The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 16, 1911. A CURIOUS PROJECT.

Auckland Star, Volume XLII, Issue 299, 16 December 1911, Page 4

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo.

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 16, 1911. A CURIOUS PROJECT.

W*r th» com* **a* iwU —.n—>■». fer tJM umif Me* mKi i » iTar the » <a> Me *■<»■««, 4*4 tt« «m< IlKt M M*

Nothing has happened yet to throw much new light upon the political situation since the eventful second! ballot; and we can only still speculate as to what Sir Joseph Ward and his colleagues intend to do. In the meantime, however, Mr. Afaseey and his friends are preparing to (make the best and the most of their victory, and they are chiefly occupied in proving to themselves and to the conntry that if they once get into office they can contrive to stay there. At present, as we have shown, it does not look much as if cither party could command a working majority in the House, and the Masßoyites practically grant this by admitting that the Dafcour members bold the balance of power. But the Reformers am evidently prepared to rise to the occasion, and they have, already indicated that they are Teady to take a very extraordinary step to secure and maintain the position for which they have striven so long and so earnestly. The project which commends itself to a certain section of the Tasform" party as a means of gaining office is nothing less than an alliance with Labour. Mr. MmeV, we are aware, has so far refiused to commit himself to any definite step in this direction. But in the manifesto i which he has just issued, there are clear ! designs of a desire to supersede Libcralj ism in the hearts of the electors by reI presenting himself as the true and only I exponent of progressive democratic principles in the Dominion. We may observe in passing that if Mr. Massey is really a Liberal, his solitary valid excuse fop getting rid of the Ward Ministry is swept away. But though •Mr. Massey is not yet prepared to coniI promise himself, and is content with these vague generalities, some of his folj lowers are ready to go a very long way i to insure themselves against the risk of losing the prize that now after so many years of toil and effort seems at last within their grasp. They nrropenly advocating an alliance between the Labour members and the Massey party, and they have even suggested •that one of the Labour representatives should hold a portfolio in Mr. Massey's new Cabinet—when it is made. fiurelv, if thp "Reformers" desired to convince the country tha* they have not the faintest hope of keeping in office hy their own unaided efforts they could offer us no better proof than this.

But what chiefly strikes us about this suggestion is not so much its i!logicality as its absurdity. Quite apart from the fact that the Labour leaders have always avowed their determination to stand alone, and to take no share in governments controlled by other parties, the idea, of a coalition between Labour and Masseyism is too amusing to dteserve serious criticism. Mr Massey and his friends do not call themselves Conservatives now because they do not dare. But. by whatever name they label themselves, they are still the party of reaction and obstruction, the party which defends privilege and monopoly, and which scouts and decries "government interference."' and denounces aJmost every effort put. forth bv the State on behalf of the masses as an infringement of the employer'., or the capitalist's or the landowners divine right to do as he pleases. Everybody who knows anything about the views of the Opposition as a party knows that behind all this talk about the wickedness and corruption of the Ward administration and the need for reform the one strong and universal sentiment that actuates them all is resentment at "government interference." How many times have Liberals, endeavouring to discover the true inwardness of she Opposition case ■by questioning individuals about the state of the country been met "with the assurance, that what is chiefly wrong ■wit*. N«w Zealand is its labour legisla- : tion. "Too many labour laws" is the explanation offered by the. average Masseyite for everything that goes wrong within the range of his vision. And these are the men who are now posing as the friends of Labour, and offering to strike a bargain with Labour to help themselves to power.. Happily, Labour in this country is not only politically influential, "but discriminating, and although it is impossible to predict what attitude Labour members in the present Parliament will take up with reference to the War* Government, it is practically certain that no permanent alliance can be formed between them and the Opposition party. The inclusion of a labour member in any Massey Ministry is, therefore, extremely unlikely to take place, for the simple reason that any m«nber who accepted such a portfolio would necessarily sever his connection with, the JWlttfU JMUtfy, v - . ,