THE PRIME MINISTER

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 922, 15 March 1930, Page 8

THE PRIME MINISTER

Sir, — As one of the 90 per cent, of electors who believe that the present futility of State administration by proxy should be brought to a quick end, I was interested to read in The Sun last evening the excerpt from a Wellington paper calling upon Sir Joseph Ward to resign as a belated exercise of “his plain uuty to the country. All the arguments submitted by the “Evening Post” were unanswerable, but it is to be feared that its wisdom did not make full allowance for the power of vanity. And the outspoken journal, which has always been a good friend to the Prime Minister, ignored the consequences of a fulfilment of its logic. What would happen if Sir Joseph, whose persistent indisposition makes him head of the Government only in name, decided to resign? Would the country be called upon to suffer the crudities of administration by a team of Ministers that has not been able to play the administrative game without the energetic services of its experienced captain? Surely it cannot be pretended with any degree of reason that either Mr. Ransom 01

yj . Forbes or even 3»lr. Atmore "would be able to lead the country out of a political morass. They are worse than apprentices, because of their quaint conceit in imagining that they have nothing to learnBeyond any doubt at all. the resignation of Sir Joseph Ward is essential, but something more than that would he required to give the Dominion confidence in political service. In my opinion, what is wanted is the early dismissal of the rag-tag Government, followed by an emergency election for the purpose (perhaps a vain hope) of ridding Parliament of many members whom Mr. George Baildon possibly would call “duds.” The United Party is hopelessly bad, but is either of the other parties as constituted at present any better? Let’s have an election and separate the sheep from the goats. ELECTOR.