CONFUSION AS A REMEDY

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 104, 29 October 1931, Page 12

CONFUSION AS A REMEDY

♦ : As leader of the Independent group in Parliament Mr .Wilkinson has apparently deemed it his duty to say something of the Coalition Government and its works. But what he has said has not been, helpful.. We have referred previously to. his pro* posal for compulsory reduction of interest. This proposal was not supported by ahy effective answer to the arguments of the Finance Minister, and it was distinctly dangerous, inasmuch as it pandered to the belief of ! the unthinking that there was a i short cut through the difficulties of the time. But more dangerous still is the wish which, we may assume, was father to the thought expressed in Mr. Wilkinson's Eltham interview:— There would bo a largo number of Independent candidates in tho field, there being a growing feeling that the policy of the Coalition Government was not the policy to lift the country out of the slough of depression at present existing. . : We can understand Labour's opposition to the Coalition. Labour wants a policy directly opposed 'to that 1 which the Coalition has been formed to put into operation. So Labour will make the test of its policy in the 'General Election. But Independent candidates cannot submit anything .equally definite. Their appearance 'in the field will not even give the ' people the alternative of a third i policy, but of as many policies as there are Independent candidates. A 1 reasonable measure of independence is good in politics. But when the | country faces a crisis a firm and de--1 finite policy is needed, and a strong 1 united Government. Nothing can be I achieved by a few dozen Independents standing to whittle away a bit here and a bit there—with all whittling at different parts and neither in agreement with the Government or the Opposition or themselves. There is another kind of independence which may be even more damaging—the independence which is mainly personal. There are indications that prevention of confusion arising from this form of independence will call for great tact and firmness from the party leaders. The parties are pledged not to try and steal a march from each other, and they must insist upon this pact being observed even though it may run counter to the personal ambition of individual followers. The country wants a strong Government, and would-be candidates cannot be allowed to confuse the issue by pleading that a particular district wants them.