HOMING TENDENCIES OF PREMIERS

Evening Post, Volume CI, Issue 17, 20 January 1921, Page 6

HOMING TENDENCIES OF PREMIERS

It appears that, if the New South. Wales Parliament meets early this year, the Premier, Mr. Storey, cannot go to the United Kingdom because his Goverament can only rely on about one vote to the good, and Mr. Storey's absence, if it would not remove an indispensable Premier, would remove an indispensable voter. In cases of numerically balanced parties, brief absences are usually covered by the pairing system, Wt a trip to the other end of the world stands in another category, and the Nationalist Opposition in the New South Wales Parliament is not likely to be indulgent in pairing facilities since the Government tempted one their number into the Speaker's Chair. Mr. Storey's position is unique. The same thing cannot be said of the case of Mr. Massey, who does not constitute within himself his party's majority. Whether he is indispensable on other grounds is another question. If the Massey Government does riot make the 1921 session a constructive session, it vn\\ have missed its political mark. On the other hand, momentous decisions, especially in the field of foreign policy, may be made at the Imperial Conferences or iri the War Cabinet. Mr. Massey is really needed in two olacca.