THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 21, 1923. THE MYSTERY IN TAURANGA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18354, 21 March 1923, Page 8

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 21, 1923. THE MYSTERY IN TAURANGA.

Every day a new explanation seems to be the working principle of Sir Joseph Ward and his friends in the endeavour to show that his return for Tauranga would not bring a dissolution nearer. Most of them have had one feature in common; they have explained nothing. Sir Joseph's own latest effort is of this character. He says it is the duty of men of brains of all parties to see if they cannot evolve a position that would prevent a dissolution and put the country on a sound basis. This, read in conjunction with the story of how his own party rejected overtures made to them, leads to one of two conclusions. Tried by the standards of Sir Joseph Ward, Mr. Wilford and his followers are either without brains, or without a sense of duty. Nobody else has suggested so. It is the direct application of Sir Joseph's words to a set of known facts. How he proposes to get over the position he does not explain. He says. that what he proposes to do can only be done in Parliament. Therefore, he asks, in effect, to be returned with unlimited power to make or unmake Cabinets as he sees fit. On his behalf it is now said that Sir Joseph does not know what will happen if he is returned, and that no one can know. That is exactly what the Herald has maintained after close study of his various pronouncements. If nobody knows what will happen, how can anybody say a dissolution will be no more probable ? The way out is so simple if only Sir Joseph would see it. He has merely to state in plain words where he stands, and ! what he intends to do. Then Tau- | ranga can judge for itself. So far Tauranga has only one reason to believe that hi 3 return will not be the signal for a dissolution. He has said so, but has given no adequate facts in support of his bare statement. Mr. Massey has countered by saying that if the Tauranga election goes against the Government, j he will probably ask for a dissolu- | tion. So there the matter rests in j the meantime. While Sir Joseph Ward has been j investing all he says upon the issue

with an aura of mystery, some of his friends have not been so discreet. It is now hinted that there is a plan by which the present Government might be replaced by another without an appeal to the country. The suggestion is that "some of the more liberal-minded members now on the Government side of the. House might choose, under the circumstances, to throw in their lot with"—not Sir Joseph Ward, but Mr. Wilford. This is the first time Mr. Wilford has come into the picture since the Tauranga contest commenced. Up to the present it has seemed as if New Zealand has contained but two political parties, the present Government and Sir Joseph Ward. Now it seems that the main reason why Sir Joseph should win Tauranga is that, with the aid of one more vote, and ''some of the more liberalminded members now on the Government side of the House," Mr. Wilford shall become Prime Minister. A generous estimate makes the total of Mr. Wilford's certain followers 19. This party then is to take over the Treasury benches with the help of their present opponents— not a word about minority government to give piquancy to the suggestion. If this is the scheme which led some of Mr. Massey's followers, not Mr. Massey himself, be it noted, to describe the Liberal proposals as humiliating and insulting, there is justification for their use of the terms. Impertinent would be a better description from the point of view of the country. If it is not the Liberal plan, why is it made public, what is its authority, and what does Sir Joseph Ward think of it? Does he endorse it, or is he thinking of some other and quite different solution of the problem 1 Is his much-vaunted power as a financier, his tremendous political experience, to be utilised to jockey Mr. Wilford and his little band into office Hitherto there has been much talk of their utilisation for the good of the country. The elevation of Mr. Wilford to the Premiership and the good of the country are not the same thing, save, perhaps, in the mind of blind partisans. Unless Sir Joseph repudiates and explains, he will have to bear the responsibility of supporting some such scheme of political adventure.

Mr. Massey has rightly observed that he does not know whether Sir Joseph, if returned, will vote for the Government or against the Government, whether he will support a reconstruction of the Cabinet, or whether he will remain a political freelance. It is, perhaps, not necessary that Mr. Massey should know. The trouble is that nobody else knows, unless it be Sir Joseph Ward himself, and some readings of his various cryptic statements leave it open to suspect that even he is not very sure. In other circumstances it might be a matter of minor importance ; at the present time it is a major question. He need not tell the Prime Minister what his intentions are, but it is important that he should tell the people of Tauranga. He cannot expect them to be satisfied indefinitely with his bare assurance that he does not with to bring about political chaos, and that this talk of a dissolution is merely a bogey raised to harm his candidature. Mr. Massey's pronouncements, on the other side, have a much more genuine ring. The position is rapidly be coming one where Sir Joseph Ward will be trifling with the electorate. He has reached the stage already of palpable evasion when asked how another election can be avoided if he is returned. The question would always be' important, in the light of present circumstances, but for tho degree to which it now overshadows all others, Sir Joseph has only himself to thank. If he would answer it one way or the other, if fte would give an explanation that really explained something, it would then be possible to consider the merits of his candidature.