THE NATIONAL CAUCUS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLII, Issue 10112, 20 October 1917, Page 6

THE NATIONAL CAUCUS.

WHAT IT MEANS; (Special Correspondent). WELLINGTON, Oct. 19. There- is no reason to suppose' that Mr Uassoy and Sir Joseph Ward had any ulterior purpose in inviting their supporters to a joint conference to consider tho finfliici.il position of tho Dominion in its relation to tho agitation for more generous pensions and allowances for the dependents of men being pent to tho front. Quite a number of the members of flic House, .however, profess to see in the "National Caucus" a grave menace to the party system on which they believe the good government of tho country depends. A National Cabinet they endure as a disagreeable and unfortunate necessity arising out of the war, but a National Caucus they regard as an insidious, design to deprive the private member of what little initiative and responsibility remain to him after his leader has surrendered to expediency all the distihr flushing principles that have shaped his partv's career. THE BELITTLED PRIVATE MEMBER, The reproach is mack- from both sides af the House, and is not directed in my particular or personal sense against aithcr ATr Massey or Sir Joseph Ward. "It means," a Reform member puts it. "that wo. are being converted into mere nonentities, without voice or vote in the direction of the country's affairs." "We are being made ridiculous in the eyes of our constituents," a .Liberal member, on the other hand, complains, •■and they'll want to know what we have been doing all this time." This is the sort of tiling that may bo heard in the lobbies at all hours of the day. Nor arc the protests against the National Cabinet's autocratic rule altogether unreasonable, from the private members' point of view. They certainly not being exalted in the eyes of their constituents, and probably, they will experience many a bad ten minutes when they eomo to seek re-election.

THE INEVITABLE. Bui it should not be so difficult for .hem, after all, to make their excuses. A National Caucus is the naturally and .neyitable corollary, .sooner or later, of '. National Cabinet. The country shout?.d aloud'for a National Cabinet, and in hie course got what it wanted and night to have been happy. But apparently it did not realise that with all"the best brains, presumably, associated in tho Cabinet, and all the rest prohibited from discussing controversial politics, ust what has happened was bound to iccur. The Cabinet is supreme, and but for appearances and constitutional usage it could do very well without tin: private members altogether. If there wore any alternative to the present National Cabinet in another National Cabinet the position might be different. But there is no alternative, and private members and their constituents can only possess their souls in patience till tho Germans acknowledge themselves THE NEXT ELECTION. Many premature and entirely irresponsible predictions concerning the remit of the next general election are being made in this connection. The popular opinion seems to he that a new party is going to arise, and that quite half the present members of the House will bo sent about their business with .1 fair sprinkling of Ministers among them. Perhaps the feeling of ihe electors, so far as they are feeling about the matter at all, inclines that Way. Moreover, the history of bigger nations is being quoted to show that almost invariably it has been the fate of a Government that has'conducted a isn-m war to go out of ollico on the conclusion of peace. But unless some magnetic figure arises in the public life of this country before next December to inspire the electors with now ideals and new aspirations the present leaders will remain perfectly .secure in their possession ol office.