The Daily News THURSDAY, APRIL 23. A THIRD POLITICAL PARTY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 104, 23 April 1908, Page 2

The Daily News THURSDAY, APRIL 23. A THIRD POLITICAL PARTY.

We liiivu already remarked Unit every . man is liorii eiliier "a liulo lib ' ••ral or a mile conservative"- - U a political niiiml-1 ilti-i - or a go lorwarditi'—iiml upon ibis distinct mitiiriil illusion 01 di-po-iiiou our whole constitutional system is based. When, in IS'.H, as a delegate from -New Zealand to .1 Federal convention, tin; Kite Sir George Grey visited Sydney, representatives 01 Labor waited upon niui to ventilate their grievance.-, lie told ilium they held | llii' remedy in their own hands. Why I did they mil return Labor nienilier.s 10 ! Parliament? The expression of this idea u.i- the initiation ot the Labui member movement in Australia. la tie' meantime. Sir Gcorgi—rightly or wrongly, distrusted by both '|iiil'ilie.\i parlies- had taken steps to bring into existence a Labor party in this colom.oi which In- eonlidemiy looked forward to being the generally-accepted leader.

Tilings, however, did not go perfectly straight for him as he anticipated. The present Agout-C-cneral (the Hon. \Y. P. Reeves) was chosen leader, and under him Labor made alliance with the Liberal party. It was through that alliance that tlie Factories Act, the Seamen ami Shipping Act, the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act—which Labor is now doing its best to destroy—and other important measures, designed to alleviate the condition of the worker, liecauic law. A/cry great, deal of time and much close attention lias bfeu d.vutcd by our legislators to the consideration of labor questions; the benefits derived by Labor have been immense, and all the while the Parliamentary machine has worked constitutionally, without a hitch. In the Parliament, as in the country of this Dominion, there arc still the two parlies—the go-forwards and the do-nothings.

In the Alolherlaud (he greatest deliberative assembly in the world is still divided bv the two great natural parties the LiU'ials and the Tories—but in between them lias jutted the Nationalists. Also, an insignificant party of Labor nienilier.s. divided again by ists. has in quite recent years made ill appearance. It has been written of the Nationalists—and it can be readily understood, not without justification --- that I hey take not the slightest interest, in foreign relationships or i" any legislative measure designed to affect conditions existing in England, Scotland, or Wales: they are men with one idea; (heir Parliamentary existence has one object only: they are not legislators ai all in ihc true sense of the word. Neither Nationalists. Labor members, nor Socialists have been able to materially affect the working of party government, the constituencies having hitherto always returned one or the other of l\v. great parties of the State sufficient in strength to enable legislative work to go"forward without aid and independent of any resistance that might be offered by the smaller combinations. There miiy come a tTme, of course, and possibly it is near, when in Kngland the Liberal'.- and the Tories may be so nearly equal in numerical strength that lhpresence of a third and a fourth party .seeking- to dictate terms in the legislature mav prove a great danger to Cue successful working of constitutional government. In all the States of Australia the Lalxu- party has appeared as a disorganising agency, an ever-threat-ening peril swaying the balance so tli.it when Parliament is in so-sion the existence of the Government is never as. sured for a day.

Government iim-t be carried oil. A cardinal principle of the constitutional system is that if the Opposition succeeds in cau-ing an administration to abandon ollice. it uiust lie ready with another administration to take ils place. A Government there must be, and the cajiacitv to liinl ii Government is a constilioiial responsibility resting 11)1011 an Opposition at all times. Hut then' is a third party-Nationalist in England. Labor in Hie'colonic—that cannot hope at anv lime I" form a Government capable of carrying "u the adinini-l.alio.i o! ;i Gail- for a day: a parly untrammelled wilh cuu-lilioiml ic.-ponsibili.. and only powerful to destroy; a pane that is. in short, a political anachronism. In (Queensland recently the operations of the third party'have bee'i paralysing, leading to much loss of valuable time, a deal of anxiety and trouble, anil a large expense. In the Federal Parliament the irresponsible Labor parly, through some silly business, has led to Australia losing the leadership of one of the ablest public men that has appeared for many years.

in this colony attempts have been made from time to time to bring into existence what is called an "independent" Labor party—"independent'' in the sense that it i- to \k allowed to act without being middled with constitutional respmisbilitie.s. .Not all of these attempts have cmiic under the public notice. The country wa., to be expected to surrender into the hands of one or two individuals Uic power to destroy ailniinisi rations whenever the lit took them, whilst they—like the boy who set the haystack on lire—ran laughingly away. The men ivhu have engineered these cll'orts have been consumed with uiiscllislmcss, yet, unknown to themselves, they may have cherished the idea that when a Labor party was brought into jiower they might rise to the dig nity of leaders of men and controllers of destinies. The right to combine for political purposes is not here disputed; it is Ihe impolicy of going outside (lie ranks of the two great, natural and responsible parties that is here condemned. In -New Zealand Labor has used tin- Liberal party and done so with entire success; in Australia Labor has acted as a third, an "independent," a diitinetly class parly, and has only suc- '" b'd iii being mischievous and confuting. It is to be hoped that the goo.i sense of the electors will lead them to strenuously put their feet down upon every attempt made to bring into exist once a third political partv in this country.