THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT PROPOSAL.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVII, Issue 1429, 27 July 1915, Page 2

THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT PROPOSAL.

Whii.k it would perhaps be inconecM in say that the National Government proposal has been “turned down" by the Opposition Parly, it is well known that amongst tire Liberal and Labour section of tire House of Representatives then; is a considerable body of opinion expressing itself as distinctly unfavourable to the suggested union of political forces, and the consequent cessation of party warfare, during the continuance of the war. The New Zealand Times, which, beyond question, has become the most virulent exponent of party politics in the Dominion, has assailed the proposal again and again, and on Thursday, in what most people would have been justified in accepting as an inspired article, it editoiially declared there would be “No Coalition,’’ and congratulated the Opposition upon “its disin teresled decision to decline the apparently flattering overtures” made to it by Mr Massey. In its news columns, however, it declared that, while a decision had been reached at the Opposition caucus meeting on Wednesday, neither the Leader of the Opposition nor Mr Massey were prepared to say anything upon the subject. It would seem, therefore, that the negotiations between the two leaders have not yet ended. There is, notwithstanding, a strongly defined feeling that the prospects of forming such a Government as that suggested by Mr Massey are becoming more and more remote. Whether the New Zealand Times speaks with authority or not remains to be seen, but the bitterly vindictive note apparent in all its criticisms of the Prime Minister’s action strengthens the impression that the last thing the Wellington Opposition journal desires to see is a National Government containing within its Cabinet the best men on both sides of the House. The attitude it has chosen to adopt all through the business is certainly not that of the Opposition press as a whole, because the Christchurch Opposition journal has all along taken the view that such a Government as Mr Massey suggests should be formed in the best interests of the country and the nation, so that the whole energies of our public men may be concentrated upon the business of the war, The New Zealand Times and its alter ego, the Napier Daily Telegraph, have between them done their best to make a coalition Government impossible, evidently preferring to cultivate the Party spirit and to continue the Party warfare, at the expense of those patriotic and unselfish motives that should be uppermost at the present time.