The Northern Advocate "NORTHLAND FIRST" Registered for transmission through the Post as a Newspaper. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 22, 1945. WAR CABINET DISSOLUTION

Northern Advocate, 22 August 1945, Page 2

The Northern Advocate "NORTHLAND FIRST" Registered for transmission through the Post as a Newspaper. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 22, 1945. WAR CABINET DISSOLUTION

A REMINDER that representatives of the dominant political parties in the Dominion have shared responsibility for the direction of New Zealand’s war effort is provided by the dissolution of the War Cabinet, as formally 'announced yesterday by the Prime Minister.

The cessation of hostilities has rendered unnecessary continuation of the War Cabinet, whose duties will be undertaken by the Cabinet of the Government. There is little doubt that the constitution of a Coalition Government immediately following the declaration of war would have been a wise procedure, thus promoting a greater sentiment of solidarity in a struggle upon the outcome of which depended the fate of New Zealand, in common with that of the British Epipire. However, the setting up of a War Cabinet was one step in the right direction. Members of the Opposition who accepted seats in the War Cabinet undoubtedly played a serviceable role, a fact which was admitted yesterday by the Prime Minister, when announcing the dissolution of the organisation. Though, the Government held the balance -of power in the War Cabinet, the advice and co-operation of the late Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates, who had had long experience, with high rank, in Parliament and on the field of battle, *could not but have been most valuable. He was entrusted with highly important missions in the days when the war outlook was dark and disturbing, and it is to the honour of his memory that he fulfilled his trust with credit to himself and usefulness to the Dominion’s war effort. Following upon the lamented death of Mr. Coates, the Hon. W. Perry, M.L.C., was appointed to the vacant office, in which he gave valuable service. The Hon. Adam Hamilton, Minister of War Expenditure, occupied a post of vital importance, and there is agreement by all parties that he devoted himself wholeheartedly to his duties, being animated by* patriotic desire to assist the country in a period of peril and perplexity. It is good to know that the Prime Minister, on behalf of the Government, has acknowledged handsomely the assistance rendered by erstwhile political opponents.

There is little doubt that the example set in wartime is one which members of all political parties should heed in post-war days, when problems of tremendous import will require the combined energy of the Dominion’s leaders. In this connection, the line spirit in which the changeover in the Mother of Parliaments has taken place must do much to inspire determination by the people of Britain to persist in that co-operation of all classes which brought the nation through the darkness of a terrible night into the sunshine of a new day pregnant with hope, though not without problems and anxieties. Britain’s example should not be unheeded in New Zealand.