CAME OF BLUFF

Gisborne Times, Volume LXIII, Issue 10095, 7 September 1925, Page 4

CAME OF BLUFF

b S^I I7SION HON' A D. McLEOD HITS OUT , H AT HAWERA THE FOR PORT(SPECIAXi TO THE HUES.) _ HAWERA, Sept. O. na]KJf e tS h one to time gfeat h tiblr r al mSv have gone in the fusion neffi t A? 5 D. W McLS S M iniS ’V “I i antii in his political address at Hawera ™ IS3. tor.“«otne of our late Lib-Lab opponents’’ said Mr McLeod, “are , L + nifnrts to get on side uitn Kotiations entireb )} he p^form ’“ m ty d I K>%, I, <M “t tul recently, that at least as far a, three «“t of' four of that !»*£»»<; Same of’btaft tteSake in. porSolios and immunity from Sj j££“&££.”fi£ had no eh on cc under any set of circumstan- , . "lev now say that their demand ‘ rK-iicv together with the attitude of the aforesaid ‘"Diehards cause ot the failure. burn .*n argument will not bold water At ] ( " s t a fortnight before the first fusion meeting, the Liberals were m formed in no uncertain manner, what the Prime Minister s policy would he for the life of the present Parliament. The Prime Minister used the following words: — “The poliev which my late distinguished predecessor laid down in general and on which a large ber of members were elected to support is to be maintained. Proposals in fuller detail will be embodied in the Financial Statement to be submitted to Parliament early in the session. It is not tne intention of the Government to propose any radical deviation from that policy

The recorded notes of the first two conferences, as brought back to our caucus, showed that altnough two or three points in policy were discussed. such were not pressed in any way in the direction of showing any disparity of political opinion. Ir such had been pressed, then it is certain that the negotiations would not have gone be vend the first conference, as far as the Reform party was concerned. If our caucus was informed artobt bv our delegates the chief discussion of the first two conferences centred round portfolios and election contestants. The replies of our caucus show conclusively that two pertinent points were made: — (1) “That the question of Ministerial re-eonstruction must be left in the hands of the Prime Minister”, and .. (2) “That the question of the selection of candidates in the several electorates must be mutually agreed upon,” At the third conference, the Liberal party made a strenuous attempt to get on side by pressing for immediate fusion and for the adoption of a new poliev by the amalgamated parties. What poliev, I ask? Is it reasonable to expect that a party already haring a policy and claiming a majority in” the House would first agree to' fusion and, later, be asked to agree to the adoption of a new policy of which they were ignorant at the time of the amalgamation. As the chairman of our delegation stated at the first conference, fusion, to be complete and useful, must not alone be a fusion of men but also a fusion of minds and ideas. If policy was to be the ground upon which fusion depended. the question of policy should have been raised and definitely settled before any other step had been taken and not as was the case at the last conference. Rightly or wrongly, our party believe that the first two objectives mentioned were the only motives behind the Liberal party’s anxiey for fusion, so the now self-styled ‘XAticnnV fall back on policy as the only way out of the awkward position into which their real desires have led them.”