PARTIES AND PROSPECTS

Evening Star, Issue 18048, 16 August 1922, Page 4

PARTIES AND PROSPECTS

NEW ZEALAND ELECTIONS DISCUSSED. THE CIVIL SERVICE FACTOR. A Wellington correspondent to the London ‘ Observer ’ discusses General Election prospects in that journal as under:— As yet tho issues aro by no means clearly defined. The present Prime Minister (Mr Massey) has bad matters very much his own way since the old Liberal Party suffered! a crushing defeat in 1919. Ho is a dominating figure in his own party and in the dominion, and unless Sir Joseph Ward consents to enter politics'agaiu he is unlikely to have a political opponent of anything like his own calibre. His record 1 of effort and achievement is a good one. His Government ■has made a really good job of tho repatriation of tho Now Zealand army, and the dominion is proud of the part ha lias taken in Imperial affairs since 1914. He has given unfaltering support to the interests of the farming community, and in these later days of depression and adjustment lias tackled the problem of rctrcncknent with courage and firmness.

But there are many other aspects which must ho considered. Tho election is to follow tho worst period of depression which New Zealand has experienced in. a generation. Big sections of tho community have suffered and aro suffering. Retrenchment in tho Public Service was very necessary, but it was decidedly unpopular- with the Civil servants, and they are numerous enough to have political influence. Then last yeag Air Alassey piloted through Parliament legislation empowering tho Arbitration. Court to make general orders reducing wages as the cost of living was reduced. One cut of 5s a week has already been made, and it is not unlikely that a further cut will be made before election, day. Tho slump in the meat end wool markets hit tho farmers pretty hard, and, although prices have lately shown an improvement, tho men on tho land aro still rather resentful. Commercial men, troubled by the slump and carrying an excessive load of taxation, are demanding further economies in public expenditure. Neither the farmers nor the business men can justly blamo the Government for worldwide depression, but electors aro far from always being just. Mr Alassey will be opposed by two parlies. The Labor Party is headed in the political field by Air H. E. Holland, who says that, tho Alassey Government “stands for tho capitalists and tho exploiters,” and that the battle is between “the bosses and the people.” But talk of this kind means very little in New Zealand, and Air Holland’s effort to get into tho ring with Air Alassey is defeated at the outset by the continued existence of the shattered remains of the Liberal Party. Although tho Liberal members in the House of Representatives aro a mere remnant of the party which ruled New Zealand for a quarter of a century before tho Reform Party, under Air Alassey, took charge, they aro still the official .Opposition, and at any moment arc liable to grow by. tho minion of their scattered forces. The' Liberals were badly defeated at the 1919 election, but if tho seats had been allotted in accordance with the actual voting strength of parties tho Liberal and Labor members would have outnumbered the Reform members. The Liberal Party polled something like 200,000 votes out of a total of 550,000 votes cast by all parties. Air T. AI. Wilford is tho present, leader of the party,, having taken command after the defeat of Sir Joseph Ward and the death of tho Hon. W. D. S. AlacDonald. Ho is at present making a vigorous attempt to invigorate his party ’and to reorganise and recombine it, but tho measure of his success yet remains to bo seen.

The Labor Party, which has eight members in the present House of Representatives, will probably gain a little ground in the cities, but its gains aro likely to bo at tho expense of the Liberals rather than of tho Reformers. Air Alassey has forty-five supporters in tho House of eighty members, while the official Liberals number perhaps fifteen. The remaining members are Independents of one brand or another.

It is improbable that Mr Alassey will bo defeated, and the only clangor ahead of him is that he will lose enough, seats i o put the Government at tho_mcrcy of tho war-ring sections on the .Opposition side of the House. In that event New Zealand will see a repetition of Australian political history—a period of political bargaining and insecurity, followed by a fusion, of parties. The form of the fusion would not ho in doubt. The present differences between the Reformers and Liberals amount to little more than the memory of past political fights, while the gulf between the old parties and the new Labor Party Is deep and wide.