WELLINGTON TOPICS

Taihape Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 3390, 20 January 1920, Page 5

WELLINGTON TOPICS

THE LIBERAL-LABOUR PARTY,

MEETING OF MEMBERS.

Special Correspondent.) _. WELLINGTON, Jan‘. 19.

Considerable interest is 'being. displayed in the meeting of the» membe-rs of the Liberal-Labour Party to be held here o-n Wednesday next. The Old' title of Liuberal~La,bour can be properly applied to the party because Mr Veitch, the member for Wanganui, Mr S. G_ Smith, the «member for Tairanaki and Mr E. Keill-ett, the member for Dunedin North, three Labour members who refuse to be pledge-bound ands caucus ru-Led really stand where the more progressive section of the Lib eral ‘Party did under Mr Se-ddon, cooperating with the Liberals and inspiring much of the advanced legislation the combination placed on the Statute Book. Mr Robert Masters, the new member for Stratf-ol'd_,' also contessted the election. as .a LiberalLabour lcandidlate and judging from tihetreports of his -stpe-echos it will not be for lack of sympathy with the Wol'k. ers aspirations if he is not closely associated; with the Radical section of the party in the House-.

THE’ LEADERSHIP. It is being taken for granted in political cii-cles that the Hon, W.. D. S. MacDonald will be the new leader of the party. Mr MacDonald acted as leader during the absence of Sir Joseph Ward at the Peace Conference and, though the existence of the “party truce” and his punctilious ob—servance of the terms of the compact much restricted his field of activity, his tact and lgeniality and his consistent loyalty to his abseint chief impress ed his political opponents and political friends -alike. It is interesting to recall now, What was an open secret at the time, that he was the leader Sir Joseph Ward himself would have chosen in 1912 ‘had he not left his supporters untrammelled in the selection of his successor. There would not be much profit in speculating as to what might have ha.ppe-ned had Mr MacDonald filled the place assigned to Sir Thomas Mackenzie during the crisis that terminated in Mr Masseys’ accession to office, but there are people who think this particular page_ of the Domirnion’s political history would have told a very different tale THE PARTY’S PROSPECTS.

I An ana.lyssi»s- of the figures of the recont general election suggest that the [condition of the Libei-al'P-arty is not as p-arlous as the- members of the Re form and Labour parties would make. ‘it out to be, or, indeed, as its own friends were inclined to think in their ‘first realisation of defeat. The Beform_Party, even after including all Mr Maslseyfs old friends who professed» a measure of qualified independence during the election campaign, nucmlbe-r no more than forty-.fou,r, which, with long of its members in the chair, will give it a working majority of only ten ’or twelve in the House, whichever way the doubtful Maori ‘votes go_ Had in-ot Canterbury after nearly thirty [years of almost unanimous Liberalrism texchange-d three Liberals for threeReformers and lost another Libcrral seat by the distappearancc of the Sclwyn constituency ,the -election would have left Mr Massey with th.e very narrowest margin of the European members of the House beihind h.im and he would have been able to carry on only by the grace of his opp'onent.s. .».. , THE OPPOSITION. ' But taking the figures as they are ’and not conjuring with them as they lnright have been, it is. obvious that Mr Massey has a majority large enough to -ensure hinl in the possession of the Treasury Benches during the life of the present Parliament, provided he ‘commits no egregious blunders of pol- I ‘icy or administration. But the Oppo"sition, assuming the Libera.l—Labo.ur Party and the Oflicial Labour Party work in some measure of ncighbourly gharmony and Mr Holland and his friends eschew their short cuts. to the millenium, will be a very capable and active one. It has not a monopoly of, the debating power of the House, but it {has a distinct advantage over the other side in this respect, and in the Hon. .4. M.. Myers it has the most capable financier sitting in the Drese-nt Parliament, an asset that will count for a great deal when finance must loom very large in the programme of the G~oVerllnlent. Altogether the Opposition is promised many opportunities of very useful service.