PARTY POLITICS

Manawatu Standard, Volume L, Issue 74, 22 February 1930, Page 8

PARTY POLITICS

MEETING OF UNITEDS. REMOTE CHANCES OF FUSION. (By Telegraph—Special to Standard). WELLINGTON, Feb. 25. To-day’s caucus of the Government Party served to define the position of three of its critical supporters, Messrs H. It. Jenkins (L > arnell), J. S. Fletcher (Grey Lynn), and J. W. Broadfoot (WaHonio). They will become Independents so that this group, including also Mr J. T. Hogan (itangitikei), Mr H. M. Itushwortn (Bay or Islands), Mr W. J. Poison (Stratford) and Mr C. A. Wilkinson (Egmont) will be a fairly substantial element in Parliament. The Government position appears to be no worse than it was on the Government taking office, for it was then definitely a minority ministry, and still depends on votes outside its party ranks. The Labour Party’s latest statement, though critical of the Government, contains no recantation of the opinion often expressed, that the United Government is preferable to the former Government and will not be displaced by a Labour vote until Labour can take its place. The present state of the parties in Parliament is: lleform 28, United 24, Labour 20, Independent 7, with Mr .Speaker, making a total of 80 members. Both the United and Reform leaders have declared against a fusion under the present conditions and Sir Joseph Ward’s statement on the subject, following the general election and prior to his taking office, was quite positive in its nature. The Reform Party, he said, had gone to the country wtih 53 members and had returned with a party reduced to 28, and the nature of its defeat was without a precedent in the history of the country. Four Ministers, the Chairman of Committees, the senior Government AVhip and other good men in the ranks of the Reform Party were unmistakably defeated at -lie polls. . Anyone who expected of the United Party, concluded Sir Joseph, that it should start to kill its policy by joining with its defeated opponents, was asking for what was impossible.