NEW ZEALAND POLITICS.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 9, 11 January 1912, Page 3

NEW ZEALAND POLITICS.

Speaking on tho political situation, Dr. Schone said ho was especially interested in being in New Zealand during a General Election. He had tried hard to discover the difference in politics between the Ministerialists- and tne Opposition, and he had not been quite successful, and 'those who were conversant with the views of either side had not made matters clearer to him. He thought, however, that there was a clear cut difference of view on the land tenure question — leasehold or freehold. "In fact," he said, " with the Labour Party seems to rest at present the decision of what the future course is going to be. And although there has been a distinct growth of Labour votes in the past, leading this time, for the first time, to the entrance of four members into Parliament, I, believe thjat i the present constellation of things is bound to strengthen considerably the cause of Labour, and to induce those followers of the combined Liberal-Labour Party, whose sympathies incline more towards the .Labour than the moderate Liberal programme, to try and send a decided Labour candidate into the House next time. Thore seems to me to be a greater difference between the moderate Liberal and the Labour Party than between the former and the present Opposition.' So things seem to point towards t'ne' 'development of a blending together of the present Conservatives with the moderate part of the present Liberals into a new party of moderate Conservatives or moderate Liberals, or whatever name they 'might choose, opposed by a' radical Labour Party. In a democratic country like New Zealand this seems to be a natural development, the more probable for the precedents observed in Australia. And I believe a strong Government with principles ba«e*l upon a wholesome mixture of reasonable Conservatism and sincere Liberalism, controlled as it ' were by a strong and sound Labour Party as Opposition, could become a great blessing to a country like New Zealand. Whikb, on tho other, hand, I personally cannot persuade myself that a Labour Government with a Consei"vative or Liberal Opposition would be equally qualified to successfully develop a country in evolution like New Zealand."