the latest development hinted ait is the formation of a new party, presumably around a nucleus composed of the more radical section of the anti-Labour groups. A general election is the only certain method of clearing up confusion of this kind, so that on that score also an early appea l to the electors is desirable.” ' DEPRIVED OF A CRY. “The formation of a Coalition Government forms indeed a- very special •reason why, if any doubt were expressed upon the subject, a general election should be held as early as grossible/’ says the “Otago Daily

Times.” “It has introduced a factor ill the political situation that was not present in the minds ot the elactois as a whole when the members of Parliament were elected, and it is due to the electors, that the Government, which owes its existence to circumstances not foreseen by them three years ago, should submit itself to them for their endorsement. It, instead, it induced Parliament to take the highly improper course of passing legislation extending its duration it would make a gift to the Socialists of an election c.y of onus-:. lerable value to them. It- may be suspected, indeed,,- that while the opponents of the Government have been making n great pretence <>f a desire for an early election, they will be grievously disappointed at being deprived of a cry that they had hoped to be able to use. ’