The Press Friday, July 9, 1920. A Fuss About Nothing.

Press, Volume LVI, Issue 16882, 9 July 1920, Page 6

The Press Friday, July 9, 1920. A Fuss About Nothing.

The dulness of the debate on the Ad-drc>s-in-Reply was relieved yesterday by Mi- Statham's attempt to make members' flesh creep by giving account of a movement amongst Reform members during last year to explore the possibility of forr.vng a new party. We havo all known a good deal about this movement, but cxactlv what took place from beginning to end is far from clear, because it is cbvious that the members of what was called the Reform "cave" understood each other imperfectly, just as they misunderstood, or miscalculated, the drift of "political events. That they were animated by the' best of motives need not be doubted. They wen: afraid that tlio. discontent naturally engendered by the policy—positive and negative—forced upon the National Government by the nature of its composition, would concentrate itself against Mr Massey ; at the general election, and they were unwilling that this should result in a triumph for a Liberal-Red Fed combination. When it became clear that this was not going to happen, the members of the "cave" seem to have realised that tho idea of a new and separate party should be abandoned. •Mr Statham's reproaches require for their justification that he and the members he named were still resolved, when last session ended, to. go to tho country •as a new party. That they wero entitled to reconsider their position be cannot deny, and it is a simple fact that when tho election campaign took place there was no sign of a new party, but instead plenty of evidence that the few members (including nMr Statham himself), who still desired to keep one hand upon the skirts of happy independence, desired just as strongly to cling to Mr Massey's coat-tail. Most of the members- named by Mr Statham came out frankly as supporters of the; Reform Party and its Leader. Why Mr Statham should have made all the fuss he did make is intelligible only upon the supposition that ho believes it may somehow encourage the founding of a new group of Independents. This Parliament has no more concern with pledges alleged or not alleged to have been given by one private member to another than jt has with their mutual invitations to afternoon tea, and why Mr Statham, or anyone else, should think the public fool enough not to see this wo cannot imagino. If Mr Statham's emulation of Mr Wardle's fat boy. was meant to embarrass the Government, or any members of it, he at least succeeded in giving Mr MacDonald an opportunity to make a preposterous speech, which faintly an 4 feebly recalls Sergeant Buzfuz on chops and tomato sauce.