LABOUR AND LIBERALS.

Grey River Argus, 12 July 1922, Page 5

LABOUR AND LIBERALS.

QUESTION OF COMPACT. AS VIEWED BY MR HOLLAND. WHAT MR. WIL FORD WANTED. (Special to “ Argus.”) AUCKLAND, July 11. Speaking at the Labour Party’s Conference, in opposition to the Wellington remit in favour of an arrangement with the Liberals, Mr H. E. Holland, M.P., said they must discuss the matter without recrimination. The Thorndon Branch of the A.S.R.S., from whom the remit came, had proved themselves in days gone by (as well as in the present) loyal adherents of Labour. The delegates who were advocating the proposal were just as honest and sincere as any who were opposing it. It could not be said that it was being moved to save certain seats which they now held, for those Labour members who were in favour of the remit had stated that they were prepared to stand down and allow others to take their places if the proposal were approved. As a matter of fact, he knew there was no danger of any of the existing seats being lost to Labour. He insisted that they must give the same credit for being honest to the supporters of the remit as to its opposers. The First Proposal. As he understood the first proposal which, by the way, had come from outside the Labour movement, it was that a temporary arrangement should be made between the Labour Party and the Liberal Party for the purpose of securing an anti-Masscy majority at next •election: the arrangement to provide that, wherever a Labour candidate had run second to the Government candidate in 1919. the Labour Party was to have a clear run next election and vice versa. In the event of the two parties combined having a majority over the Reform Party, whichever of them had the greater numerical strength was to take possession of ijhe i Treasury benches and with the sup- ! port of the other was to put a Propor-

tional Representation Bill through all its stages, pass Supply, etc, and immediately call another election to give the people an opportunity to -elect a majority Parliament. Always provided | the Labour movement was ready to • agree to such an arrangement, without any fear of splitting their forces, he held it could have been made without in any way, compromising their prin- i ciples, and he believed that it would have resulted in driving the two old parties together more quickly than . would otherwise be the case. The I main consideration, however, was the solidarity of the Labour movement, and he would not agree to any tactics . that would have the effect of seriously dividing their ranks. The Present Proposal. They had before them two proposals: The one they were now considering was from Wellington, and the proposal of the Proportional Representation League? It was from the P.R. League that they had their information as to what the present position amounted to. The proposal now was that there was to be no speedy enactment of Proportional Representation and an immediate return to the constituencies, but it looked as if they would be asked. to allow Mr Wilford to hold office for three years in the event of the Liberals coming back with a greater numericil strength than Labour. They had been told th al, after Proportional Representation had been enacted, they could if they wished join with the Reform Party in forcing an election; but. thev had to remember that the Reform Party would vote with Mr Wilford . every time to save him from the La- ] bour Party, just as Mr Wilford and i the Liberals had often voted with the Masseyites to save them from Labour. . Another Difficulty. The difficulty the supporters of the remit were faced with was that created by Mr Wilford himself. While Mr Wilford’s emissaries (he was not now referring to either the Labour delegates who were supporting the remit or the P.R. League) were endeavouring to secure the arrangement which Air Wilford. himself apparently wanted, that gentleman was busily engaged in publicly stating that he would not accept office with the support of the Labour Party. Over that hurdle there was no , getting. Mr Wilford had never re- ; tracted that statement. There was i also another difficulty. had no organised movement outside Parliament with which any compact could be made. What Wilford Fights For. The present partial arrangement that Mr Wilford was now' apparently wanting would not help the Labour Party. It would mean making a compact wi h respect to a limited number of electorates only, and its sole result might be to keep Mr Wilford on the Opposition Benches without getting rid of Air Massey. It wag Labour’s business to get on to the official Opposition beni ches at the earliest possible moment. Mr Wilford was now fighting desperately to retain possession of the Opposition benches. He knew that the

Wellington and Wanganui advocates of the respective remits wanted something different from what Mr Wilford wanted; *but did they think that if they gave the Liberals immunity from Labour opposition in certain electorates they would get Mr Wilford to pledge Liberal support to Labour in the Labour constituencies? Was there not. a possibility of the Liberals voting with the Massey party in the Labour constituencies while Labour was assisting the Liberals elsewhere? Under the partial arrangement that was now the only possible arrangement Labour could be kept off the Opposition benches indefinitely. Labour’s Strong Position. If they made this arrangement, they would be surrendering what was undoubtedly a strong position. They would have to pull candidates out of a number of constituencies which he named, and he urged that it was altogether too Into in the day to talk amout doing this. So strong was their position throughout the country that it was now almost a foregone conelusion .that they would be the official Opposition after next December. When the Proportional Representation League first approached the Parliamentary Party about the matter, their answer had been that it was a question that only Conference could deal with. Conference was supreme, and he was sure that whatever decision was arrived at, it would be loyally accepted by all of them.