"A SOP TO LABOUR"

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 75, 29 March 1930, Page 10

"A SOP TO LABOUR"

"NEW ZEALAND HERALD'S"'

VIEW

The "New Zealand Herald," after referring to the curtailment of the current year's programme of territorial training, says: —"It is difficult to imagine the motive for this impulsive proceeding, this legislation by order of the Government that is utterly inconsistent with the prefatory acknowledgment that revision of the defence system is a function of Parliament, The Government itseli does not offer any explanation, nor doos it express any recognition of the fact that this peremptory cancellation of camps curtails the training of the units concerned, for which no othe..v provision is proposed, and introduces an element of confusion into thq system which, by reason of the rigid restriction of the financial provision,, has been forced to bring efficiency and economy closer together than in any other department of State activity. Tho Government's action, indeed, appears to be merely one of those "theatrical, foolish gestures" which aLt. Shinwell, Financial Secretary to th© War Office in Britain's Labour Government, recently condemned as foreign to practical politics. There is no doubt that by this gesture the Government will gain a momentary respite from the Labour Party's criticism on this point, even if it docs not evoke applause from that quarter, for the New Zealand Labour Party has more sympathy with the doctrinaire ba.ek-benchers of tho British Labour Party than with those on the Treasury benches who tire striving to achieve disarmament by international agreement. The * Government may protest that its decision was made without thought of its reception by the Labour Party; it certainly appears to have been made without thought of its reception by those who do not agree with the Labour Party's views on this subject. Remembering the Labour Party's hostility Jtoward any provision fo* military defence and its recent warnings of the Government's dependence upon its favour, the public will bo curious to learn whether the promised proposals will be a challenge to tho Labour Party's domination or a concession to its prejudices—another instalment in the process of doing what the Labour Party wants, as Mr. Savage: last week described the terms on which t'-a Government will be allowed to remain in office."