THURSDAY, MAY 27, 1915. THE POLITICAL SITUATION.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXIX, Issue LXIX, 27 May 1915, Page 4

THURSDAY, MAY 27, 1915. THE POLITICAL SITUATION.

The feature of the campaign in the Bay of Islands election is not the speeches of the candidates, but those of the At-torney-General and the Leader of the Opposition, and these gentlemen, for want of better material, seem to be devoting their time to the discussion of where the blame, or, as we should say,

credit lies for holding the General Elections in December last. This surely is a pretty dead subject. The election was held, and that ought to have been an end of that controversy. But if the matter has to be again threshed out, we think a great majority of people

«^»*«*»/'«*### constitutional right to 'extend ;ts* own existence indefinitely • and though it goa* without saying that in material emer-l gencie's ordinarily accepted principles of government be tern-1 porarily departed'f^om, it can hardly be contended, tha^; itherVwere circumstances in^e'sisteice^n JJew Zea^ land as to warrant the violent interfer-

ence with the ordinary course of pro-! cednre which the indefinite perpetuation of the old Parliament would have involved. "We Ka^e used the word "indefinite," because we gather that Sir Joseph Ward represents his recommendation to have extended to the perpetuation of Parliament not merely for three or four months, but for twelve, month's, or even to the termination' of. the war. Why. should such -a cours? have been taken in New Zealand when it has not, been found necessary or desirable in any of the Australian States? Are there; any circumstances which between the two cases? We confess we do not! know of any. It is true ,an attempt at justification may be drawn from the recent suggestion that the elections in Great Britain may have to be postponed, but the analogy will be worthless, because the <* conditions are so essentially different in respect, alike of the great disturbance in Great Britain and the character of the issues likely to arise. It is unfortunate that the election did not give,: one party or the . other a, satisfactory majority: and' that the 'result is ; thai' thr new"

/Parliament will meet «under conditions of difficulty.'" But bacl"as that is^ we are not at all sure it is not preferable to a state of things in which, if the life of Parliament had been extended; the Ministry would have been cohstjjntr ly embarrassed by. theutaunt that they; reigned by the accident of war and by a breach ,of constitutional -rule for which there was no modern precedent and no parallel in current history. If the present position is embarrassing it

is at least the making of the electorate, and as another election is unthinkable, owing to- the expense and unnecessary disturbance, the duty is cast upon Parliament of making the best of a bad position. There are, of course, difficulties in the way of a coalition, but they are mostly referable to personal antagonisms, and it is hard to believe

that our public men are not capable of smothering or adjusting such matters when thousands of our men are freely offering the great and irretrievable sacrifice of their lives, when families on all hands are suffering anxiety and bereavement, and when all classes are doing their "little bit" to promote the cause of country and Empire.