PAETY STRIFE

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 94, 22 April 1931, Page 8

PAETY STRIFE

ECONOMIC CONDITIONS

Though "fusion" of the two older parties in the House of Representatives —tho Uniteds and the Ecformcrs —has been a subject of discussion in the lobbies, and further afield, since the meeting of Parliament a month ago, no one sooms to know whether or not any real progress has been made towards this end, writes a political correspondent. Tho question now is not so much as to whether tho United Party and the Keform Party should join hands in order to stay tho encroachment of the Labour Party upon the Constitution of tho Dominion, as it is as to whether the whole three parties should sot'aside their political differences'for tho time being and join hands as a single body in restoring the sound economic conditions of the country. An arrangement of this kind was .found possible, and of great national advantage/ in 1915, when the magnitude of the World War had become fully realised, and NewZealand's present place on the map is among the consequences. Of course, a great war^and a great ■economic upheaval arc not one and the same thing. They are in some respects, however, analogous. ' Party politics were set aside by the members of the N,ew Zealand Parliament in 1915 because the whole country was insisting upon overy legitimate means being employed in wiruiing the war. The parties at that time, just fresh from the constituencies, wero very evenly balanced and it was a speech delivered by Mr.' W. Downie Stewart—since then Minister of Finance in the Coates Ministry—in seconding the Address-in-Re-ply, which set on foot tho demand for the cessation of party strife during the progress of the war and for a united effort in the service of the Empire. People inside and outside of Parliament are recalling these, facts, and those outside are wondering whether or not the politicians of to-day arc courageous enough and patriotic enough to dare tho path of their predecessors. SIXTEEN YEARS AGO. Whou tho members of the Labour Party took their seats in tho House at the opening of the present session of Parliament they probably expocted to find the members of the Kefonn Party turning a kindly eye towards them. At any rate, they had made it widely known thai; thoy had detached themselves from such alliance "as they previously had maintained with the United Party, and would be glad to assist in removing Mr. Forbes and his colleagues from the Treasury benches. But Mr. Coates and his associates had come to Wellington for other purposes than to indulge in party strife and so confuse the grave problems by which the country was confronted. They let Mr. H. B. Holland and his followers know they were bent on business, not on office, and that the welfare of the country was their first concern. So far they have' shown no disposition to depart from this high ideal. It is obvious, however, that the present relations between the parties cannot be maintained indefinitely. FUSION AND ELECTION. If there is to be "fusion" between the United and tho Reform parties, or what would be better still, between the three parties now in tho field, it would liavo to bo consummated before any General Eloction was taken. 10 would not necessarily involve tho postponement; of the election, as was the case with the formation of tho War Cabinet in 1917, but if "fusion" were adopted by Parliament probably a largo majority of the members ■ would deem an appeal to tho electorates as superfluous and the public1 would not bo likely to clamour for the expenditure of £70,000 or £80,000 in confirming an arrangement already accepted. Tho formation of a "fusion" Cabinet should present no great difficulty. Finance is the. main problem confronting the Dominion. The Hon. W. Downio Stewart is the only proved financier in Parliament at the present time. Mr. Coates has personally recognised this fact, and Mr. Forbes, it is fairly safe to assume, would not hesitate in the circumstances to endorse it. For the occasion it would seem, tho man is to hand.