Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. WEDNESDAY, MAY 3, 1911. THE POLITICAL POSITION.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10228, 3 May 1911, Page 4

Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. WEDNESDAY, MAY 3, 1911. THE POLITICAL POSITION.

Mr William Pryor, the energetic secretary of the New Zealand Em-ployers-Association, has endeavoured to create* a scare among the employers of the Dominion by prophesying the result of the next jbctiws. He thinks that the Radical-Socialist party will return a dozen rsprflsencatives to Parliament, and tlr.it. these will have the power of demanding whatever legislation they think lit In other words, he predicts thai: the. Socialist party will wield the same power in the New Zealand Parliament that the Irish Nationalist party exercises in.the Home Parliame.it. Such, a contingency can only be c ;s----cussed upon the assumption that the party in power would siiirsn-ier every vestige of principle m order to retain office. It must also be assumed that the two ■ dominating parties will be of almost equal strength, and that tlu* Socialist patty would assist in ousting the Gonrnmoiit "f its demands were not conceded. The whole of these assumnfcnis are r< r-strur-ted, up ).i the hvoir/nosii tr.a.t at least a dozen■ Sociiii'ts, xr advanced Radicals, such, as the members for Master ton and Wellington .East, t will be elected by the people." It is not difficult to imagine that, in the present mood of t-he city constJt-

uencies, such an event is within the j range of possibility. Nor is it unreasonable to suppose that the Government and Opposition parties will be more equally divided than at present. Assuming, then, that the prophecy of Mr Pryor to this extent were fulfilled, what would happen? Would a Government party composed largely of country members be likely to concede the demands of the Socialists, in order that it might retain power ? Such a proposition is intolerable. A much more likely contingency would be a fusion of the Government and Opposition parties. The position is singularly interesting at the present juncture, inasmuch as New Zealand is faced with precisely the same problem which confronted the Commonwealth a few months back. No warning that Mr Pryor or other person may issue can avert the disruption in the Liberal-Labour party which is imminent. The advanced Radicals, or Socialists as they may be termed, are tired of the sham Liberalism of the Ward Government. They are determined upon a change. And no power on earth can stop a revolution unless the country constituencies join hand in hand and return to power men who are pledged to principles rather than party. If anything will wreck the Constitution of this country, it will be the lust for office of a party which has long since forfeited the confidence of a majority of the people.