PARTY RECRIMINATIONS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20304, 11 July 1929, Page 10

PARTY RECRIMINATIONS.

Short though the life of this session has been, one tendency in debate has already shown itself. A number of Government supporters arc inclined to make denunciation of its predecessor in oflice their main theme. They arc entitled to think what they like about it, and within limits to say what they like about it, but they should realise that a parliamentary career cannot be built up on this kind of foundation. They belong to the party in oflice now and should be concerned more with what it is doing than with what the past Government did, or left undone. It is true a number of members succeeded in the election more by a campaign of criticism than by any exposition of policy. That was because their method happened to chime with the mood of the electorate. The election is over now, the career of the late Government is largely a eiosed chapter. It will be perfectly legitimate for Government supporters to compare their own record with that of their opponents —when their own record has been established. Meantime the pastime of hitting at the party which is out of office is not a very valuable contribution to the work of Parliament. To put the position into the terms of a debating society, these Government supporters have had their turn handling the negative side. Now they have to support the affirmative. Until they realise that necessity and endeavour to take up their new duty they will not be very useful members of their party, nor will they assist much in having the work of Parliament done expeditiously or efficiently. It is not that the attempt to fill in time with party recriminations has reached very serious proportions. It has not, and the effectiveness of many of the shots fired can be gauged by the calmness with which the Leader of the Opposition has ignored them. The only point is that on the Government side there arc a number of men who are new to Parliament, with reputations still to establish. They will be making a serious mistake if they try to continue the methods of the election platform. They will be wise to realise early that constructive suggestions on the positive side arc more valuable than verbal sharpshooting.