The New Zealand Times. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 1925. ANOTHER LANCE FOR FUSION

New Zealand Times, Volume LII, Issue 12250, 23 September 1925, Page 6

The New Zealand Times. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 1925. ANOTHER LANCE FOR FUSION

Thwarted at his first attempt, the member for Nelson intends to malce a final;effort to have a truly National Government formed before Parliament is prorogued. . As before, Mr Atmore’s. motion is based on the necessity ot checking the almost world-wide movement toward political and industrial extremism. In Britain, Labour intellectuals in Ramsay MacDonald and J. H. Thomas are being roughly handled by the “Reds,” who are becoming increasingly defiant if they are hot multiplying very rapidly. The strike of British seamen, also, is symptomatic. It represents a challenge to constitutional government, which, if it succeeds, must give Communism a fillip that will be felt everywhere. There are few professing Bolsheviks in this country. In that respect, New Zealand is more fortunately situated than any of the threatened nations. But if we have only a negligible number or “Reds” in our midst, the same cannot be said of our Socialists. We have seen what may happen under Socialism in the workers raid on Mount Morgan. That is an ominous -development which should make us think more seriously of the possibilities attaching to the capture of office by the party led by Mr Holland. We do not regard Mr Holland or his Parliamentary cotnrades as potential Lenins or Trotskys. But they do not require to be out-and-out Bolsheviks to play ducks and drakes with our economic affairs. The Socialist programme is dangerously experimental. It will be administered by men who have a grudge against capitalism, and may be trusted to exploit that grudge to the full if they alre given the opportunity. That opportunity will be denied them if the in the House can come together on a common platform. The “Times’' has always been in favour of fusion —at the right time. The Prime Minister is in favour of fusion—at the right time. When the illfated negotiations for amalgamation were in progress, Mr Coates urged that the then Liberals and Reformers should go to the country as a National Party, with a national platform referred to the people. In the event of victory, a reconstructed Ministry would come into being. , If memory serves, that was the attitude of the Prime Minister some months back. In the circumstances, it will be interesting to see how the Government will receive Mr Atmore’s motion. It is generally that there are Reformers who are opposed to fusion at any price. If Mr 'Cofetes is as good as his word, that sort of spirit will not be tolerated indefinitely. The divisionists must be told plainly and straightly that national interests are paramount. Finally, we hope that there will be no more dirty linen washed so far as fusion events of the past are concerned. The public is tired of the subject, and would fain forget it.