WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, 16 August 1919, Page 6

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

•THE PARTY LEADERS. PERSONAL AND POLITICAL. (From Our Special Correspondent.) Wellington, August 11. The reception accorded to Mr- Massey and Sir Joseph Ward at the Town Hall on Friday was much more cordial than some of the critics of the National Government had predicted it would be. The Prime Minister was at 6omo pains to explain to the big audience that the welcome given his colleague and himself in Auckland was far less "mixed" than the local papers had made it out to be. It was, in reality, very kindly and enthusiastic, only a mere handful of the people failing to join in the general applause, and ho took this to be a good augury of the relations that would prevail between the parties in the future, The point was not of much importance, but Mr. Massey made it very neatly.

THE FUTURE. Sir Joseph Ward, after acknowledging the compliments paid to Mr. Massey and himself, plunged at once into an optimistic view of the future'. He had returned proud of the part New Zealand had played in the war and confident of the part she was going to play in rehabilitating the Dominion, the Empire, and the world. "We shall never return to the old pre-war conditions," he said in conclusion. "It is our duty and our privilege to assist in restoring the shaken world, not to its old state, but to a stronger and better and bigger state, in which men and women will stand shoulder to shoulder in an unselfish effort for the benefit of the whole community." It was the note that caught the imagination of the audience and sent it away in a good humor with the politicians.

THE PARTY TONE. Both the leaders are steadfastly refusing to discuss party politics or party programmes, but, from what their intimate friends have to say about their intentions, it is fairly obvious that the National Government will not endure beyond tho dissolution of the present Parliament, and perhaps not so long. Before leaving on Saturday evening for the South, where he has gone on private business, Sir Joseph Ward unbent to the length of saying he saw no need for the continuance of an arrangement which of necessity put a bar in the way of many desirable reforms. The parties would not go back to the old bitter relations. Those, happily, were buried with the war. But they would be all the keener in public serv'ce by the introduction of the spirit of emulation.

THE SESSION OF PARLIAMENT. SOME SPECULATIONS. Wellington, August 13. From statements made by the party leaders since their return to the Dominion it is tolerably safe to conclude that the party truce will not be formally renounced till after the conclusion of the approaching session of Parliament. This is the course that has been predicted in this column all along and it is now being accepted as inevitable even by those impatient spirits on both sides of the House who were anxious to renew the party fight at the earliest possiblo moment. One result of this arrangement, as explained before, must be a short session devoted entirely to uncontroversial matters arising out of the war. With these? out of tho way there will be nothing to prevent the dissolution taking place and the members being sent about their electioneering business.

COALITION HOPESThe friends of coalition have been finding some hope for the preservation of the National Government in the statement reported to have been made by Sir Joseph Ward in Christehurch to the effect that this is not the time "tor a party scramble"; but the fuller accounts of the Minister's address to the members of the Returned Soldiers' Association in the southern city makes it plain that he intended his remark to be taken literally—that the "party scramble' should he deferred till the present Parliament had cleared up the arrears of its war work. It is an open secret that while he remains loyal to the letter and spirit of the truce he has no desire to prolong its currency.

THE EXTREMISTS DISAPPOINTED. As a matter of fact the only people who arc contemplating the approaching termination of the truce with displeasure are the extremists in the Labor Party, who have been hoping a coalition between the other two parties would drive a large contingent of disgruntled Liberals and Reformers into their camp. The prospect of this piece of good fortune coming their way, which looked rosy enough while the war was on, is now rapidly disappearing. There may be a reshuffling of parties in whichsome exchange of forces will take place between the Liberals and the Reformers, but there will bo no material exodus from either camp towards the extremists. A more probable outcome is a considerable movement from Labor to one or other of the older parties.

LICENSING. •Soldiers who have been returning from the front lately have had a good deftl to say about the manner in which the issues were presented to them at the recent licensing poll. Some of them allege that they were misled by both parties as to the actual position of affairs in the Dominion and that they fell easy victims to the machinations of interested. people through the Government omitting to put an authoritative statement before them. Sir James Allen reiterates, I however, that all the information the Government could furnish without appearing to take sides in the controversy was supplied, and that soldiers who did not understand what was required of them must have failed either to give the matter any serious thought or to exercise ordinary intelligence in recording their votes. He disclaims responsibility on the part of the Government for any confusion that may have arisen.