The Sun 42 WYNDHAM STREET AUCKLAND MONDAY, JANUARY IS, 1930 A DIVIDED PARTY

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 869, 13 January 1930, Page 8

The Sun 42 WYNDHAM STREET AUCKLAND MONDAY, JANUARY IS, 1930 A DIVIDED PARTY

MORE than once in the history of the United Party there have been whispers of internal dissension. Today those whispers are swelled to a loud clamour. Mr. A. E. Davy, in whose astute political brain the idea of the new party (as it was then) germinated, and through whose organising ability it became a practical growth, has made a public statement attacking the methods of the party leaders. The Prime Minister has, he claims, permitted the principal processes of government to be maintained by a small coterie which does not even include the full strength of the Cabinet. At the head of this coterie is the Prime Minister, whose instinct for the domination of his colleagues leads Mr. Davy to state that, until his illness, the Government was a “one-man” institution. In the Prime Minister’s ill-health the business of guiding the country’s affairs appears to have been monopolised by a small section of Cabinet Ministers. Mr. Davy lias refrained from stating who those Cabinet Ministers are. But close observers will be inclined to suspect that one of them, at any rate, is the Hon. G. W. Forbes. The Hon. Mr. Atrnore may be another, and perhaps Mr. Ransom is hovering on the fringe. It is not suggested that these Ministers, or those Ministers who are asserted to be reserving all rights and responsibilities to themselves, are doing so because they distrust or dislike their colleagues. It is much more probable that superficially the affairs of the Cabinet are proceeding in an atmosphere of harmony. But there is more than a question of personal contacts or individual enthusiasms concerned. There is also the vital question of succession. In support of his statements that the Government has failed through its internal weaknesses to execute the programme on which it successfully appealed to the country, Mr. Davy cites several deficiencies which have been evident for a long time. Quite soon after the return of the Government to office it became apparent to all who had not realised it before that the possibility of its fulfilling the promised miracles was remote. Not only have the election promises failed in several important directions to materialise —that is nothing new in politics here or elsewhere—but also the Government, mainly through its somewhat impetuous leader, has perpetrated a series of unpardonable solecisms, of which the attack on Mr. Downie Stewart’s so-called loan embargo and the release of the confidential “Vaile letter” are most conspicuous examples. Mr. Davy speaks with so much inside knowledge of happenings within the inner circle of Government that the Parliamentary directors of the party will undoubtedly find his sensational charges extremely difficult to evade. Sir Joseph Ward has already countered with a personal statement that adroitly avoids the major points at issue. But while some of the leaders of the party may be extremely embarrassed and angry, its lesser lights may welcome these disclosures. The unity of the United Party is not what it might be. Its ranks now contain disappointed men and exasperated men, and it is patent that behind Mr. Davy’s disclosure there is some sort of movement toward a rearrangement of forces. Mr. Davy is too astute a political observer to move without support, and it may be assumed that he has good grounds for believing that certain elements among both the Reform and the United Parties would welcome a fusion. Overtures toward a fusion of Reform and Liberal elements are not new. They have been made before, and they have failed before, principally because conservative elements in the Reform ranks have urged the preservation of the party outlines at all costs. Mr. Davy clearly believes, however, that there is a chance now for a readjustment of forces which will again give a moderate Reform opinion the deciding voice in the country’s government. He may be right; but if, on the other hand, the remnants of the United Party are embraced by Labour and widen that party’s appeal, the manoeuvre may only play into its hands.