WELLINGTON TOPICS

Hokitika Guardian, 24 November 1932, Page 6

WELLINGTON TOPICS

GOVERNMENT AND UNEMPLOYED

NEED FOR UNANIMITY

(Special Correspondent).

WELLINGTON, November 22

The prediction of Mr Roderick McKenzie, one of the candidates for the vacant Motueka'sent in the House of Representative, to the.' effect that ten or fifteen members" of the Coalition Party will renounce the present Government before the meeting of Parliament next year, is not at all likely to be realised. It is true that with a majority of thirty, or thereabouts the .ultra independents among the Coalitionists both in speech and in divisions take liberties they could not) employ were the stability of their party' ip absolute peril. In no previous Parliament has independence been so freely exercised on the Government’s side or the House as it has been during the present session. There is no heed to assume from this fact, however, that any considerable number of independents are likely to renounce their adherence to the Coalition Government, a s it stands at present, or in the near future.

THE MINISTERS. , That the Ministers of the Crown hav e enough to do, apart from the reception of deputations and individuals and the observance of scores of indoor and outdoor obligations, goes without saying, the Prime Minister, in spite of all the assistapee Mr Coates, his former opponent, can. give, being the chief sufferer. This is not to say that Mr Forbes is bear rig more than a fair 3 rinre of the Government’s burden. Mr Coates probably finds parliamentary'life equally onerous. At the moment, however, the youngest member of the Cabinet, .n years as well as in length of service, is Mr Adam Hamilton, Postmaster General, Minister o? Labour, Minister of Internal Affiairs, Minister in Charge of Tourists and Health Resorts,. Publicity and Advertising Departments, topping off with the temporary charge of Unemployment, probably the most exacting burden in the whole list of ministerial obligation".

THREE YEARS. It lias been said that Mr Hamilton is the youngest* members of the present Cabinet. He was born at Forest Hill in 1880, fifty two years ago. Of other members of the Cabinet, Mr Roert Masters reaches back t.o 1818; Mr J. A. Young to 1877; Sir Apirana Ngata to 1875 and Mr Charles Macmillan to. 1872. Beyond this period politicians are permitted to forget their years..' Mr Hamilton, whose public career lias mainly inspired these observations, is a son of Mr John Hamilton, a well known figure in Southland for many years, who warmly espoused the policy of the Liberal Party, as expounded by Mr Seddon and Sir Joseph Ward and for years upheld by a majority of the electors of the district: The son had the advantage of Otago University and Knox College, which he still counts among his blessings.

THE FUTURE. Mr Hamilton docs not regard the present C.oalition Government merely as an expedient by which the difficulties besetting the Dominion may be alleviated and ultimately overcome. He is not professing to know more about tlic outlook than other people do; but he is hoping, whether he may be in office or not, that the experience of the last year or two, and the experience of the year or two to fame, w;ill awaken the ' electors, as well as the politicians, to the importance of making themselves acquainted with the gravity of the problems that still have to be solved. It is not sufficient, Mr Hamilton emphasises,, merely to find substenance for the “unemployed.” This is a necessity of the moment in many cases, but it is not necessary to be prolonged,’and towards permanent relief the Government, the public and the immediate!sufferers must be striving with unanimity and determination.