THE POLITICAL CRISIS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 1093, 13 January 1912, Page 3

THE POLITICAL CRISIS.

THE PRIME MINISTER’S manifesto. NEWSPAPER COMMENTS. We believe that the course which Sir Joseph Ward has now adopted, in asking the Governor to convoke Parliament at an early date, will meet with the approval of all sections and political parties throughout the Dominion. Between the Labour programme and the Liberal policy there is a difference, but it is one of degree and not oi character. Between Labour and Masaeyism, on the other hand, the difference is inherent and essential. It may be premature to suggest —as one of the leading Conservative papers in Australia, discussing the New Zealand elections, has already suggested—that “ the old Liberal-Labour alliance, under which the workers have gained many concessions and advantages, will be eventually revived,” for the Labour Party is not yet a distinct political factor here as it is in Australia, nor is there yet any clear line of cleavage between Labour and Liberalism. But this much is certain : That if, or when, Mr Massey takes office, he will find arrayed against him the whole of that section of the people which takes as its test of legislation the interest of the democracy, and no true Liberal need be apprehensive about the result of such a struggle.—Auckland Star.

The Auckland Herald says : We have never doubted that Sir Joseph Ward would act in defeat with a dignity worthy of his office and compatible with the part he has taken in Imperial councils. No statesman of repute and standing who found that a general election had shattered his party, aud placed iu a minority those pledged to support him, could cling to place iu defiance of constitutional practice and clearly-defined public opinion. To the Leader of the Opposition every day is momentous, not because he is In an unseemly hurry to take office, but because, alter the Ward Administration is defeated upon a vote of want of confidence, there will be a very great amount of work to be done by a new Administration, if it is to meet Parliament iu June with a definite policy aud an adequate programme. That Sir Joseph Ward w'll be defeated very speedily afier the House meets is only questioned by those politicians who would have clung lo office in defiance of public opinion until the last moment they could contrive. When Mr Massey has formed his Administration, and has presented his proposals to a reassembled Parliament, we do not hesitate to say that they will be found .commendable by every section of the community which desires equity and progress. The Dunedin Evening Star says ; Having regard to the rather difficult circumstances, it cannot reasonably be contended that Sir Joseph Ward has waited too long iu coming to a decision to summon Parliament to meet iu the middle of February. Even now, he confidently believes that he will be able to command a majority, small though it may be, iu the House of Representatives, and we entertain a shrewd idea that this confidence will be justified ; but, be this as it may, he will gain, aud . not lose, in Parliament as well as in the country by lacing the position boldly.