The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News. The Echo and The Sun TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 1943. AFTER THE ELECTION

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 230, 28 September 1943, Page 2

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News. The Echo and The Sun TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 1943. AFTER THE ELECTION

QNE curious outcome, of last Saturday's general election is that the spokesmen and supporters of both the Labour and the National parties appear to be pleased with its result. Their viewpoints are, of course, dissimilar. Supporters of the Government are pleased that it fared no worse and is still the Government; Nationalists that the Opposition is now much stronger. This last is a result with which few electors, irrespective of party, will be entirely displeased. According to the provisional returns, which must be regarded with considerable reserve, the House will have nearly twenty new members. The consequences of this infusion of "new blood" cannot be other than favourable to the public welfare, and to the prestige of Parliament. Partly as a result of the Labour caucus system, and partly as an accompaniment, not wholly avoidable, of war conditions, Parliamentary business has in a disturbing degree become, on the one hand, secret, and, on the other, artificial. Labour members themselves have been heard to say that much of the discussion in secret session, and many of the secret sessions, could have been held in public. One effect of the secrecy was noticeable in the election campaign, when one of the most important public questions of the day, that of the Dominion's military commitments in relation to the manpower shortage, could not be discussed adequately, and when it was discussed the public heard conflicting versions of the circumstances in which vital decisions were made. As to artificiality, listeners to broadcast debates are continually left with the impression that members are discussing, not what ought to be done, but what the Labour caucus has already decided to do, or what the Government actually has done. A strengthened and virile Opposition should be able "to check the development of these tendencies and make contributions to debates that the Government will not be able, and may even feel less disposed, to ignore. There are, however, other features of the election with which neither party has reason to be satisfied. It is customary to dwell on the futility of the candidature of Independents, of whom there were a great number and variety, and of whom all were rejected. The election did emphasise the lesson that while the voting system remains unchanged—and neither Government nor Opposition proposes to alter it—men who stand outside the major parties have practically no chance of influencing political policies. But the very number and variety of the Independents who, recognising this fact (as many of them did), still stood, should cause the major parties to regard critically their own methods of selecting candidates. Some of the Independents, no doubt, could not be fitted into any party organisation, but others, if only a few, possessed character and ability such as the major parties should be anxious to encourage into their ranks. The composition of the new House, although in general an improvement on that of the old, should cause both parties to scrutinise their policies. Clearly, the Labour party makes little appeal in the country electorates. Just as clearly, the National party makes an insufficient appeal in the cities. It has increased its vote, and has come nearer to winning some city seats, but the'apparent improvement, arising in several cases from the splitting of the Labour vote, a circumstance unlikely to be repeated, is partly deceptive. It is for the. party, both inside and outside Parliament, to consider this situation and its causes. Just as the Labour party suffers in the country because of the thought that it is a "town" party, so the National party will suffer in the cities, if, in the House, its opposition appears to be directed mainly to the protection of country interests. There are legitimate city interests which should be represented in the House by members of both parties, and not overwhelmingly by members of one. The National party's need to broaden the basis of its appeal is the greater because of the possibility that before the next election an attempt will be made to abolish or "modify the "country quota."