PARTY POLITICS

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 41, 18 February 1931, Page 8

PARTY POLITICS

(To the Editor.) Sir, —When the United Party took office it had a definite uud clear-cut policy which it had put before the electors. Such mattors as the £70,000,000 loan, reduced taxation, no unemployment, and other promises are still fresh in everybody's mind. Then it abandoned that policy, because it sought and found Labour support at a price which was eminently satisfactory to the Labour Party. Its policy was guided by Labour for some time, and the situation was all in favour of the worker. Now it has adopted the Reform policy, and in my opinion a very grave blunder has been made by Mr. H. E. Holland.' So long as the Labour Party was able to enforce its ideas upon the Government the situation was favourable to the worker. Now, in a very hasty fashion, Mr. Holland has withdrawn his support, and the worker can look forward to a very lean time. This seems to bo a very bad move, and it is to be hoped that the rank and file of the Labour Party will be strong enough to curb his impetuosity. Otherwise the action of Mr. Holland will be nothing more or less than a betrayal of the people whom ho claims to represent —1 am, etc., • • WORKER (To the Editor.) t Sir, —As a woman ejector I would likf to express my satisfaction to you for your persistent effort to influence amalgamation or fusion of the two parties—United and Reform. A swift effort should be made to right tho tangle of oppression and depression that has befallen our country, and it is very clear that a battle cannot bo won while the fighting still continues, as it so appears between our leading political parties. We women, and we are many of the thinking type, urge that all petty differences be put aside and the leading brains of our politicians work together for the good of the people of the Dominion. An article issued yesterday in your paper from the New Zealand Political Association places the matter in a very clear light as to the necessity of fusion or unity.—l am, etc.,

(To the Editor.)

Sir, —To the layman the present poltical situation has some very humorous aspects as well as the very serious one. Has not Mr. Forbes carried out that difficult manj oouvre of changing boats iv mid-stream? And ho is no light-weight either. His party went into office on a plausible bluit'; be has been maintained in office by the Labour Party since then, and now it is obvious that the Labour Party had to put Mr. Forbes out of office on some point which would put them back into favour with, their particular following during this year, and not wait foi' the normal General Election. The United Party has forestalled them by leaving Labour and telling Mr. Coates in effect that he was right all the time, and that they were hopelessly wrong, admitting that the measures suggested by the Reform Party at last election would have made for prosperity, and that their alliance with Mr. Holland arid his party has been to the country's detriment. Mr. Forbes's right-about turn has proved him to have the courage of his convictions, but the time it has taken him to see what the Reform Party saw two years ago should certainly have compelled him to go the whole issue and say: "Mr. Coates, I am here under false colours; it is your job. Will you please get the country out of the mess?" This seems to me honourable; the other seems party politics. Just one closing thought: I will be surprised if Mr. Coates1 votes for the 10 per cent, reduction; His suggestion of an industrial conference and a mutual adjustment among themselves between employer and employee, the shutting down of all un-profitable-looking public works, curtailment of undue importations, encouragement of primary producers, and a gradual readjustment of the Budget over a period of, I trust, returning prosperity, will, I hope,' be put into effect. To a man of his humanitarian viewpoint the cut to the small wage man will never appeal. If the general public would only look to a steady party led by such resourceful leaders as Messrs. Downie Stewart and Coates, the better for the individual worker and the country as a whole.—l am, etc., A KERBSIDER.