Political Suspense

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 512, 15 November 1928, Page 10

Political Suspense

WARD MINISTRY PROBABLE

Reform Holds Key of Position

(Written for THE SUE) 'THE defeat of the Government and the failure of the 1 country to return any party with a Parliamentary majority produces an interesting situation. The resignation of the Government is inevitable and if the Reform Party is welladvised it will accept its notice to quit promptly and with as much philosophy as it can command, in face of such an emphatic verdict from the general body of electors.

TN the circumstances Mr. Coates has no alternative but to resign, and advise his Excellency the GovernofGeneral to send for Sir Joseph Ward, who in the ordinary course of events would be asked to form a Ministry. In view of the fact that a United Party administration can only hold office on sufferance and with the support of political opponents, Sir Joseph is faced with a very knotty problem. iiOK

Any decision he maj' arrive at will only be reached after careful consideration, and as the result of diplomatic inquiry as to the probable attitude of the Reform Party. So many of Sir Joseph Ward’s supporters cannot associate themselves with the Labour Party, that any agreement with Mr. Holland is unlikely. Besides, if the tail is going to wag the dog, it is undesirable that it should be a labour tail; the attitude of the country is unmistakable on the subject of Labour.

A Ward Ministry should not be expected to meet Parliament till after the holidays. Sir Joseph is entitled to reasonable time to form his Cabinet and decide upon his administrative policy, but he must submit both to the approval of the House at an early date, and the test will probably come early in February, when the House should be asked to vote supplies. By that time the logic of events will have convinced the Reform Party that, as the country does not want it, it can best serve the public interest by allowing the Ward Government to carry on as long as It does not propose anything revolutionary or dangerous.

Consequently Mr. Coates, who, if he retains the leadership of the Reform Party, will be the Leader of the Opposition in the new Parliament, is not likely to oppose the granting of supplies or to move a vote of noconfidence.

Should Mr. Holland feel called upon to do so, the Reformers would not follow him into the lobby, and the Ward Government would be respited and authorised to carry on until June, when Parliament will again meet in the ordinary course. Summed up, the indications point to the advent of a Ward Government, with the restricted powers that are inevitable In the absence of a party majority. Whether it will last three years, or whether a crisis will be precipitated through the efforts of the tail to wag the dog to the point of discomfort and exasperation, time only will show. The writer’s view is that, as the country has demanded a change from Reform, the Reformers should go cheerfully into opposition for the next three years, and work patriotically and disinterestedly through the instrumentality of the United Party for the good of the Dominion. ONLOOKER.