The New Zealand Herald. AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. TUESDAY, JUNE 22, 1915. THE WORK, OF PARLIAMENT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 15950, 22 June 1915, Page 6

The New Zealand Herald. AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. TUESDAY, JUNE 22, 1915. THE WORK, OF PARLIAMENT.

The work of the Parliament which opens this week is plain and unmistakable. ( It is to organise the Dominion so that our country may do its utmost -to strengthen the Empire during this terrible struggle I for our national and Imperial existence. The elections have been 'fought out on party lines, from the j great polling of December last to I the closing incidents at Bay of j Islands and Taumarunui; they have i given the present Government a majority, and thus have clearly left the initiation of, public policy in the hands of Mr. Massey. The remarkably close balance of parties is, however,, a very faft indication of the public indifference to party ties during a grave national and Imperial crisis. This indifference is becoming more marked every day as a sense of the international situation gradually permeates the civic consciousness. It has always been realised academically that if Germany ! triumphed our liberties and our selfgovernment are not worth an hour's purchase, and that if Germany is not completely and finally beaten New Zealand, as every other free British state, will have to dedicate its energies and concentrate its attention in preparation for another and even deadlier war. What the public has only slowly been brought to realise is the need for straining every > nerve .. upon the immediate task that confronts us- Victory is assured if the Empire exerts itself on behalf of the Great Alliance, and if every part of the Empire does its duty without hesitation and without .calculating • cost; but victory is far from being assured if "Our free states .fail to rise to the occasion, and waste in" foolish and futile ways the strength which would save them. The Mother Country, , after ten months of tremendous but confused effort, has firmly faced the situation, and is setting her daughter states a noble* example. British partes which in July last were engaged in the bitterest political strife known'to modern parliamentary history have buried their animosities and shelved all differences; they have united to form a National Cabinet,' the sole aim and purpose of which is to save the state in its peril ' and to bring the war to a successful ! conclusion.

It may be said that the need for a national cabinet is not as imperative! in New Zealand as in the United Kingdom. This is only to &ay that the fate of the Empire depends upon what is done in London and not upon what is done in Wellington. New Zealand could not j possibly carry the weight of Empire upon its slim young shoulders; the Empire might conceivably live if ! only the United Kingdom did its duty though every dominion looked feebly on. Can we consider indifference on our part as justifiable or anything but the doing of our utmost as worthy of our national dignity or of our highest interests? That Australian parties are squabbling and bickering in the face of a common enemy should be a warning to. us, and not an example. Possibly we may do well enough under the party government system, but we should certainly do better under a fair and generous coalition, provided the great majority of both parties were ready to follow the magnanimous example \of our kinsmen at Home.' In 'any case, the new j Parliament should scrupulously avoid I all business which is not forced upon jit by the exigencies of the war and by the pressing necessities of the day. Whether wo have a national cabinet or a party cabinet, these are not .the times in which to raise debatable questions or to divide the community over measures which have no bearing upon the allimportant problem that absorbs, and rightly absorbs, public interest. We must have some degree of unanimity upon questions of finance, of pensions, of public works, of taxation, and of national aid to the Empire. Np party with a bare majority in the House can deal effectively- with,, such complicated matters' unless it ' has the' loyal assistance and generous support of a .patriotic Opposition. The Herald has no -hesitation, in saying that the

general feeling in Auckland is /emphatically in, favour of an absolute' suspension of- all party strife during 1 the existing Imperial crisis, and is strongly inclined towards, a coalition of parties to deal with the war problems,' which; overshadow all others,-, There will be ample opportunity to renew the political duel after Kais'erism has been crushed' -and our British freedom of selfgovernment , made permanently secure. While the youth of every party arc fighting and suffering find dying, by side, for . a cause which is dearer than life and eternal as humanity, .it would be pitiable beyond words if our politicians could not find a common basis upon which to work for that most sacred cause. Whatever is done by the party leaders towards arriving at an understanding as to war-time policy and riieasures—and sonie understanding must be arrived at—a reconstruction of the Cabinet and reallotment of portfolios is unavoidable. • Much is being said, and reasonably said, of the advisability of giving the Department of Commerce an adequate standing in, the administrative" organisation, but it 'will be unanimously agreed that the separation of* the . portfolio of 1 Defence from the bundle in which it is now amazingly tied is tho first and most pressing'duty of the Cabinet. Mr. Allen has the best will in the world to discharge capably the onerous duties which appertain to his various offices, but it is absurd to imagine that in a time of unprecedented war the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Finance, not to speak of minor departments, can be competently superintended by one individual. The portfolio of Education, §long tied up in the same heavy bundle, has had to be relegated to a colleague, .but the hopeless attempt to keep Defence and Finance together has continued its unsatisfactory 'course. Mr. Massey and Mr. Allen. must be;singularly ..obtuse if they do not realise that the universal and unanimous opinion, of the intelligent public, irrespective of party or district, is that the Ministry of Defence, during the present crisis, demands the entire and uninterrupted care and attention of an able and energetic statesman. It has been officially stated that by 1916 30,000 men.will have been mustered into our", expeditionary force—many think that 50,000 men would be a more fitting contribution to the Imperial cause ! —and that the cost> of our military effort is to be' estimated in millions of pounds. • Yet all the ministerial work entailed by this development of our Defence movement, ,and all tho infinite complications constantly arising, from canteens to casualty lists, from payments to pensions, from censoring to camping "grounds, have 1 been dealt "with by'an'overburdened minister, whose financial work alone might '.well tax the strength of the most tireless statesman. Other portfolis should be rearranged, but the Defence portfolio should be the solo responsibility of the best man available for the, supremely important .work* it involves. ,-• ■'~,