Manawatu Evening Standard FRIDAY, JUNE 25, 1926, THE OPPOSITION’S HOPELESS .QUEST.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLVI, Issue 175, 25 June 1926, Page 6

Manawatu Evening Standard FRIDAY, JUNE 25, 1926, THE OPPOSITION’S HOPELESS .QUEST.

Tiie Leader of the Opposition, having launched his first no-con-fidence motion against the Government and failed of his objec-th-e, might reasonably take time to consider the futility of all such amendments as he may haA T e in view, Avhether it be on' Imprest Supply Bills or on the Address-in-Reply. The hon. gentleman has been responsible for so many attempts to 'induce the Hodse to declare that it has no confidence in the Reform Administration that it is about time he ceased to beat the big drum in the Amin attempt to rally around the Red banner the other Opposition members, and the supposed, but nonexistent malcontents of the Reform Party, and realised (now that his party is the official Opposition) that he and his .followers Avould be better employed criticising both the GoA r ernment legislation and administration than in bringing forward motions or amendments censuring the Government on the flimsiest of pretexts. The Opposition certainly gained nothing by their attempt to censure Ministers for their alleged neglect of duty in regard to the unemployed. They made statements which they failed to substantiate, and one of their number actually endeavoured to hold the Government responsible for an article appearing in the Children’s Newspaper in praise of New Zealand. Their statements and arguments were easily met and confuted by the Minister of Labour, the Minister of Lands and the Postmaster-General (the Hon. W. Nosworthy), who is also the Minister of Immigration. With the usual exaggerations that seem characteristic of most charges the Labour Socialists bring to bear against their political opponents, they were responsible for the. statement that the unemployed numbered many thousands, Avkereas the reports received from the Labour Department suggest that the number of unemployed in the various centres is not greatly in excess of the number usually unemployed at this season of the year. It was shown that the Government was doing all that could be expected of it, and that it had, in consultation with the local authorities, the chambers of commerce and business men, set up committees in each of the centres, and had made arrangements with the Hospital and Charitable Aid Boards tetfTelieve the situation, and to make provision for cases of distress. The Government can only be expected to find work in the country; but it has already 10,000 men in the employ of the Public Works Department. Ifl the cities it is the duty of the local authorities to make such provision as is within their uower for the relief

of unemployment, and it is tlie duty of tlie Charitable Aid Boards, again, to see to the relief of cases of distress. With an army of close upon 50,000 public servants and employees, it must be conceded that the State is working up to its full capacity in the way of employment. It is bad policy-to have too many men and women looking to the State as their foster father and foster mother (as the Minister of Labour put it on Tuesday night) for their support, and the maintenance of their dependants, but the Labour Socialists of the Opposition seem to think the Government’s business is to provide work for everyone who chooses to apply for it.

A PERENNIAL TROUBLE. Sir Joseph Ward made a vefy sensible and timely contribution to the debate by recalling his own experiences in bygone years when, as the head of the Government, he had to deal with unemployed deputations. He remembered, he said, being waited upon in Wellington by a deputation of 1000 unemployed, many of whom it was ascertained did not belong to the country and actually included four couples on their honeymoon from other countries. The trouble, he said very truly, was a recurring one, and would be disposed of just as it had been disposed of in former years. “If,” he added, “we are going to have a vote of want of confidence in the Government through unemployment, then we are going to have it every year.” That is undoubtedly the case, and it is faMy clear that the agitation which has been proceeding for some weeks, in Auckland more particularly, and which reached its culminating point in the Opposition Leader’s attack upon the Government on Tuesday night, has been more or less political in its object, the intent being to discredit' the Government, and tlie Prime Minister more particularly. Mr Holland, as the Leader of the Opposition, in moving as he did, may have been anxious to anticipate any attempt -on tlie part of the Nationalists to get in the first blow at the Government, but he had no need to be apprehensive on that score; for the Na 7 tionalists have, philosophically and sensibly, accepted the position and intimated, through their leader, Mr G. W. Forbes, tlidt they do not propose to bring for\ ward futile censure motions, but’ to play the legitimate part of an Opposition in endeavouring, by constructive criticism and by keeping a vigilant eye upon both legislation and administration, to serve the interests of the country by helping to improA r e' conditions as far as possible. The Labour leader is likely, therefore, to have things his OAvn way, so far as no-confidence ■ motions are concerned. He must know, and recognise, that he cannot look for Nationalist or Liberal support in such matters, and that, at best, he can but take his party of thirteen into the Opposition lobby when he calls for a division. A southern paper recently pointed out that if, apart from the Labour Opposition, every member of the House, with the exception of Ministers of the Crown and the Government Whips, absented himself from a division, the Government would still be able to defeat Mr and his followers on a motion of no-confidence. A parly of fifty-four, in a House of eighty members, is, however, in such a commanding majority as to make all attacks upon it impossible of success. We do not suppose the Leader of the Opposition will, hoAvever, abandon his guerilla-like attacks upon the Government. It would be contrary to all established Labour Party precedents if he did so. Yet commonsense seems to dictate the abandonment of puerile movements which can never prove effective, and a desire to stand well with the public may lead to the abandonment of tactics that cannot possibly pay. However, Mr Holland is said to still have a few cards up his political sleeve, including one covering the indictment of the Government for its appointment to the’ Upper House of. members of the old Liberal Party, who helped to carry the Reform Government through the political shoals of the last Parliamept.