THE DUTY OF AN OPPOSIT ION

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 2737, 24 May 1924, Page 4

THE DUTY OF AN OPPOSIT ION

CONSTRUCTION NOT OBSTRUCTION.

The New Zealand Labour Party is putting befoi'e the electors a record compiled by Mr. Holland to show that the Liberal Party is unworthy of confidence because it has voted with the Government on many occasions, beginning- as far bade as 1918. This may convince those who arc .already convinced, but amongst thinking people such line of argument will “cut no ice’’. So long as the Liberal members can defend their votes on their merit it matters nothing who they voted with. This line of attack is due to the wrong idea which Mr. Holland’s party has of the duty of an oppositioin. The party bias is so strongly developed in it that its members think they should oppose the Government on practically every occasion. -This extreme attitude leads people to conclude that criticism from source is of no value ns being constantly over-weighted with prejudice. BRITISH PRIME MINISTER’S VIEW.

A short time ago Mr. Ramsey MacDonald contributed an article to the “Spectator” on “The purposes of an Opposition.” On that article a New Zealand journal wrote “While this contribution to political practice has a peculiar interest in Great Britain, it might be read with profit by the Opposition in New Zealand.” It is at least a lesson to the New Zealand Labour Party. Here is how Mr. MacDonald wrote: —“An ill-service was done to Parliament by Irish obstruction, but equally ill was the service done when leaders accepted the dictum that the duty of the Opposition is to oppose. That precious time of Parliament will be wasted and the lives of working members shortened bv sheer obstruction, generally silly though occasionally smart, and Government will lie less inclined to ride with a loose rein if partisan advantage is taken of tiie liberty given to private members I tlo not regard an Opposition as a section acting with partisan implacability and using Parliamentary opportunities to keep as empty as possible the cup of Government achievement and as fruitless as possible the hours spent at Westminister, and so scramble into office to be in turn thwarted by thickets of thorns thrown in its way; rather, I regard it as an cseutial part of the Parliamentary machine whose function is not at all so negative as its name would seem to imply, but which is part of the composite dvnamas from which legislation issues.”

It has been the practice of the Labour Party to spend most of its time in placing “thickets of thorns” in the way of the Executive Authority of the Dominion Both inside and outside of Parliament this; has been the course it has followed. We do not suggest that the Government should be immune from criticism but simply that exaggerated opposition which finds fault perpetually, makes sound constructive criticism the more difficult to apply. The Government has, from time to time to deal with very serious industrial problems, and it makes the difficulty to solution much greater, when a political party in opposition makes use of every occasion of difference to turn the industrial dispute into a political party issue for its own advantage. Here is an Opposition which does nothing hut oppose. It assumes always that the State’s employees arc in the right, even when, by striking, they stop the industry of the country, and that the constitutional authority is always wrong. The Liberal Party has avoided such methods of obstruction, bill we regret to find that its leader. .Mr. Wilfoi'd, in a statement on the railway dispute, adopted the purely party line of discussion. In face of such a serious situation as a. strike in connection with our most important State service, the railways, it was a time to place the country well before party and refrain from all opposition that was not helping towards a solution.

The idea that an Opposition’s sole duty is to oppose is a dangerous one for the Nation as it weakens the effectiveness of national criticism and must stiffen the powers in authority in such manner as may lead to the assumption of dictatorial defence. ■Whether. Government or Opposition, the same duty rests upon all parties that they shall place lhe Nation’s interest first and practice only such tactics as arc useful L.o that end. Party may he a good servant hut never whilst it is thinking only of its own advancement. (Contributed by Hie N.Z. Welfare League.)