AGREEMENT UNLIKELY

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 8, 1 September 1931, Page 3

AGREEMENT UNLIKELY

("Post Special Commissioner.)

COMMITTEE, S WORK LABOUR WILL TAKE STAND AGAINST OTHER * PARTIES. DANGER OF POSTPONEMENT.

WELLINGTON, Monday. The investigations of the InterParty Economic Committee are proeeeding steadily and it is not likely that anything tangible will emerge "from effher its researches or delibera- " tions for atUeast two weeks. Even then the hope" of a definite plan of action to meet the depression is a small one indeed. Judging by the statements made by representatives of the different parties in the .House, there is practically no chance of unanimity and the best that may be hoped for is a majority report. There is no reason why United and Reform should not agree on a common policy, because there is little or no differeneerbetween the two parties, but Labour stands for a definite platform which is contrary to the orthodox proceedure of economy which seems to be the gospel of the antiSocialistie'forces. It is evident therefore that soon after the hearing of ' evidence has been completed the committee will eneounter obstacles in the path of unanimous progress and we may respect the final issues to he carried on to the floor of the House.

Labour Versus the Rest. The next step then will be arraignment of the Government and the Official Opposition against the Labour Party, and speculation is rife at present on the possibilities of an antiLabour f usion. There is no doubt that the fusion issue has receded for a time into the background, but it is as alive to-day as ever it was, and one of the influences bringing about its rescusitation has been the formation of a National Government in England. The general feeling is that thfe three-party system is not eonducdve to stable political eontrol, and there seems. to be no doubt that the only obstaele against an amalgamation of United and Reform in New Zealand is Reform's ambitious hope that it might annihilate a discredited Government at the polls and go in office again. Whether their hope is basically sound is a moot point,. because no one yet has been able to gauge the mind of the great silent majority when the ship of State is sailing through uncertain seas. Election Postponement. Should the anti-Labour parties evolve a eommon plan, it is obvious that the postponement of the general election will he one of the issues raised on the floor of the House. No other inferenee could be drawn from the statements made in the House luring the dxscussion on the Licensing Poll Postponement Bill. The Prime Minister made his position clear. "I believe the position is sufficiently serious," he said, "for the House to throw aside any consideration or anything else, the country's difficulties are so acute that they can only be dealt with satisf actorily by a National Government. Later he re-affirmed in definite terms his opinion that the election would have to be postponed ;f the work of the Economic Committee were to be brought to fruition. When drawn into the fray Mr. Coates said: "Much depends at the moment upon the findings of the Economic Committe and the support the Labour Party gives to the findings. If we can agree so much the better. If the plan that comes from the committee is, in our opinion, the right one, then we have got to live up to it. If, in »the opinion of the Labour, Reform and United Parties it is the -dght thing, then we have got to see it through." In answed to an interjection whether he was prepared to consider the postponement of the general election in the light of the report of the committee, he replied in the affirmative.

Majority Report. As there is little hope of a unanimous decision" from the committee, and as it is practically certain that there will be a majority report, which will outline a rehabilitation plan aecording to the opinions of its sponsor, it naturally follows, in view of the opinions expressed in the quotations we have just made, that the postponement of the people's right to review the personnel bf the House of Representatives will be one of the eminent questions to be decided before Parliament is prorogued. A Grave Danger. The danger of the course cannot be stressed too strongly. It has long been the privilege for Parliament to sit as judge and jury in its own case so far as matters of policy are concerned, but when it comes to an alteration in the constitutional r'ights of the people that privilege disappears The present Parliament was elected in fair weather, the Government owes its position to the personality of a man who has passed away, and so far the fair weather Parliament has not shown the aptitude for me.eting the economic blizzard which the people are entitled to and which they expect. It has been said that a person should not swop horses in the middle of a stream, hut if the horses are going to plunge him into a watery grave he would he a lunatic if he did not take the risk. ,