“PULL TOGETHER.”

Putaruru Press, Volume VII, Issue 279, 14 March 1929, Page 4

“PULL TOGETHER.”

“We want to pull together,” said Sir Joseph Ward at Gisborne. “We want Reform, United and Labour working with each other. We want mutual , trust and forbearance, and not each at the other’s throat.” Australian history reveals one or two remarkable examples of the skill of a minority party in aligning (more or less) two other stronger parties, and in holding for a considerable period the reins of Government, by virtue of dexterous manipulation. New Zealand, however, is new to this kind of three-party management, and though Sir Joseph Ward’s party may be numerically not the weakest but the strongest of the three the task before him is sufficiently difficult. In any political situation where the gap in principle between the Opposition Eight and jthe Opposition Left is greater than between the Opposition Right and the Government of the day that Government may rely sometimes on the Right, sometimes on the Left, to pull it through a tight corner. It is conceivable that either the Right or . the Left may see fit in turn to be the Government’s wooden leg, but it is hard to picture them both acting co-operatively as a pair of stilts. Nevertheless, Sir Joseph’s optimism and conciliatory attitude are refreshing, and the average opinion in this country seems to be altogether sympathetic with a veteran statesman’s attempt to create a majority (even if not always the same majority) in a House that numerically lacks one. Wellington Post'. : *i. 5 : ;'/