The Need for Unity.

Press, Volume LXVII, Issue 20411, 4 December 1931, Page 10

The Need for Unity.

Coalitions of political parties, involving as they do the partial suspension of normal political life and the possibility of a reaction against them when their term of office ends (as in Britain after the War), are always undertaken reluctantly in countries with Parliamentary Constitutions on the English model. It is therefore important that, when a Coalition is formed, the jealousies of individuals or of parties or of localities should not interfere with their real purpose—which is the formation of the strongest Government possible. New Zealand has had one unhappy experience of the way Coalitions should not go about things. At the beginning of the War Mr Massey's Government had a precarious majority, and opinion outside the House was overwhelmingly in favour of the formation of a National Government. Owing largely to the public spirit of two Ministers in offering their resignations, and to the efforts of the Governor-General, a National Government was formed. It consisted of twice as many members as the previous Ministry, with a sort of dyarchy at the top, and although it did good work, it was always handicapped by its unwieldy size and lack of unanimity. There must be no suggestion of such an arrangement when Mr Forbes and Mr Coates select their new Cabinet. The country expects and needs the strongest Government that can be found, and as the new House is not rich in talent, the choice must be free. It might even be desirable to renew the invitation to the Labour Party to join the Coalition, seeing that Mr H. E. Holland insists that he was not formally invited to join before the election. But in any case the new Cabinet must be a small one, and it must show no signs of party cleavages or divided leadership. A half-hearted CoalitiQii would be worse than no Coalition at all.