The Manawatu Herald. Thursday, August 12, 1915. THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVII, Issue 1435, 12 August 1915, Page 2

The Manawatu Herald. Thursday, August 12, 1915. THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT.

Tiik people of New Zealand are to be congratulated upon the practical disappearance of Party politics as a result ot the formation of the National Government, which is to undertake the conduct of the affairs of State during the war. What appeared to be hopelessly impossible a week ago has been brought about by the good offices of His Kxcellency the Governor, who, at the moment when it appeared the Party Leaders were drifting still further apart, retrieved the situation by arranging a conference of the leading men on either side of the House. As a result of that conference, a clear understanding, on the give and take principle, was come to, with the eminently satisfactory result that the Prime Minister and the header of. the Opposition were enabled to announce, in the House on Wednesday last, that they had agreed to sink Party differences and to combine for the formation of a Government which should receive the united support of the country. Viewed from the purely Parly standpoint, there may be and are members on both sides of the House who regret the decision arrived at. There Is, of course, the danger that both parties will suffer as a result of the combination. But that is a very small matter iu view of the general feeling throughout the country that all other considerations should be made subservient to the good of the community as a whole. At a time such as the present, when the fortunes of the Empire are at stake, and we are confronted with perils the nature and full extent of which are as yet unrealised, it is essential that, on the main issues, there should be no difference of opinion, and that the best of our public men should be united in the endeavour to prosecute the war to the successful finish that is so ardently desired. The feeling is general that we need to strain every effort and to organise our forces and develop our resources in such a way that we shall be able to render the fullest possible assistance to the Imperial authorities in the fateful struggle that is now taking place in Europe. Matters of domestic concern must necessarily occupy a secondary ,

position until such time as the peril confronting us is averted. It is therefore quite in keeping with the necessity of the position that Reformers and liberals should combine to prevent any Party bickerings or disputes for National ascendency, that could only distract the attention of the nation from the supreme effort in which we are engaged, and which has lor its objective the preservation ol the liberties and rights o( the democracies, now imperilled by Germany’s idea of “kultur.” Sacrifices have had to be made on both sides to bring about the coalescing of the Parties, but these are, after all, ot small moment compared with the benefits secured in the promised immunity from internal dissensions. The one fiy in the ointment is the attitude of the Labour Party, which alone stands aloof, and maintains a wholly independent altitude.