REINS OF GOVERNMENT

Manawatu Standard, Volume LII, Issue 2, 2 December 1931, Page 2

REINS OF GOVERNMENT

VARYING PARTY FORTUNES. FORMATION OF COALITION. Members supporting Coalition principles are in a substantial -majority in the House of Representatives as at present constituted. Of the 80 members, 52 are allied beneath the Coalition banner, the number being made up of 27 Reform 24, United and one Independent members. The Independent is Mr W. J. Poison, who, however, must be included, since he has received the official Coalition endorsement in recontesting the Stratford seat. Of the remaining 28 members 20 are members of the Labour Party, seven are Independents and the remaining one is Mr H. M. Rushworth, Bay of Islands, the only Country Party member to be elected to the House. The Independents aro the. Speaker, Sir Charles Statham, and Messrs J. S. Fletcher, W. D. Lysnar, O. A. Wilkinson, J. T. Hogan, H. Atmore and G. C. Black. PARTIES AFTER 1928 ELECTION. When the House met after the election of 1928 the strength of the parties was:—Reform. 28 ; United. 27 ; Labour, 19; Country Party, 1; Independent, 5. Mr Lysnar was then a supporter of the Reform Party and Messrs Black and Fletcher were elected as United Party followers. All three have since declared their independence. Mr Atmore was elected as an Independent, in which capacity he is standing again, although in the meantime he had allied himself with the United Party and had been elevated to Cabinet rank. The difference in the state of the parties now and immediately after the last election results from changes at by-elections and the secession of party members. The by-election which occurred in Parnell owing to the resignation of Mr H. R. Jenkins resulted in Reform securing another seat from the United Party, but the United Party evened the score at the by-election which followed the death of Sir George Hunter, Waipawa. LABOUR GAINS A. SEAT. '

The by-election at Hutt, following the departure of Sir Thomas Wilford for London, saw Labour gain a seat at the expense of the United Party. The movement was completed by Mr Lysnar leaving the Reform ranks and Messrs Black and Fletcher abandoning the United Party, all for the Independent group. At the general election in 1925 the Reform Government was returned-with 55 members, but the loss of two by-elec-tions, Eden and Raglan, reduced the party to 53, and at the same time raised Labour’s strength to ,14. Nevertheless, the party was stronger numerically than at any time since the Reform banner was raised. During Mr Massey’s long reign he never possessed a comfortable majority, except in the Parliament of 1920-22, the election of December 17, 1919, securing him a following of 45. RESULT OF 1922 ELECTION. The 1922 election left the Government in an insecure position. Mr Masr sey’s party numbered 38, against 22 Liberals and 17 Labour members, with three Independents, Messrs Charles Statham, Allen Bell and G. Witty. The first-named accepted the Speakership and Messrs Bell and Witty .nionorted the Government in crucial divisions, as they had pledged themselves to do. Mr L. M. lsitt, a Liberal, had also given his electorate a similar pledge, the result being, to give the Government a majority of three. This, combined with the shrewd political generalship of Mr Massey, was sufficient to allow tho Government to carry on. Going back to 1919, the post-war election gave Mr Massey a secure majority of 11. Reformers numbered 46, Liberals 20, Labour (including Independent Labour) 11 and Independents 3. The Liberal Party suffered severely at this election, mainly owing to Sir Joseph Ward’s precipitate break from the wartime coalition with Reform. .The Liberals were reduced from 31 to 20, both the Government and Labour gaining several seats. UNCERTAIN MONTHS OF WAR. The 1914 election, held during the first uncertain months of the war, did not return the Reform Government in sufficient strength to cariy through the great national tasks which the world struggle demanded. The strength of the Ear ties was: Reform, 40, Liberal, 31; ,abour and Independent Labour, 8; Independent, 1. To strengthen the hand of the Government the National Government, a Reform-Liberal coalition, was formed in 1915 and continued in office until 1919. ’ •In 1911 occurred .one of the crucial elections in New Zealand’s political history, that of 1890 being another. After the latter election the long Liberal regime commenced and was not shaken until it fell in the events following on the result of the 1911 election. SIR JOSEPH WARD RESIGNS. After the second ballots had been decided on December 14, 1911, the Liberal Government was left with 33 members in tho House against 37 Reformers. The remaining 10 members, Labour and Independent, were pledged in various ways. In the upshot the Prime Minister, Sir Joseph Ward, met Parliament early in 1912 and, lacking an effective majority, resigned. Sir Thomas Mackenzie formed a Ministry on March 28', which was defeated when it met Parliament in the following July by 41 votes to 33. Mr Massey took office on July 10 and continued as Prime Minister until his death on Mav 10, 1925. The 20 years prior to 1911 were the days of Liberalism in its prime. It won 46 seats in the election of 1908 and no less than 65 in 1905. This was the party ‘‘peak” when Mr Seddon, the Premier, literally swept the country and was faced with an Opposition numbering only 15. At the three previous elections the Opposition had fared little better, winning only 21 seats in 1902, 20 in 1899 and 26 in 1896. But these long years of adversity in the wilderness wore not unfruitful, in that the small body forming the Opposition received that full political training and experience which enabled them to use to the national advantage the years of opportunity since 1911. Auckland Herald.