WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, 4 February 1918, Page 6

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

LIFE OF PARLIAMENT. FURTHER PROLONGATION* (Special Correspondent.) \ Wellington, Feb. 1. Though it is taken for granted that among the proposals to be submitted to Parliament next session will lie one for prolonging the life of the House of Representatives for another year, from the end.of 1918, that is till the end of 1913, the prospect is regarded with anything hut approval in many quarters. Eveii people who are averse to plunging the country into the turmoil of a general election during' the continuance of the war realise that a very great strain will be placed upon the patience and loyalty of the constituencies by suspending for two years on end a fundamental principle of popular representation. Those who hold that the war, instead of providing an excuse for disfranchising a large proportion of the people, furnishes an additional reason for keeping Parliament in close touch vvith public opinion, are unsparing in their denunciation of the interference with the electoral provision of the constitution. A VIGOROUS INDICTMENT - The New Zealand Times, writing editorially in its news columns, an American practice which lends a certain measure of freedom to the writer's style, does not deign to argue about the matter. It simply scarifies the politicians who were responsible for the postponement last year, and who, it assumes, will be responsible for a further postponement this year. Ministers, it says, are afraid to meet the electors, and private members are only anxious to postpone the day of reckoning. No Government could do less towards winning the war than tne present Government has done. The questions of food exploitation, war efficiency, internment of enemy aliens, the settlement of soldiers, the treatment of the wounded, all have been bungled and worse. The Liberal members of Parliament are as bad as the, Reform, perhaps a littlo worse on account of their betrayal of the principles of their party. ELECTION IN WAR TIME. To all this is added tTie contention that the objections being urged against a general election in war time are merely part and parcel of the conspiracy between Ministers and private members to keep themselves in office without reference to the people. Australia and Canada, it is pointed out, have had general elections since the great struggle becr.in, "with most excellent results," and there is every reason why New Zealand should follow their admirable example. Of course both Ministers and private members strongly resent the assumption that tney wish to avoid an appeal to the constituencies in their own personal interests. Most of them, it may be safely said, are perfectly honest i'n their reiterated assertion to the contrary. They are well aware, as every outside observer ought to be. that at an election held during the course of the war the popular reluctance to change horses while crossing a stream would operate wholly in their favor. With the end of the war in sight, as we all hope it will be next year, their seats will be much less secure. THE PARTY QUESTION. People who have watched at all closely the operation of the "party truce" must have realised that it has' made a general election on the old party lines during the continuance of the war quiteimpossible. Whether for good or ill, the Reform and Liberal Ministers are bo closely associated in the Cabinet that their division into hostile camps at the hustings is simply unthinkable. An election held while the truce is maintained, which means while Gentian militarism is still unsmashed, would he bound to resolve itself into a contest between the supporters of the National Government on the one side and its opponents on the other. With the leaders of the two big parties fighting together, and the great majority of their supporters approving of their Association, the inevitable result would be an overwhelming victory for the Government. There would be changes in the personnel of the House, but very little in its attitude towards the Cabinet, and 'the Cabinet itself, instead of -having only a one year's lease of life, would have a three year's.