COALITION?

Evening Post, Volume CXXXI, Issue 119, 22 May 1941, Page 8

COALITION?

ELECTORS' VERDICT

NATIONAL UNITY

LABOUR'S ATTITUDE

Many reasons are heing advanced throughout the Dominion as to the cause of the setback, in some cases likened to a landslide, experienced by Labour in the recent local body elections. The effect is also being discussed, especially in its relation to the war effort and the need of a Coalition .Government rather than that political interests should be brought forward for further election campaigning later in the year.

Taking the line that. Saturday's verdict was "a protest against the Labour Party's unwillingness to surrender authority to any effective extent at a time when all thoughtful people want true national unity to be achieved," the "Timaru Herald" states: "If the Labour Party continues to reject the idea of a National Government it will have to face a General Election with the people in a demonstrably hostile mood.

With conditions as they are, the Leader of the .Opposition would be justified now in hardening his attitude towards the Government. Although he may not be inclined to do so in Mr. Fraser's absence, Mr. Holland would not be altogether out of court if• he said that a Coalition Government had to be formed very soon, or the Government would have to go to the country before the end of the year. He could issue such an ultimatum with confidence. WRITING ON THE WALL. "There are forces outside the Government and forces inside the Government resolutely opposed to the idea of a wartime coalition of political parties." it is pointed out in the same editorial. "The procrastination of the Prime Minister and his colleagues has aroused resentment. They contended, of course, that there was no demand for this political unity. They were disposed to think that a mandate given almost a year before the war is still valid. The people of New Zealand had no. opportunity until last Saturday of expressing their opinion on the attitude of the Labour Party. They have done so now; the writing was placed on the wall for all to see and the message will have, or should have, a salutary effect upon those who may have been restraining the Prime Minister from doing what he must have felt to be in the real interests of the country. "Saturday's results are a direct reflection on the Government for failure to cease toying with party politics and bring about political unity," states the "Nelson Mail." "Public opinion is far in advance of the Government's in realising that the war is the only thing that matters. Many times has that truth been voiced by Government spokesmen but action has fallen short of the words.

"The elections can be held justified not for anything they have settled about local administration but for their revelation of the temper of the people. They used local body ballot boxes to demonstrate it. If the Government was not bold enough before to step over party barriers to achieve national unity, it now finds itself being pushed over them from behind by public opinion. "The people demand to hear less of the aggressive methods of trade union officials and less from Ministers about how they are implementing Labour's plan and more of how New Zealand is going to work for its life to help pull the Empire through the war." LIKELY REPERCUSSION. -It is suggested by the "Taranaki Daily News" that the most likely repercussion is the forming of a Coalition Government and the postponement of the General Election. "Whatever the reason for Saturday's setback, it must cause serious concern in the inner counsels of the Labour Party," the "Manawatu Times" comments. "Maybe it will bring the 'diehards' of the party to a more reasonable frame of mind and thereby remove the barriers which have blocked the formation of a truly national all-party Government. Certain gentlemen on whom there rested a strong suspicion of wholehearted antagonism to a Coalition Government have been soundly trounced in some of the city elections. Perhaps they will begin to see reason now. "Opposition to the holding of the elections at all is only one factor," the "Gisborne Herald" points out, "but it may have been an important one and it should serve as a warning to the Government against proceeding with the General Election later in the year. If that course is followed, then it must be assumed that the public resentment will react to an unreasonable degree against the Government candidates. The public made it clear on Saturday that it does not desire party cleavages in wartime and the Government should regard this as an indication of a desire for an allj party National Administration for the duration of the war. At the same time it must not be taken for granted that the eclipse of the Labour Party in the local elections indicates an equally general swing ' against the Govei-n----ment, although the trend in that direction cannot possibly be ignored.

"Certainly, in the months ahead the diagnosticians of the Labour Party will be most active, seeking to discover the ailment that has afflicted Labour since its bounding health of 1938," states the "Taranaki Herald." "And the nine Parliamentary members of the "party and the. national president, all of whom were defeated, should be able to make a useful contribution to this intex-esting consultation. . . . Before Saturday's elections the Labour Party never paid much attention to the charge that its war effort was uninspired and uneven. Today, perhaps, it will take this criticism more seriously as one that has had a considerable effect on public opinion." j CONTRIBUTING FACTORS. | "When elections are held in war-; time," the same paper points out, "it j must be expected that the war situation will colour the result. In New South Wales x-ecently Labour scored an overwhelming viotox-y because electors felt that the Mair Government, after six years of office, was in a deep rut out of which even the war could not shake it. And in New Zealand there is a turn against Labour for the same reason, that is that the people are looking for a more united, more vigorous, and more inspiring war effort and leadership. . . .In times of national danger the political ranks must be closed, and the voice of the electors on Saturday was a clear call for national unity under a Government representative of„all New Zealand and not sections of it."