FICTION AND FACT.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 9075, 27 April 1908, Page 4

FICTION AND FACT.

Again the rumour of the possibility of a coalition between the Opposition and the Government has been brought prominenty forward. On Friday evening the Dunedin "Star" published a telegram from its Oamaru correspondent declaring that Mr Massey's main mission to the south, where he has been for some time, was to feel the pulse in reference to an alliance with the more moderate section of the Ministerial party, ar.d the ultimate formation of a coalition Ministry for the purpose of combating the socialistic tendencies of the Radicals and curbing the Labour party. The correspondent further intimated that Sir Joseph Ward, though not committed to the scheme, was inclined to view it with a favourable eyp, and that another prominent Minister had definitely expressed himself as agreeable to the proposal. This information has been given to the "Star" by it 3 correspondent "on what appears to be reliable authority." Items of this kind are easily manufactured, and the persistent rumours may possibly be the result of a conspiracy to damage the Opposition in the eyes of the country. Those who have followed the career of Mr Massey and his little party, however, will not be likely to he gulleri by such unauthorised statements, for the party has been conspicuously consistent and unwavering. Mr Massey, however, has given an emphatic refutation of the statement. "Can you give it a flat denial? Is it altogether wrong?" asked a press interviewer on Saturday. "I am quite prepared to give it a flat denial," said Mr Massey unhesitatingly. The trouble is, from an Opposition standpoint, that the statement has got ahead of the denial, and may possibly work the Opposition some harm, temporarily, at any rate. There is one thing which would he an effectual bar to coalition, and that is the question of land tenure. The Government policy, notwithstanding all its back-downs, is emphatically one of land nationalisation; the Opposition policy is that the freehold should be open ti» all. There are other vital questions upon which it would be impossible for the two parties to coalesce, as has been shown in Mr Massey'3 recent policy speeches. The suggestion that the Opposition may be induced to combine with the Government for the purpose of combating the Socialists, is absurd, because the Ministry has strong and growing socialistic tendencies. It is much more conceivable that the Government is desirous of getting the Opposition to join its forces than that the Opposition could dream of amalgamation with the Government.