THE NEW " REFORM."

Kaipara and Waitemata Echo, 18 February 1914, Page 2

THE NEW " REFORM."

IT was bound to come and the wonder is that it did not come sooner after the triumphant settlement of the big strike. That event gave the cue to the Massey party to claim all moderate men for their side in resolute opposition to red labour which is anarchy and revolution under the guise of industrial war. It is the strongest card in the Massey hand. All the rest are weak becauase they represent their own criticism of the Liberal policy and methods which they have partly accepted and partly failed to better. But the position they occupy, thanks to their treatment of the strike, is above and beyond such a level of politics. It concerns the very essence of government before which all issues pale that are purely partisan. The Liberals are alive to the fact and they have begun to attempt a re-organisation of the old Liberal-Labour alliance on lines cutting out the red feds and giving the sanity of labour its fair share of honours and power. The concession is late in the day and therefore does not tempt Labour. Moreover the sentiment of Labour is for a separate Labour Party dominating the field and when victory comes to any alliance it may conclude, becoming a Labour Government on the Australian plan. It is a demand that the Liberal side shall efface itself and bow down before the better part of Labour. Thirdly there is the drawback that even the sanest workers retain the strike as the organisation which has for its object " direct action." This section under the Hon. J. T. Paul and Mr McLean ex-M.P., has issued a. manifesto designed to clear the air by the denouncement of red fedism as anarchistic and revolutionaryBut without the further development of the plank of the new programme which pronounces the constitutional Parliamentary method superior to direct action, a development right on to the rejection of the strike in toto as a weapon of war industrial or political, the manifesto is not likely to impress Liberal minds, or satisfy Liberal aspirations. As Labour is obstinate not to say fanatic on these lines, the furture of the Ward interest in politics becomes very doubtful. The consequence is that the appeal Mr Massev is now prosecuting throughout the country districts on the lines of the two party system—Labour and the New Liberals, namely the ex-reformers plus the old Liberals —is likely to meet with success.