The Press Friday, July 10, 1925. Fusion and the Parties.

Press, Volume LXI, Issue 18430, 10 July 1925, Page 8

The Press Friday, July 10, 1925. Fusion and the Parties.

Although the negotiations between the Liberal and llcform Parties for fusion have not resulted in the success which was desired and expected by a great many electors, one may hope that those critics are speaking too soon who imagine that Liberal recalcitrancy will operate to the hurt of the Government and of the nation's interests. It is possible that the political situation that existed prior to the death of Mr Massey may reappear, and that we shall have a General Election in which, as in the past, there will be several triangular contests. This possibility must be considered, and although most moderate people will deplore the division of" the moderate vote, there is little risk that the Government will fail to secure an absolute majority. Even if it does fail, its position will nt the worst be as good' as it is now, and in that case the Liberal members will hardly be bold enough to continue to appear as the allies in. opposition of'the Reds. That the votes for the Liberal candidates will show a further proportional decline is quite eertajn, for the continuous weakening of the Liberal Party has been due to the continuously growing conviction in the electorate that the only real political issue is the issue between moderation and revolution —between national interests and the sectional challenge to them. That process, as everyone knows, is still going on, and will bo reflected at the polls in farther increases of the Reform and Labour votes at the expense of the Liberal Party. It must also be remembered that two other factors will be operating to the same end. One of these is the difficulty, which the Liberals will find in giving the public reasons why they should be preferred to the Gov-, eminent. It is well known that the fusion negotiations resulted in what was practically an admission by the Liberals that the Reform Party's general policy was sufficiently satisfactory to warrant them in supporting it. The very fact that fusion was considered by the Liberals is an admission of this kind. One cannot but wonder, then, on what grounds the Liberals—in the event of a continuance of the conflict—will seek to justify their hostility. They are hoping, if some of their newspapers may bo believed, that an indignant electorate will vote Liberal in order to mark its disappointment at the failure of the fusion negotiations. But it is hardly likely that an electorate desirous of fusion will cut off its nose to spite its face by talcing steps to place the benefits of fusion beyond its reach. On the contrary, the electorate will certainly take the view that the blame for the continued division rests, as it' has rested for years, with the Liberal Party. This is a fair, and we believe accurate, estimate of the position which-will arise if the old conflict persists. But it is not as yet necessary to believe that the old conflict will persist in the old way. For the election will be influenced by the fact that fusion must come during the next Parliament, and it is not easy to believe that any but the hopelessly irreconcilable diehards of the Liberal Party will stand as prospective allies of the Reds. If they do, they will be rather unlikely to see the inside of Parliament again.