WELLINGTON NOTES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 318, 18 June 1915, Page 8

WELLINGTON NOTES.

THE POLITICAL POSITION. (From Our Own Correspondent.) Wellington, June 10. Unpleasant forebodings of a prolongation of the election contest were aroused this afternoon by a telegram from Tauuiarui reporting that Mr. Joining's, majority had been reduced to 48, with 08 absentee votes to come. But the Chief Electoral Officer stated that the? ; figures, distributed by the Press Association, wero inaccurate, and that the Liberal candidate's majority, with the absentee votes uncounted, Was 149. jt may be taken for granted, therefore, that the Taumaruni seat has been held by the Opposition, and that the relative strength of the parties must be reckoned accordingly. The Government's nominal majority is two, counting the member for the Northern Maori Electorate as a supporter of the Ministry, and this will be reduced to one when the Speaker is elected. TAU HEN ARE. i What is Mr. Tau Henare going to do ? He holds the key to' the situation, for without his support the Ministry has no majority at all, and his public utterances ever since the general election have been studiedly non-committal. Your correspondent put a question lo the Prime Minister on the subject today, and received an emphatic assurance thafMr. Henare could bo regarded as a firm supporter of the lleforni party. Mr. Massev's statement was quite definite, and may be taken as a plain indication that, in the opinion of the Ministers, the native member is pledged to vote with the (iovernment on a crucial division. Information that comes from other quarters points in the same direction, and one may assume fairly confidently, I think, that Mr. Henare is to be counted as a Ministerial supporter. Mr. F. W. Lang will be nominated again for the Speakership, according to current report, and the Government will be in a position then to command a majority of one vote on a want-of-confldence motion. It should be remembered that under th. l . peculiar circumstances the Ministry would be justified in refusing to accept defeat upon a "catch division" of the kind that Whips can secure on occasions. THE OPPOSITION'S ATTITUDE. Speculation regarding the attitude ci' the Opposition when Parliament meets I can rest only on a very slender foundation. Sir Joseph Ward has refused, so far, to say anything at all on the subject, and it is common knowledge that opinion is divided within the Opposition, which includes the Labor members as Well as the Moderate Liberals, for whom the Ministerialists have a rather kindly eye. Probably Sir Joseph will remain silent until after he has met the members of his party in Wellington next

| week, and make his first public reference j to the state of parties from his place :in the House of Representatives. But i your correspondent is disposed to hazard a guess that there will be 110 want-of-eoniidence motion, and that, if the Government comes a little way to meet the Opposition, there will be 110 factious party fighting during the coming sessii ». Neither side wants to present to tha world the spectacle of a British comnuMity engaged in a local squabble while tlu; Empire is fighting for its very existence. Nor does either side want to risk creating necessity for another general election. One gathers that the disposition of the party leaders, as well as of the rank and file, is towards conciliation, and surely there is enough ability in the Parliament of New Zealand to find tne path of political peace at "The present juncture. VACANT SEATS. The members of both parties will have a daily reminder of the stupendous struggle, that is taxing the nerves and ' the resources of the whole Empire, for i there will be vacant seats in the Chamber. llr. T. E. Y. Scddon and Mr. I)n\y - nie Stewart have enlisted, and will begin their period of training at Trentham camp early next month. They may be able to give the House a glimpse, of khaki when an evening's leave is granted them, and if so there will be a certain element of humor—humor of the kind Britons like—in the exercise of the dual function of private soldier and Member of Parliament. But for the most pa>-t the seats of the two members will be empty, while their late occupants prepare to argue weightier matters than the fate of Bills, or even of Ministers. The example of the two members may be followed by other legislators. Mr. Massey mentioned to your correspondent to-day that lie believed some additional "war pairs'* might be m|uii"d. That the members 'of the House of Representatives should engage in a party struggle under these, conditions is scarce- . ly thinkable.