MR. COATES' INDECISION

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 257, 22 June 1932, Page 4

MR. COATES' INDECISION

The decision of the Minister of Employment, Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates, to persist in his original intention of proceeding to the Ottawa Conference, will be even less favourably received at present than when the original announcement was made. A storr s of protest was aroused throughout the country when it was disclosed that the holders of the three most important portfolios in the Cabinet proposed to absent themselves from the country during a period of crisis, and it was only as a result of this protest, that the Prime Minister, Rt. Hon. G. W. Forbes, altered his intention and withdrew from the delegation. Simultaneously it was announced that Mr. Coates contemplated a similar withdrawal, but after a period of indecision, Mr. Coates has now apparently made up his mind to proceed with his original programme. It is not necessary to stress the disquieting urgency of unemployment prohlems at the present time — the weeldy unemployment statistics and the increasing muddle which is developing, are more than sufficient to do this. Mr Coates' responsibility, now more than at any time, lies at honie, and his action in transferring his responsibilities to other shoulders with matters in their present position, will not elevate him any higher in the opinion of an already critical public. A politician, as much as the humblest householder, should set his own house in order, before he proceeds elsewhero, and Mr. Coates has still a great deal to do before he has established order in the home. The gravity of the unemployment situation is increasing with each week, and Mr. Coates' first duty, as the responsible Minister, is in meeting that situation. As we have already pointed out, if New Zealand's case is pruperly prepared, the Minister of Finance, Hon. W. Downie Stevart, should be fully competent to represent this Dominion's views at the Ottawa Conference. In normal times, perhaps, the larger delegation might have been excused, if not justified, but these are not normal times, and Mr. Coates, before any other, should be the first to recognise this fact.