WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue 134, 9 June 1925, Page 7

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

FUSION SIDELIGHTS. WHERE LABOUR STANDS. (From Our Special Correspondent.) WELLIKOTOV, Monday. Fusion continues to liv the one topic of conversation ami discussion among the politicians, but t-iiil remains very much in tlje air m> far us the general public is cun.cruel. The man ill the street, wliu more or loss reflects piibliiopinion, is disposed tv think that both KeJortnors and Liberals :ire merely electioneering, anil that neither party when the crucial test comes will ho inclined to practise the sell" abnegation of which Mr. Wilford has afforded an example. .Meanwhile the. argument that union between the two older parties is necessary to navn the community from the inroads of Labour is being worn a little threadbare. The "Dominion" still retains some sense of proportion, and discourages the idea that fusion alone can save the country from the fell designs of -Mr. Harry Hoiland and Mr. Feter Fraser; but the "Post" and the ""New Zealand Times" can suggest no other means of escape from the troubles they see ahead. The evening journal fears "the machinations of Communists anil extreme Socialists,"" and its morning contemporary declares tion or non-socialisation of industries" is the only question for t lie electors to decide. The Strength of Labour. The present position may justify the repetition of some facts concerning the strength of Labour in the political arena, which the alarmists may have overlooked. They prove conclusively that Labour instead of making the great progress it ia popularly supposed to have made between the elections of 1010 and 1922, actually lust grounS in the constituencies during that period. In 1010 Reform candidates secured 38/2 per cent of the total votes polled, Liberal 36.3 perc ent, Labour 23.5 per cent, and Independents 2.3 per cent. In 1922 Reform secured 4'2M per cent. Liberal 3O.f> per cent, Labour 23.1 per cent and Independents 4.1 per cent. These figures show that while the Reformers' proportion of votes increased during the three years hy 4.1 per cent and the Independents' by 1.8 per cent, the Liberals' proportion decreased by 5.8 per cent, and the Labourites' by 0.1 per cent. What has created the impression that Labour made a great advance in the constituencies between 1919 and 1022 is the fact that in Win with 23.2 per cent of the votes polled it won only eight seats, while in 102-2 with a slightly smaller proportion of the votes polled, it secured sixteen seats. It was the splitting of votes between the Liberals and the Labourites in Wl9 that left both parties with many fewer seats than they should have won. But that i 3 another story. Electoral Reform. It is certain that the question of electoral reform will be raised if delegates from the Reform and Liberal parties get together for the purpose of discussing fusion. Proportional representation stands in the very forefront of the Liberals' platform, and though some o!' the Liberal members of the House still are a little hazy in their minds as to the operation of the system, they all appear to have accepted its principle. This was one of the few questions on which Sir. Massey did not hold a wtv decided opinion, and it would be easy to quote, him on one sidn or the other; but Kir Francis Bell declared himself all ardent supporter of proportional representation in its application to the. Legislative Council, and though his labours in that direction came to nought, owing d> a disagreement between I lie parties when forming the War Cabinet, there is m> reason to suppose ho had radically changed his views on the subject. No one recollects the present Prime Minister having expressed an opinion at all upon electoral reform, his practice before tak ing over the leadership being to talk as little as possible in the House; but it. would be a strong card for him to play in any negotiations with the other side.