THE NEW GOVERNMENT AND ITS FUTURE.

Kaipara and Waitemata Echo, 10 July 1912, Page 2

THE NEW GOVERNMENT AND ITS FUTURE.

The party that has kept together so long under Mr Massey may be trusted to hold together long enough to give him a good innings. Moreover it is plain that of the men who went over to the Massey ites from the Government side only Mr Millar and Mr Clark are unlikely to susport Mr Massey, j while of the other side Mr R. McKenzie is the only doubtful man but he is not likely evidently to go over at any time. When Mr Herries gets back and Mr Ngata, the numbers will give the Masseyites their present eight of a majority with the possibility of losing Millar and Clark at any moment. But there are signs that the narrowed majority in this event will be reinforced before long from the Liberal side. Esj pecially from the northern section j becausd that section was offended i deeply by the selection of so many i Canterbury members for the Cab- | met. To begin, four was a nuraj ber outrageous, even had they all been heaven-born ministers. But as only one of the four had any ! raal ability—we refer to Mr Rus- : sell—the dungeon of the other ; provinces, and especially the North, was very high- That sei lection so disproportionate to the merits of the favoured district I sealed the fate of the Cabinet i who-e bonds were immediately converted to ropes of sand to be blown away by the mere breath j of a hostile motion. The Massey- | ites had nothing to do but wait for the Liberals to finish talking ; feeling no need for attacking the ! already dead. No party ever sat I through a no-confidence debate ' ! with such cool silence as the Mas- ■ seyite party, and none ever went through a debate of crucial character with so much panic and dis- I inclination for fighting as the | Liberals. Why it was almost at j { the point of the bayonet that they j ! were brought up to the front at! ; all. From all which it will be ; 1 evident that the pendulum had l

swung far enough, round to give the Reformers possession at all events, till the end of the present Parliament.

MR MASSEY AND THE FUTURE It is remarkable that in the following of Mr Massey there was recorded on division the name of but' one labour member—Mr Rhodes who defeated the Rev Mr Taylor at the previous general election, Labour is not in favour with the majority of the Dominion firstly because of the wildness of the sydicalists who have arranged the Waihi fiasco and are perpetually bragging of their determination to ar~ lange the whole work] on the same terms : and secondly because the balance of Labour has shown undesirable sight o£ an aggressiveness which may develope at any moment into something not very different from the syndacilisni which lias turned the public mind against ladour. The victory of Mr Massey then opens the road to a union of the moderate men who united must be strong and in continued unity must be the rulers of the Dominion. Moderate men moreovei are the only ones over likely to solve the problems of the day because they tackle them with dispassionate enterprise and judicial zeal not in the spirit which declares every nostrum an infallible remedy and regards every situation from the fighting point of view. Of the later attitude with its supporting wealth of polemic illustra* tion the Dominion public is sick and tired. It hates the notion of being forced to fight whenever and whereever somebody else chooses. It is tired of the light hearted breach of solemn agreements, and weary ->f the constant sounding of the industrial tocsin and the never ceasing threat of stopping the wheels of industry, Labonr has all along the line challenged the majority to a struggle for the mastery and the majority has under the present circumstances some hope of finding a modus for asserting its due preponderance for the general benefit. It may be under Mr Massey or it may require some other cheif more fit for the diplomatic work of welding men together into compact masses good for battle in the spirit of great enterprises.