Evening Post. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 30,1932 THE SUPREME NEED

Evening Post, Volume CXIV, Issue 131, 30 November 1932, Page 8

Evening Post. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 30,1932

THE SUPREME NEED

It *eems but a poor reward for the invaluable service that Mr. Downie Stewart has been rendering to the Dominion and to the Empire during his five months' absence that he should have returned to find the country to^n once more by the perilous controversy which had caused him so' much anxiety earlier in the year, and standing up less bravely than before to the common enemy. But genuine and widespread as has been the'sympathy felt for the returning Minister on that score, candour compels us to admit that it has been, exceeded in strength by a sense of relief, and that the gratitude to Mr. Stewart for all the great work that he has done for us at Ottawa and in London—great work but imperfectly appreciated because poorly advertised—is not so keen as the gratitude which is looking, for favours to come, The confession may pot be complimentary to the democracy, but it is certainly a.magnificent compliment to Mr. Stewart, and it is of that involuntary kind which admits of no challenge to its sincerity. Could a public servant desire a higher testimonial than the expectation with which the Finance Minister's return was awaited, and the strength with which it has inspired many faint hearts? Even if Mr. Stewart had been nothing more than Minister of Finance his _ return would have been of immense importance. Nobody can appreciate, that aspect of the case better than the Prime Minister. _ The absence cf both his senior colleagues at the same time involved a great addition to his burdens, but he carried it with the same cheerfulness and - public spirit with which he had stood aside in order to leave them both free to go to Ottawa. * Hardly had Mr. Coates returned'before the session opened, and the responsibilities then imposed upon Mr. Forbes must have beenas severe as any that he or any of his predecessors had ever had to face. To the.normal duties of Prime Minister and Leader of the House were added those of Acting-Minister of Finance, which included the preparation of the Budget—the first New Zealand Budget, as he said, that ever provided for a deficit—and a special share of responsibility in regard to the National Expenditure Commission's report, the high exchange agitation, and a dozen other thorny problems. It is far too big a load for one pair of shoulders, and Mr. Forbes has had to carry it too long. He Jias stood up to it astonish-. ingly well, but he will make a better Prime-Minister with the principal responsibility for finance off his shoulders. But it is not merely as relieving the Prime Minister of an intolerable burden, and as resuming the position in which he himself enjoys the special confidence of the country, and for which his qualifications have been greatly increased by his experiences at the Ottawa Conference and m London, that Mr. Stewart's return strengthens the Cabinet and eases the public mind.. Though in titular precedence he stands third in the Cabinet he has special qualities which make him just as indispensable as either of his senior colleagues. He has never been a strong party man, and in the good old days of hammer-and-tongs^ party ■ warfare this dislike of _violence had its disadvantages. But'in the presence of a world-wide crisis which has obliterated the old party lines and calls for national unity as an essential condition of national safety, the man of br^sd vision and even temperament and conciliatory manner is of infinitely greater value than die gladiatorial type, and if to these qualities he adds grit and experience and common sense he has the very qualities that the country needs. It is a combination of these qualities that enabled Mr. Mac Donald and Mr.-Baldwin to rise above party leadership and form the National Government which saved Britain from more than one crisis of the first magnitude, and similar qualities enabled Mr. Stewart to smooth the way for the Forbes-Coates Coalition which averted the disaster, threatened by the three-party warfare, and carried New Zealand safely past the General Election. But unity is just as hard to maintain as it is to get, and i the knowledge that the Minister of' Finance will be a strong influence against the disintegrating tendencies to which the Coalition is exposed by its unending succession of invidious problems has already improved its prospects. The interesting address delivered by' Mr. Stewart to the Wellington Manufacturers' Association yesterday well illustrates the characteristics to which we have referred. He was chiefly concerned with the lvork of the Ottawa Conference and with its alleged threat to our secondary industries. With his customary balance he deprecated the extravagance with which partisans on both sides have spoken of the Conference. The Conference, he said, was largely m the nature of an experiment for securing closer economic nuity in the Empire. Ho did not agree with some of the extravagant views that Ottawa

was the most important cyent in the last hundred years. Nor did ho share the fears of others that the bargaining and haggling meant the break-up of the Empire. The real value of Ottawa was the frank recognition by each part' of the Empire of the aims and 'ideals | of other parts. This is all sound sense. The Agree-.' ments made at Ottawa will certainly neither make nor mar the Empire as they stand, and everything depends upon the spirit in which they are carried out and extended. The Minister was on equally safe ground when he contended that New Zealand did not differ in this respect from the rest of the Empire, and that the old charge brought against him of having "butchered the manufacturers to make a farmers' holiday" will not apply to the work of the New Zealand delegation at the Conference. Characteristic also and of supreme importance was Mr. Stewart's impressive appeal for unity. If the ideal of the Ottawa Conference was economic unity for the Empire, he said, how important it is that there should be national unity in New Zealand. In my opinion we can only overcome the unprecedented difficulties we are facing if all'classes, all sections and interests combine to show the necessary courage, patience, "ana -willingness to assist their neighbours. Harmony is imperatively necessary if we aro to come through this crisis successfully. Unity and harmony are, indeed, our supreme need.