COALITION.

Taranaki Daily News, 30 June 1915, Page 5

COALITION.

i —■ n ivtKMiKit wii.fj :m.s)Di-:u it. NATIONAL JIINISTRI- LIKELY. ,< AX i:.v:-:xii»iccTEi) SIOVK. ' ''.y •> .« < Wellington, La.,t Night. ' A rumor ill tin' intention - L li« I nnii! .Milliner to njake propo-.il-, for till- loriuntion of a imtiona] or coalition uovernmeiit luul been in circulation durthe. day, I"'t ninny members were i|iute unprepared ior the statement made by -Mr. Mas-ey at tlit- iijji»ni iifr' of the ewning's proceedings. The Prime Minn ister spoke with deliliciiiiion, ami it was apparent tliat )k; luul chosen hia words ..arciully. Tiip leader of the Opposition, who had received notice of what was going to be said onlv a few. minutes earlier, also spoke with evi* dent care. Ween the House rose ant hour and a hall' later, the member* -ath-i ered quickly in groups to discus what was regarded generally as a new situa* tio», but tliere was a notable disinelinaM tion on their part to express in other than very «en»ral terms. _ A prominent member of the Minister rial "arty, when approached 'by a re* prescntative l; f the New Zealand Times, said that he was sure the Ttefomi 'ocm* hers would loyally abide by anything 'hat their leader might decide to do. They had 110 wish to lose the ide.uity, of their own party, but the situation created by the war was without "irece-i dent, and he believed himself that thai country wonM like to see an end taj all possibility of party lighting during the period of the war. A well-known Liberal expressed iiiraself in much the same way. adding that only an Opposition representing a minority of the House could not be expected to give any lead to the leader of the House in a matter of the kind. "I listened to Mr. Massev vcv carefully," the member said, "and it appeared"to me that he made no definite proposition. He expressed" his willingness to confer,and it is his business to gu a little further." -m

The party loaders, Mr. -Mat-wv .ami f!ir Joseph Ward had nothing.' to add to what thoy had said 011 the door of the House. They indicated t!)nt. tho next step would have to ho taken in private, and that., in the meantime, they were not prepared to discuss publicly, the nossibilities and -probabilities of the coalition proposal. The reporter gather* ed an impression that neither party leader would move in a. hurry, and that Sir Joseph .Ward would wish to consult the members of his party before lie 'proceeded with any discussion of the dc J tails of Mr. Massey's suggestion. A good deal of discussion tool; place in the lobbies regarding the pree.isfi terms of the 'Prime 'Minister's '■ offer,'" to use a word to which exception was taken by some members. A careful perusal of Mr. M'assev'a remarks showed that he could scarcely be state<J to havo made an actual offer. What he did r.ay was that he was prepared to "discuss and consider favorably reasonable proposals" for the formation of a national Government and to confer with' the leader of the Opposition on the subject. The .reference to " reasonable proposals " caused some speculation in vievr of the obvious fact that the onus of making proposals lay upon the Priino Minister himself. • The concensus of opinion in the lob* bios to-night, appeared to be that some form of coalition Government was likely, to emerge from the discussion which tho party leaders will open during the next day or two, (lnit there was noticenblo a wide divergence of view as to the details of the arrangement and its ultimate effect upon the political life of thei dominion. Some of {he. more Radical members of the Opposition were frankly, anxious about the outlook. The Labor members were disinclined to talk about the new development until they had had time to consider the matter.