THE POLITICAL DEADLOCK.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXV, Issue 301, 18 December 1914, Page 4

THE POLITICAL DEADLOCK.

The Wellington Government organ, writing in somewhat chastened mood, on the political deadlock, arrives at the following very reasonable summary

of tlie situation; “In the circumstances two courses are open: compromise or dissolution. Under ordinary conditions a dissolution would be the more satisfactory method of settling the difficulty. But the circumstances are not ordinary. Ibe country does not want another General Election, and if it can be possibly avoided then most people will j he duly grateful. At first sight any working arrangement between! the Massey and the Ward Parties might seem impossible of adjustment, but the only real obstacle is a certain bitterness of party feeling and the pronounced antagonism of a few extremists. We have pointed out for the past two years that there are many men in the Ward Party much more in sympathy with the Reform Party’s policy and programme than they are with the ideas of the extremists attached to their own side in politics. Sir John Findlay emphasised this point early in the present year. The only real difference between these members of the Ward Party and the Reform Party is the •label which they attach to themselves. It is inevitable that if some readjustment of party division is not made now it must route within the next year or two. Sir Joseph Ward himself must see this. Tire LaborSocialist Party is attaching to itself the extreme Radical element which formerly supported the Liberal Party while the moderates of the old Liberal Party are gradually drifting towards Reform.”