WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Greymouth Evening Star, 2 November 1918, Page 8

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

THE PARTY TRUCE, EMBARRASSED MINISTERS (Special Correspondent.) WELLINGTON, October ,'3O. In the House of Representatives yesterday the motion for the first reading of Mr. Hindmarsh's Workers' Compensation Act Amendment Bill afforded Mr. Poland and Mr. Yeitcli an opportunity to give the occupants of the Treasury Benches a taste of the kind of criticism they are likely to encounter as the session progresses. Both the member for Ohinemuri and the member for Wanganui spoke rather in sorrow than in anger. They deplored the fact, or what they said was a fact, that New Zealand, once famed the whole world over for the daring of its industrial and humanitarian legislation, was now lagging hopelessly behind the Mother Country, Australia, America, and even Germany in this respect. Mr. Poland would not accept the war as an excuse for the Cabinet's inaction. There was no need, he said, for the Dominion to set its domestic problems aside while it was bending its chief energies towards winning success with the sword. THREATS OF REVOLT. Mr. Veituh followed in a similar strain, placing a. little more emphasis upon Che discontent prevailing in the constituencies, and warning .Ministers that.they must get on or get out. The incident has loosened other tongues on the subject. and is sure to give additional interest to the Address-in-Reply de-

bate now in progress. Many members have got it into their heads that a. general election will take place before they have another opportunity to address their constituents from the floor of the House, and in preparation for that event they are assuming an air of independence which is much more common on the hustings than it is in the Council Chamber.- But they have no great desire in their hearts to hasten a dissolution. It is patent to everyone that the party truce has not 'made for the popularity of Ministers on either side, but private members realise their own fate is too closely allied with that of their leaders to be risked on a premature cast of the die. THE PARTY LEADERS. Their interpretation of the spirit of the party truce, while it prevents them pushing forward controversial legislation, does not permit Mr. Massev and Sir Joseph Ward to appear on the platform as apologists for their inaction. This places them both in an extremely difficult position. At the general election of 191-1, Sir* Joseph Ward put before the constituencies the most progressive policy he had ever framed,'and promised members of hisi party reforms for which they had been strivinjr for more than a quarter of a century. Mr. Massed was in much, the same case in that be was Prime Minister and still unable to

dictate the policy of the Government. It is not necessary to sympathise with their policy or masterly inactivity to appreciate the magnitude of their embarrassment,', but it is> quite certain both leaders have practised a considerable measure of self-abnegation in their desire to preserve the political peace. THE FUTURE, ; It is too early yet to speculate upon the result of the next appeal to the electors, but the lobby gossip around the subject is not without some passing interest. It is common talk that three Ministers, at least, will not seek re-election — Sir James Allen, Sir William Frasor, and the Hon. T. M. Wilford—and that an unusually large number of private members will voluntarily sever their connection with the House. The popular tip is that Sir Dillon Bell, not Sir Joseph Ward, will be the Dominion's permanent representative in London and that the Prime Minister of the day will continue hisi annual visits to the heart of the Empire after the conclusion of the war. All the authorities predict that the old bitter relations between the rival parties will never be resumed. They always have been more or less a pretence, rather- a pail of the traditions of the game than a necessary part of its equipment, and their disappear-! ance would be some consolation for the political sacrifices of the war.