Wairarapa Times-Age SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 1943. GOING TO THE COUNTRY.

Wairarapa Times-Age, 27 February 1943, Page 2

Wairarapa Times-Age SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 1943. GOING TO THE COUNTRY.

§0 much good humour and kindly feeling were exhibited by members of the House of Representatives when they dealt on Thursday with a resolution providing that a general election shall take place this year that they might almost have been expected to reach an opposite decision and to place on record their opinion that an election should be postponed until the rather important and urgent business of winning the war has been disposed of, or at all events carried to a more advanced stage than has yet been, reached. Instead, however, they decided, in the words used by Sir Apirana Ngata in his singlehanded opposition to the election motion, that the Dominion should have a local war while there is a big war overseas. There is an obvious element of weakness in the contention of the Prime Minister (Mr Fraser) that when the War Administration failed, “it became clear to everybody that no Government elected for three years could go on, in fairness to the people or in self-respect, unless it had an overwhelming majority in the House and the country.” If an election were likely to lead to the formation of a united War Administration, or still better to the establishment of a National Government, it might be fully justified. It appears to be quite- improbable, however, that the election will lead to any result of this kind. It is quite possible that one party or the other may be returned to office with a smaller majority than that possessed by the present Labour Government, and with as little prospect as evei of the formation of either a joint War Administration or a National Government. At all events, any change of heart that would induce the parties to set aside their sectional differences until the war has been won should be just as practicable now as it would be after an election.. The argument that the people are entitled to be consulted carries little weight in the absence of evidence that the bulk of the people have any desire for an election. Since an election has been decided upon by the House of Representatives, however, no doubt the best thing that can be done is to get it out of hand as soon, within reason, and as speedily as possible. There probably never was a time when the people of New Zealand, or at all events a very great majority of their number, were less inclined to spend time in listening to the Codlin and Shoit arguments of politicians bidding for votes. Should the election happen to coincide, as it may, with some great emergency, tension or strain in the war, it will be rather apt to assume the aspect of an ill-timed farce, and to awaken much more contempt and disgust than interest. That, however, is one of the risks the political parties must take now that they have reached their all but unanimous decision in the House of Representatives in favour of a “local war.”