THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS MONDAY, MAY 13, 1935 THE NATIONAL PARTY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22107, 13 May 1935, Page 8

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS MONDAY, MAY 13, 1935 THE NATIONAL PARTY

Little surprise will be occasioned at > this morning's announcement of the ■ amalgamation of the Reform and United Parties in a new party, the National Political Federation. This move, giving unity in name and in organisation, is the sensible and logical conclusion of a political ] association that has worked together j in the Coalition for almost four; years. The combination will be ! approved by all moderate men, as offering greater strength and solidity in the attack on the many problems still presented in these critical times i and in resisting the imminent chal-; lenge of the alien doctrine of Social-: ism represented by the Labour Party, i It is for the National Party's leaders j and organisers to work actively, so : that the promise of gains by unity j is fully realised. When the Coalition j was formed in September, 1931, its i object was to meet and provide remedies in an emergency. There was no thought of or occasion for fusion. In New Zealand, as elsewhere, however, the emergency has persisted and with it the necessity for the strongest available political combination willing to sink party and work together in the national interest. Although the Government has been able to do much in setting New Zealand's house in order, the unsettled state of affairs abroad, and particularly Britain's agricultural policy, leaves many major problems still unsolved and forbids the dissolution of the Coalition into its constituent parties. Actually, in working together harmoniously for the common good, Reform and United members have assimilated each other's viewpoints and recognised that on general issues they had come to be substantially agreed. Fusion has thus superseded coalition, coming about gradually by a natural process of evolution. To have tried to force it in 1931 would have been impolitic and might have ended in failure. To-day the amalgamation merely means the formal ratification of an accomplished political fact. The process has been one that accords well with British political tradition, postponing definition until the new arrangement has passed the test of practice. A good augury for the National Party is that with it comes the announcement of the first steps in an j organisation to support it. Friends j of the old Coalition have been uneasy 1 at its failure heretofore to reckon with the political factor and to j develop its forces nationally and in the different electorates. Last week the public had an object lesson on what organisation could effect. In Auckland the well-drilled Labour minority was able to elect a majority to the City Council and Transport Board because the great majority of citizens was not well enough marshalled to make its vote effective. Its strength was dissipated on a variety of objectives and the confusion of personalities. In Christchurch, on the other hand, the careful concentration of issues and candidates, backed by a well-planned canvass and publicity, gave the citizens a resounding victory. There, instead of having to defend an established position, they had to overcome the strength of those already entrenched in office. The significance of their achievement is therefore all the greater. They have shown that the majority can successfully assert its will, if the leaders will take steps to secure its expression at the ballot box. Otherwise, as Auckland and aH experience goes to show, the majority is helpless in face of a disciplined minority and often is the victim of minority exploitation. To secure that organisation it is not enough to try to fabricate the means anew on the eve of every election. Work must go on continuously, not only in keeping the machinery well oiled, but also in informing and educating the public on past accomplishment, present intentions: and future policy. Indeed the local branches of a party should be the nursery of ideas and personnel for the national federation. On those points the National Party, or any party, has much to learn from Labour, effort is unending and whose organisation is both detailed and complete. Some of its methods may not appeal, and its excessive subordination of individual opinion is dangerous as well as distasteful, but the three major factors in its success continuity, industry and completeness are acceptable and should be applied. Such a mechanism will not, however, enjoy the continuous life desired unless it is founded on a living principle. The Labour Party is founded on an idea—the socialisation of the means of production, distribution and exchange—which inspires its members to talk and work and vote for its realisation. The majority of the people distrust the idea and reject it. Yet opposition to Socialism nnd "safety first" are no more than negatives. No party or large body of opinion can live and prosper on such, Something far more positive, an idea that can be transformed into a policy of constructive action, is required to form and hold that large and majority body of opinion which will have no truck with Labour-Socialism and class antagonisms, and yet requires to have its vague political aspirations and objectives formulated and made plain. The ideal to which all moderate men aspire, for which they have striven and fought

and will fight for again, is freedomfreedom within the law. It is an ideal which is everywhere in the world suffering grave damage and growing dimmer against the advance of Socialism, under the guise of planning, regulation, restriction, of State control here, there and everywhere, and of many other insidious forms of collectivism. Even freedom of opinion and speech, and of the press, is being circumscribed. More and more citizens are being regimented and controlled in their comings and goings, and now in their thought, by the mounting pretensions of the State. Were the process completed by full socialisation, citizens would degenerate into State serfs. To stay this deterioration the idea of freedom must be restored. With that renaissance should go the fine old ideals of self-reliance and independence, for citizens can never be free so long as, while subscribing to the general objective, they ask the State to intervene on this and regulate that. In freedom then, in that true liberty that denies licence, can be found the living principle that will engage men's hearts, heads and hands, that will knit them in an organisation of permanence and continuity and zeal, and that will give New Zealand when she sorely needs it—a National Party in fact as well as in name.