Evening Post. MONDAY, JUNE 28, 1915. A NATIONAL DEFENCE COMMITTEE

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 151, 28 June 1915, Page 6

Evening Post. MONDAY, JUNE 28, 1915. A NATIONAL DEFENCE COMMITTEE

Mr. Bonar Law declares that the British Government " possesses no political conviction* of any kind." In all democratic countries allegations of this kind .are among the stock charges that are brought against the Government of the day by its political opponents, but the present is probably the first occasion on which what is usually the taunt of a hostile critic has been put forward as a recommendation by a member of the Government itself. The explanation is that a unique emergency has led to the formation of a Government which is also unique, in its character. Not even in the Napoleonic wars was the national peril at once so intense and so prolonged, nor was it so fully realised by the nation as a whole. A National Cabinet has accordingly been formed by a combination of parties for the sole purpose, as Mr. Bonar Law says, of carrying on the war. All party differences have been eunk in the pursuit of that paramount object, and for that reason and to) that extent the Government has "no political convictions of any kind." We wish that in this country also what is under ordinary conditions a term of abuse could now be applied in the same sense to its Government. The people of New Zealand want no convictions of a partisan kind in their Government at the present time. They want no domestic legislation and 'no party wrangling. /What they want is the same patriotic and thoroughgoing combination of parties to cope with a supreme national emergency as has taken place in the Mother Country. The New Zealand Government has recognised the call, but with a reservation. "My Ministers," said His Excellency on Friday, "are satisfied that at the present juncture, when we are all united in our determination to prosecute the war until an honourable peace is arrived at, no legislation the discussion of which would involve party strife should be submitted to you." The Government will endeavour to avoid occasions of party strife, & caution which is enjoined as much by prudence a& by patriotism under the present political conditions — but it declines to take the only course that would guarantee a complete immunity from such troubles. It will avoid occasions of quarrel in so far as that is compatible with its retention of a monopoly of official power. The help offered by the Opposition is necessarily limited by the conditions thus imposed by the Government. It will be co-operation, but, as Sir Joseph Ward is careful to point out, co-operation without responsibility. For this reason it. would be rash lo baso too sanguine hopes upon the sweet reasonableness displayed by botli parties during,. Friday's sitting. But there were other hopeful symptoms than the general haimony of the proceedings. "The Prime Minister did hie the honour to consult. tn> on this matter," taid the . Ai&jfefil M< ftpyusiliyu _ Ujariiuj jkc .tie..

bate on the second reading of the Imprest Supply Bill. Consultation of this kind not only is the best way to disarm hostility and remove misunderstanding, but often serves as the thin edge of the wedge to provide an opening for ja joint responsibility. "If you want to compromise % man, consult him," was one of th* maxims of the great Liberal leader whose memory was honoured by his grateful countrymen on Saturday. Another hopeful sign was the proposal to appoint a Defonc* Committee "to consider all matters connected with defence and war that may be referred to it by the House of Representatives and the Minister of Defence." As this Committee -is to include six Ministerialists, four Liberals, and ons Labour member, and is to sit in secret, and as measures relating to defence and witr will presumably include all the special legislation of the session, both the constitution and the functions Of the Committee will approximate pretty closely to those of a Coalition Cabinet. With five members on this i Committee of eleven the Opposition are more liberally treated than ever # before, though not mors liberally than their numbers demand 5 and in personnel we do nob see that the selection could have been bettered. In Sir Joseph Ward, Dr. M'Nab, and Mr. Myers the Opposition have among their representatives on the Committee the party's last three Ministers of Defence, and the three men who would be everybody's first choice for their representatives in & Coalition Cabinet. By his debating power Mr. G. W. Russell has also fairly won a place, and Mr. Hindmarsh's selection on behalf of tEe Labour Party could not be bettered either from the representative ot the personal standpoint. It will plainly be impossible for this admirably selected Committee to disclaim responsibility for the measures that it considers and approves, and if its members approach every question, as we believe that they will, with a. due sense of responsibility and with a proper spirit of give and take, the results of its deliberations are bound to commend themselves to the House and the country. It will not be a 'National Cabinet, but it may pave the way for one, just as in Great Britain, the talk of a National War Council speedily crystallised in the National Cabinet that is now in office.