THE FUSION QUESTION.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLV, Issue 176, 29 June 1925, Page 4

THE FUSION QUESTION.

DELEGATIONS MEET AGAIN. The delegations which had previously represented the Reform aud Liberal-Labour parties on the fusion conference met and conferred again in Wellington on Saturday evening. Opening their deliberations at 8 p.m., they sat until lt.ilO p.m. engaged in what a brief official report describes as a thoroughly earnest and friendly consideration of the several points of view. The delegations are each to report to their respective parties. Although details of what happened at tho latest meeting of Reform anti Liberal representatives are withheld, available information goes to show that members of the latter party are showing a disposition to insist that if an agreement is to be reached at all it must be reached at once, and that the position must b.e defined before the House of Representatives enters on the first full-dress debate of the session—that on the Addyess-in-fteply (states the Dominion). This debate opens to-morrow evening, but in conformity with recent practice, the House is to adjourn after the mover and seconder have spoken. The view is freely expressed in some political circles that an attempt by the LibeialLubour Party to force the pace unduly will be more likely to wreck the fusion negotiations than to carry them to a successful conclusion. In support of this view, it is pointed out that there are complex and difficult details to be .settled, particularly with regard to adjustments in the electorates, which cannot well be dealt with hastily. _li an agreement is to be worth the paper it is writen on, it is argued, it must embody considerably more than an understanding with regard to policy and the allocation of portfolios. There are, it is believed, no insuperable obstacles to agreement on these points, provided a basis is found for united action in the. constituencies. Qn the other hand, there are such difficulties to be overcome in arriving ut this necessary basis as must involve somewhat protracted negotiations if there is to be any hope of ultimate success.