King Country Chronicle. Saturday, May 16, 1931. PARTY INTERESTS.

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXV, Issue 3304, 16 May 1931, Page 4

King Country Chronicle. Saturday, May 16, 1931. PARTY INTERESTS.

Mr. Forbes has to be congratulated for his reply to Mr. Coates on the question of a fusion of the United and Reform Parties. The reply has been free from party recriminations and criticism, but Mr. Forbes states that he will stand or fall by the policy which he proposes to place before Parliament during’ the session which opens next month. He asks for fusion or nothing, and if his policy does not meet with the approval of the Reform Party a dissolution is inevitable. In asking for fusion Mr. Forbes was practically seeking the co-operation of the Op-

position in framing a policy which would be in the best interests of the country as a whole. Some of the Government’s critics put forward the argument that until the United Party had framed a policy which could be endorsed by the Reform Party, any talk of fusion was not worthy of consideration. To any unbiassed person such a contention is untenable. If the two parties are to work in a way which they consider to be in the best interests of the country the future policy must be framed by the combined efforts of both. Mr. Coates certainly made a suggestion that a small committee should be set up from the Reform Party to help Cabinet in drawing up a policy, but Mr. Forbes was quite right in ignoring such half measures, for there was no certainty that the whole of the Reform members would approve of the ideas of this committee. Mr. Forbes has made it clear that he wants no half measures in his offer of cooperation. He is faced with the task of imposing drastic economies and heavy taxation on every section of the community—measures that

are absolutely essential if this Dominion is to weather the storm of depression now sweeping it from one end to the other. With such an unattractive programme to carry out Mr. Forbes has an unpleasant task made all the more difficult by reason of the fact that he is only certain of receiving the support of one-third of the House. His easier task would have been to drop his economy measures, and only put forward taxation as a means of balancing the Budget, for then he would have been assured of the support of the Labour Party. Mr. Forbes realises, however that both economies and extra taxation are necessary if the burden is to be distributed in an equitable way. It is curious to hear some critics of the fusion offer state that the former National Government was set up during a grave crisis in the Empire’s history. Is not the crisis through which we are now passing just as acute as at any period during the war? It can be said that during the war we had plenty of excitement and money to spend. To-day we

have no money, but hard and sordid facts to face as an aftermath of the world conflagration, and if ever there was a time for sacrifices, tolerance and a spirit of co-operation it is today. Mr. Forbes has been a surprise to thousands of electors of this country. Never in the history of New Zealand has a Prime Minister been called upon to face so many problems under such adverse circumstances and with so many political opponents, and never has the position been faced more bravely by a statesman. The late Mr. Massey would have admired such a man, and under present-day conditions migjht have counted it a privilege to join forces to work for the common good of the country and its people.