WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, 10 August 1916, Page 7

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

CABINET RULE* A NECESSITY ol< THE WAR. (From Our Own Correspondent). Wellington, August 7. 'Parliament lias made the usual .haste under the customary pressure from the Cabinet during the closing days of the session. Oil Friday night, between 7.30 and 9,30, while the Prime Minister and the Minister of 'Finance were attending tlie Declaration Day celebrations, a dozen or so local iiills were rushed through the House witli lightning rapidity, and when the two leaders took their seats after the supper adjournment the Bill providing for the postponement of the next general election for a year in consequence of the war waj brought up for its second _ reading. This measure had been considered in caucus by both ■parties, and it was known that it would be larried Mirough all its stages by substantial majorities, but it was expected that the division on the second reading would be c.loser than it was, and that more of the Reform members would have supported their vote with their voice. They seem, however, to have preferred leaving the talking to the party leaders, who made a strong point of the grave responsibilities resting upon the National Cabinet and of -the importance of avoiding the distractions and turmoil of a general election at such a time. 'PRINCIPLE AND EXPEDIENCY. No doubt Sir Joseph Ward'* pointed allusions to the big financial operations in which the Government .was engaged—operations, of course, forced upon it by the war—made a greater impression upon the House than did the Prime Minister's .appeal on behalf of the absent soldiers. The Minister of Finance farnkly recognised that the postponement would be a matter of expediency and not a matter of principle. He would be •'deadly opposed to delaying the election in normal times," he said, but at the present time he believ'ed "the best interests of the country and the Empire" demanded the postponement. He also could claim to be consistent, which perhaps Mr. Massey could not. Sir Joseph Ward, it will be remembered, strongly urged the postponement of the election of 1914. while the Prime Minister insisted, as Mr. Witty reminded him on Friday night, that from "the diplomatic point of view," "the people's. point of view" and the "constitutional point of view," it should be held at the usual time. Mr. Massey was quite candid over the change in his own "point of view," and the House cheerfully forgave him for the sake of his candour, QUID PEC) QUO. The passage of the Parliamentary Elections Postponement Bill made the way of the Legislative Council Bill through the House easy, and though Dr. Newman .was speaking more than halfhumorously when he described one Bill as a "quid pro quo" for the other—a sort of mutual life assurance arrangement—he (}id not very extravagantly burlesque the - position. Something of the same kind has been going on between the two Houses of the Imperial Parliament, the Lords holding up the measure extending the life of the Commons till the Commons passed the "Conscription Bill." But the war provides no excuse for postponing the first election of members of the Council to 1921 or for maintaining nominated members in their seats till 1924. It was in 1910 that Mr. Massey added an elected Legislative Council to his lighting platform, and two years later that he obtained authority to put the reform into operation; but not till the end of 1924, fourteen years after the initial step, will he redeem his promise. His refusil to accept Mr. McCombs' amendment, which would have made the whole of the members elective in 1921, has strengthened the general impression that the National Cabinet is not particularly bent oa reforming the Council along the linos of the measure it has just placed upon the Statute Book. It has left itself with a good five years to think the matter over. THE PARTY TRUCE. Now that the Labor Party has definitely announced its intention to contest the Pahiatua seat rendered vacant by the death of Mr. Eseott, it may be as well to explain how the party truce bears upon this election. The mention of the names of Mr. R. B. Boss, a former Liberal representative of the district, and Mr. J.D. Matthews, the Liberal candidate at the last general election, in connection with the seat, has led several southern newspapers to express a hope that the Liberal party will allow no violation of the compact made between the. parties at the time the National Cabinet was formed. These journals need not worry themselves. Mr. Matthews, who_ considering all the circumstances, made an excellent show against the late member in 1914, will observe the compact just as scrupulously as lie would if it were his own bond. Mr. Ross is in a rather' different position. He owes no personal allegiance to the Liberal Party, and as he has announced himself as an "Independent," the party cannot expect to control his actions. It .will do its best, however, to dissuade liim from what is stated to be his present purpose and to keep the field clear for'the Reform aendidatc. The Labor Party did not subscribe to the compact, and,"of course, is in no way bound by its 'conditions. It is perfectly free to take what part it pleases in the elec- | tioii.